Alaska-Specific Resources for Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Alaska-Specific Resources for Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (ASC), in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA) in Washington, D.C., is pleased to announce the creation of a series of free digital resources for the Alaska education community. The content is available through the award-winning Smithsonian Learning Lab (https://learninglab.si.edu) platform, an interactive website for the discovery and creative use of the Smithsonian’s digital resources, including images, videos, audio recordings, texts, lesson plans, and activities.

ASC collaborated with Alaska Native Elders, culture-bearers, scholars, artists, and educators to create comprehensive, authoritative educational resources for teachers, students, parents, and lifelong learners—all without cost—via the internet on a new Learning Lab education page, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska: https://learninglab.si.edu/org/sasc-ak. From this page, learners will find:

• Comprehensive collections connecting historic museum objects to contemporary Elders discussions and histories for each of the Alaska Native culture groups;
• Multi-disciplinary distance learning lesson plans and activities reflecting the values, knowledge, and lifeways of Alaska Native peoples; and
• A community videos section documenting and teaching Alaska Native artistic traditions and languages, with connections to their contemporary importance.

We invite all teachers, students, parents and lifelong learners to explore Alaska Native cultures, museum objects, videos and educational resources shared at https://learninglab.si.edu/org/sasc-ak.