Young people often think of events that happened before they were born as ancient history—and terminally boring. Now, in time for the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg in July, a new website called Gettysburg By The Numbers (GBTN) is helping to make history come alive for students, teachers, and families at www.gettysburgbythenumbers.com.
GBTN is a web-based, interactive experience of the Battle of Gettysburg through numbers and infographics. It was created by nonprofit TeachersFirst.com, a service of The Source for Learning. The site employs facts and figures to draw users in and help them relate a landmark event in American history to their own lives.
The site—which is free—presents kid-friendly (and carefully researched) facts like the age of the youngest soldier (12), the food issued to soldiers, what they wore, and the weapons they used. Eye-catching original infographics and animations help deliver the information. Once the students are intrigued, the site urges them to dig deeper with questions designed to motivate them to do research—and spark lively discussions in the classroom and around the dinner table.
The site is mobile-friendly, and an app for tablets is in development.
Candace Hackett Shively, Director of K-12 Initiatives for The Source for Learning, said "GBTN is designed for middle school students and older. It includes extensive teaching materials: correlations to Common Core State Standards; lesson ideas in social studies, math, history, and information literacy; project rubrics; downloadable handouts; vetted web resources for further study; and teacher-to-teacher tips. The math concepts included are carefully chosen to match typical curriculum for grades 6+, thus reinforcing math in an entirely new context. And happily, the combination of visual material, words, and numbers makes GBTN a stimulating and involving experience for the family as well as in the classroom."
For more information visit http://www.gettysburgbythenumbers.com/
