Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. For more information on how to nominate a property to the National Register, visit our Listing a Property page.

 

The National Park Service Teaching with Museum Collections program provides lesson plans for educators to use National Park Service collections in student-centered activities.

Teaching with Museum Collections object-based learning emphasizes the links between the “real things;” - National Park Service collections and America’s history. Collections connect students to their past, rich and varied cultures, momentous events, inspiring ideas, and the places where the nation’s history happened.

National Park Service collections include over 100 million cultural objects, natural history specimens, documents, and photographs. They are located at over 320 national park sites in the very places where the objects were made, used or collected. Teaching with Museum Collections lesson plans highlight park interpretive themes, increase understanding of park resources, and li nk to national education standards.

A Living Classroom
Your National Parks are a wealth of curriculum based experiences, aligned with local, state or national standards of learning. Click on the link above for fantastic learning opportunities for you and your students, inside the classroom and in the parks.

Bringing The Parks Into Your Classroom

Some parks offer distance learning programs that may allow them to share curriculum-based programming about the park with your students through the web, audio or video conferencing. Please bear in mind that there may be limitations to the scope and technical compatibility between the park programs and those at your school. Click here for details.

Educational Materials

Many parks have videos and other media available for loan to schools and other groups. In some cases materials may be restricted to certain uses or certain areas of the country, and available in limited quantities. You can also call the park directly if you have questions or concerns.