STEM/STEAM Historical Impact: Pearl Harbor Day
December 7th, the day which President Franklin Roosevelt declared as a “day that would live in infamy” (1941, FDR Presidential Library, Library of Congress). These collections are trusted sources for inquiry-based instruction in STEM/STEAM.
Presidential libraries curate the lives of former Presidents in the historical context in which they served. The Library of Congress is the overarching institution of our Nation’s history. The Library of Congress began from the first collection of books and historical papers from Thomas Jefferson.
Process for connections to instructional strategies…
- Share any connection to the attack on Pearl Harbor that may be part of your family’s history. For example, in our family, my father was a teen-ager who knew he would be drafted if he did not enlist. From a dusty, rural Texas farm, he enlisted in the Navy all the way out in California, arriving in Oceanside/San Diego by bus. The church he attended and served as a preaching intern was the place he met my Mother.
- Choose to investigate either the Library of Congress or the FDR Presidential Library (or both). Choose and share two ideas, resources, media, or activities that you could use as a STEM/STEAM resource for your class/classes (either as a Warm-Up, Lesson Focus, Current Event, Historical Minute, Class Discussion, Jigsaw activity, Exit Ticket, etc…)
Links:
The Library of Congress – https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-07
**Search the Library of Congress’ digital collections on Pearl Harbor and World War II to find additional items. Here are examples (or discover your own resource):
*Listen to recordings documenting the feelings of everyday Americans on December 8, 1941 in After the Day of Infamy: “Man-on-the-Street” Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor: https://www.loc.gov/collections/interviews-following-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/about-this-collection/
*Read An Inquiry into the Attack on Pearl Harbor, a post on the Geography & Map Division’s blog Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps. This resource examines the inquiry launched by the U.S. Senate after the war ended:
https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2017/12/an-inquiry-into-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/
*Examine the post-battle damage assessment map of Pearl Harbor prepared by a Japanese cartographer and used to brief the Emperor of Japan: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4382p.ct010991/
*Explore hundreds of stories from World War II veterans who mentioned Pearl Harbor- https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/?ops=PHRASE&qs=pearl+harbor&searchType=advanced&subject_conflict=world+war%2C+1939-1945 in the oral histories and other documentation collected by the Veterans History Project – https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-07#:~:text=Veterans%20History%20Project
*Learn more about the project and how to participate by interviewing veterans in your community – https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-07#:~:text=.%20Learn%20more-,about%20the%20project,-and%20how%20to
*View the online exhibit, Women Come to the Front, to learn about selected women journalists during the Second World War – https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-07#:~:text=Women%20Come%20to%20the%20Front
*Discover online and print resources about World War II via World War II: A Resource Guide – https://guides.loc.gov/ww2
Library of Congress Main site link: https://www.loc.gov/
FDR Presidential Library and Museum – https://www.fdrlibrary.org/ph-activity-1
Or Main site link: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/home
