By: Ashley Naranjo, Smithsonian Office of the Undersecretary for Education NEW! Lifelong Learning Activity GuideSmithsonian in collaboration with USA TODAY presentYesterday, Today Andy Warhol must have had a crystal ball when he said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Did he anticipate that by 2020, smartphones and social media would prove him right? The evolutionary paths of the products we hold in our hands today or the trends that consume our li...

My Smithsonian Closet: Exploring Research Strategies by Alexa Griffith, Manager, Content+Curriculum, Cooper Hewitt, and Tess Porter, Digital Content Producer, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access What is in your closet? If it’s anything like either of ours, your closet is a hodgepodge of clothing, objects, and mementos. Some of your items may be important for sentimental reasons, while others because they are practical and often-used. Perhaps other things in your ...

Mini Exhibit, Big Stories by Kim Robledo-Diga, Deputy Director of Education, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design  Museum exhibitions might not be open near you, but the beginnings of “mini exhibits” exist all around you— let’s discover them together.  Cooper Hewitt created the Mini Exhibit Learning Lab to remind you that everyone curates, from what you choose to wear to the favorite objects you display on a shelf. By curating or selecting and organizing their collec...

By: Ashley Naranjo, Smithsonian Office of the Undersecretary for Education NEW! K–8 Activity Guide Smithsonian in collaboration with USA TODAY presentSummer Road Trip, A Smithsonian at-home activity guide Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III recalls, “When I was young, I remember traveling with my family for summer vacations. As the son of two teachers, each drive turned into an opportunity to learn and have fun, whether learning some French during a trek into Canada or ...

By Emily Szasz, Education Associate, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum In April of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of Smithsonian colleagues convened to discuss the topic on everyone’s minds: that of masks, seemingly the last barrier of protection available to each of us individually during such an outbreak. Whether going to work in an essential position or picking up food in a grocery store, a mask provides—or at the very least, symbolizes&mda...