Teaching Leadership with the National Park Service Teachers Portal

National History Day: The National Park Service Teachers' Portal

The portal provides educators a single search site to access all educational resources from the many varied programs comprising the National Park Service. Educational materials are provided by parks or subject matter experts working in diverse areas like historic preservation and heritage education or climate change and paleontology. 

National History Day is a non-profit educational organization.

By Beth Boland, Carol Shull, Katherine Orr, and Linda Rosenblum (National Park Service), 2015

Exploring examples of Leadership and Legacy in History can take a student or teacher on a wild ride through place and time. The explorers can learn about individuals and communities who took innovative action or blazed trails for those who followed behind them.

The National Park Service will soon celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Organic Act of 1916, signed into existence by President Woodrow Wilson, which signaled the creation of the agency. President Wilson, however, followed the leadership of many earlier politicians, naturalists, conservationists, and ordinary citizens who envisioned setting aside our country’s special places to preserve their natural and historical significance for future generations.

In addition to the centennial of the creation National Park Service, 2016 also marks the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act, which enabled the National Park Service to recognize and assist in protecting historic and archaeological sites nationwide through partnership programs like the National Register of Historic Places and grants and tax incentives for historic preservation.

That spirit of leadership continues today in the National Park Service in over 400 National Park Service sites. It also endures in collaborations between the National Park Service and local communities or with other educational organizations.

Recently the National Park Service launched a new educational web portal where teachers can search for lesson plans, field trips, distance learning programs, traveling trunks, or professional development opportunities. [Read More...]

This article first appeared in the National History Day 2015 Themebook.

See their website for more information or visit this page to find more NHD articles about National Park Service resources.

Boland, Beth, Carol Shull, Katherine Orr, and Linda Rosenblum. "Teaching Leadership with the National Park Service Teachers’ Portal." In National History Day 2015: Leadership & Legacy in History, edited by Lynne O'Hara, 73-74. 2015.