Your learner journey
About this course
This course reimagines the social studies classroom as a dynamic space where students become active public historians. Rather than relying on solely linear textbooks, this course teaches educators how to leverage museum exhibits—both physical and virtual—as powerful “mentor texts” that invite students to construct meaning through evidence-based claims. By understanding that “the act of curation is an argument,” you will learn to guide your students in selecting and organizing authentic artifacts to tell stories that are both timeless and timely.
You will encounter a robust framework for developing content, media, and primary source literacy by deconstructing the essential components of professional exhibitions. You will master step-by-step strategies to help students navigate the “art of curation,” moving them through the critical stages of inquiry-based research, strategic artifact selection, and the disciplined writing of professional museum labels. Grounded in cognitive science through “Think² moments,” the course ensures that students are performing higher-order thinking tasks, such as synthesizing information from diverse sources to support a central exhibition claim that is both arguable and provable.
Finally, this course bridges the gap between the classroom and the community by focusing on “Exhibits in Action”. You will explore various digital platforms, such as Google Sites, ArcGIS, and Adobe Glideshow, to showcase student work to an authentic audience beyond the school walls. Furthermore, the course provides a practical roadmap for building sustainable museum-school partnerships based on mutual benefit, allowing your students to contribute original research and creative content to local institutions. Ultimately, you will gain the tools to make learning feel real, relevant, and deeply connected to the broader world.
Note: No formal prerequisites are required to enroll in this course. The intended audience is K–12 social studies educators. No specialized technical skills are required to complete this course and users with basic computer literacy skills should be able to navigate the course content without issue.
If you do encounter a technical issue, please email: lilypd@wm.edu with the subject heading “Technical Issue”.
This course is available at no cost to educators through the We the Teachers initiative, made possible by a U.S. Department of Education grant.
Details
Includes
Shareable PD Certificate
Aligned With
Assessment Types
Accessibility
Technology Requirements
What you’ll learn
Master Core Concepts
- Define public history exhibits and curation
- Practice using public history exhibits as resources in the classroom
- Learn the process of curation
- Explain the pedagogical benefits of integrating exhibit curation & creation into your teaching
Develop Curation Skills
- Evaluate a range of exhibit types
- Facilitate students’ curation process
- Acquire hands-on experience through practical exercises designed for you and your students
- Learn strategies for leveraging exhibits as resources for content literacy and media literacy
Apply Your Skills in Context
- Design impactful student exhibit projects
- Learn how to implement and assess them in line with curriculum goals and learning objectives
- Survey a method for creating exhibit projects in your classroom
Demonstrate Your Learning
- Complete assessments that demonstrate your new capabilities and document your progress.
Skills you’ll gain
Strategies you’ll encounter
Learning Science Moments
Think2 Moment
A pause from the core content to reflect on a research-backed pedagogical strategy that you can use today to deepen student learning.
Think² Shared
Consider your students’ perspectives and empower them to take charge of their own learning.
Modules
In this introductory module, you will familiarize yourself with the course structure and the pedagogical rationale for using museum exhibits as classroom resources. you will also learn how to leverage the course’s accessibility features and define your personal objectives for the learning journey.
In this module you will explore the fundamental characteristics of exhibits and the art of curation, learning why they are uniquely powerful tools for social studies education. This module empowers you to define key concepts like public history and identify how exhibits function as evidence-based arguments rather than just collections of objects.
This module teaches you how to use virtual museum exhibits as “texts” to build student content, media, and primary source literacy. You will explore professional “WAGOLL” (What A Good One Looks Like) examples and learn to use National Archives analysis tools to help students perform the “detective work” of historians.
In this module will teach your students to approach exhibits as constructed media messages, helping them recognize that every display is the result of intentional choices about what to include or leave out. Through strategies like “Analyze the Visual Choice,” you will empower students to evaluate perspective, institutional bias, and credibility in the digital age.
In this module you will transition into project-based learning by guiding students through the initial “detective work” of historical research. This module teaches you how to help students craft compelling inquiry questions and strategically select a variety of personal, official, and cultural artifacts to anchor their own exhibitions.
In this final module, you will guide students through publishing and assembling their work on digital platforms. You will also learn how to build mutually beneficial museum-school partnerships, allowing your students to serve as original research collaborators within their local community.
Course resources
A microcourse is a short, focused learning experience designed to be completed in manageable segments — so you can fit professional development into your actual schedule, not just your PD days.
Course length varies, but most microcourses are designed to be completed in five hours — and you can pause and return whenever it works for you.
All courses are developed by teachers in collaboration with William & Mary faculty researchers, museum professionals, and other experts. Courses are grounded in learning science and backed by William & Mary’s decades of leadership in civic education. Content is designed to be rigorous and immediately applicable in the classroom.
We’re always adding new courses, so please visit our Learn page to view the latest release.
When you complete a lilyPD course, you’ll receive a downloadable certificate worth 5 hours of professional development, endorsed by William & Mary’s School of Education.
We ensure all our courses meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This includes:
- Behind the scenes: semantic HTML, full keyboard (tab) navigation, and screen-reader compatibility.
- In the user experience: transcripts for non-text content, ALT text for images, and clear, comprehensible site navigation.
If you have concerns or suggestions for how we can improve our accessibility features, we’d love to hear from you. Please email us at lilypd@wm.edu with the subject line “Accessibility.”
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