The Department hosted an America 250 Webinar Series for educators. The webinars focused on strengthening content knowledge and instructional practices in social studies.
Webinar Recordings
- May 7, 2026: IowaPBS + America 250
Partner Organization: IowaPBS
Description: Iowa PBS's support of America 250 centers around Artifact Iowa, a storytelling project that uses real objects to bring Iowa’s past into focus. Each episode centers on a single artifact and unpacks the larger human story behind it - revealing moments of innovation, resilience, creativity, and change that define our state’s history. As well as two documentaries, General Dodge and the Transcontinental Railroad and The Legacy of 4-H. - March 31, 2026: Carrie Chapman Catt
Partner Organization: Catt Center at Iowa State University
Description: Iowan Carrie Chapman Catt led a national movement to enact the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women’s right to vote. She also established an international woman suffrage movement and was active in the peace movement between World War I and World War II. Famous in her own time, yet less well known today, Carrie Chapman Catt is an Iowan who expanded democracy in the United States and abroad. - March 10, 2026: Meeting the Moment: The Intersection of Civil Discourse and the American Founding
Partner Organization: Sphere/Cato Institute
Description: Explore how educators can build and cultivate a consistent practice of civil discourse in every classroom with Sphere Education Initiatives. Delve into core civil discourse pedagogy as a tool for navigating complex conversations around content as well as contemporary issues. Examine how structured discourse deepens student growth, fosters individual understanding, and inspires the consideration of multiple perspectives with curiosity. They also share tools and strategies for civil discourse around the Founding principles, the Founders as historical actors, and the Declaration of Independence as both an aspirational document and a promise, fulfilled or unfulfilled, while supporting students in respectful, critical and collaborative inquiry. - Feb. 16, 2026: Revolutionary Iowans: Part II
Partner Organization: State Historical Museum
Description: The American Revolution wasn’t just a moment in history—it was the beginning of an ongoing struggle for freedom. From the war’s earliest patriots to modern-day advocates, Iowans have carried forward the ideals of life, liberty and justice for all. - Jan. 26, 2026 - Revolutionary Iowans: Part I
Partner Organization: State Historical Museum
Description: The American Revolution wasn’t just a moment in history—it was the beginning of an ongoing struggle for freedom. From the war’s earliest patriots to modern-day advocates, Iowans have carried forward the ideals of life, liberty and justice for all.