from eschoolnews.com: "The National Archives has created a new web site to help educators teach with primary-source documents. The site, called DocsTeach, not only lets teachers explore thousands of documents in a variety of media from the National Archives holdings, but it also includes online tools to help teachers combine these materials and create engaging history activities that students can access over the internet...
DocsTeach combines access to more than 3,000 primary-source materials from the National Archives—items such as George Washington’s draft of the Constitution, the cancelled check for Alaska, Chuck Yeager’s notes on the first supersonic flight, and President Richard Nixon’s resignation letter—with the interactive capabilities of the internet in ways that teachers who have pilot-tested the site say have great potential for the classroom.
The seven tools featured on the site are designed to teach critical thinking skills as they relate to history activities, such as weighing evidence, interpreting data, focusing on details, and so on. Each tool employs interactive components such as puzzles, scales, maps, and flow charts that teachers and students can tailor to their needs."