Journalism in Action

Seeing History through a Journalist’s Lens

Funded by a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant, we created an interactive website for PBS NewsHour that teaches middle and high school students about ten key moments in U.S. history through a journalist’s lens. Learners analyze primary sources such as newspaper articles, videos and photography to determine what happened and how such culture-shifting events affected civic life. Fun, interactive activities, allow users to inquire, ask questions, and make their own judgments using news articles, broadcast segments, political cartoons, and photographs curated from the databases of the Library of Congress. To demonstrate their learning, students create their own journalistic content and share it with a parent or teacher. The ten key moment lessons are aligned to Common Core, C3 and ISTE standards and an extensive educator guide is also available.