Outreach

The Detroit Historical Society is your partner in education.  To better serve the needs of educators and students, we have bolstered our outreach resources.  These resources bring museum learning to the classroom through engaging online experiences, classroom tools, and curriculum support through participation in the National History Day program.

Building Detroit

Building Detroit, our first online educational experience, is an economic simulation of Detroiters at work from 1760 to 1890, spanning the dramatic transformation of Detroit from agrarian village to industrialized city.  It features five levels, roughly corresponding to key time periods in Detroit’s history; 1760s, 1790s, 1820s, 1860s and 1890s.  The game is directly aligned with Grade Level Content Expectation for social studies for grades 2-4. 

The game website includes a comprehensive classroom curriculum and interactive timeline to help students place the economic concepts they learn in the game into historical context.

Michigan History Day

Michigan History Day, an affiliate of National History Day sponsored by the Historical Society of Michigan, is a year-long educational program where students in grades 4-12 pick a historic topic related to an annual theme, conduct original research using primary and secondary sources, analyze their findings and draw conclusions about their topics significance in history and create final projects to showcase their work.  The projects, which include papers, documentaries, performances, exhibits and web sites, can be entered in a series of competitions from the local to the national level.

We are proud to support the Michigan History Day program at the local level. During the school year, we provide teachers and students with information and resources on the program. Each March, the Detroit Historical Museum hosts the local competition for students throughout southeastern Michigan.

For more information on Michigan History Day, visit the Historical Society of Michigan’s website.

Historical Society of Michigan

Great Lakes Transportation Traveling Trunk

This traveling maritime transportation chest, created by the Center for Science & Environmental Outreach at Michigan Technological University, is full of classroom resources that help students grasp geographic, social, and economic concepts surrounding transportation on the Great Lakes.  It includes children’s books, media, maps, and curriculum units, and is available for your classroom use.  Use of the trunk is FREE!

For more information contact Tobi Voigt, Director of Education at tobiv@detroithistorical.org.