North Dakota Studies and the Communications and Education Division support the state’s social studies teachers in many ways. The North Dakota Studies program at the State Historical Society (SHSND) produces curriculum and other resources for students, teachers, and lifelong learners. To ensure those materials are easily available to teachers, North Dakota Studies maintains a website (ndstudies.gov) where all of its classroom support materials can be found.

Curator of Education Erik Holland coordinates workshops for teachers every summer on a variety of historical, cultural, geographical, and scientific topics. This June’s professional development workshop is titled Commemorate - Educate - Motivate. The three-day, one-credit workshop features commemoration of the anniversaries of the National Park Service, the Pulitzer Prize, the Historic Preservation Act, and Shakespeare’s life.

North Dakota Studies also works with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to identify the North Dakota History Teacher of the Year. Teachers can be nominated by their principal, superintendent, or colleagues. The nominated teacher submits lesson plans, samples of student work, and a short essay on teaching philosophy to demonstrate how he or she leads and encourages students in their studies. The winner receives $1,000 and a variety of classroom resources from Gilder Lehrman. The state winner also competes for National History Teacher of the Year. The 2015 North Dakota winner was Ellen Ista of Kindred Elementary School. This year’s winner will be named soon.

North Dakota Studies program director Neil Howe presented the North Dakota Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year award to Ellen Ista of Kindred Elementary School in 2015. Photo courtesy Neil Howe.

North Dakota Studies Program Coordinator Neil Howe publishes a newsletter three times during the school year which features information on current and upcoming events, curricular materials, and short articles on North Dakota history, geography, or culture. The newsletter is mailed to every social studies teacher in North Dakota.

North Dakota Studies and the Communications and Education Division provide broad support for social studies teachers across the state. The materials, workshops, and information prepare teachers for their highly important task of educating the state’s children.

231,134 – Number of people who visited the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum in 2015. What an amazing response!

65,000+ - Number of square feet of exhibit space managed by the State Historical Society of North Dakota across the state. How many of our interpretive centers and historic sites have you visited?

In 2008 Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site opened a new interpretive center and permanent exhibit.

8,000+ - Weight in pounds of Dakota the Dinomummy, which staff has moved five times. Prior to the last move, however, preparation work by the North Dakota Geological Survey removed 3,000 pounds of stone matrix, for which our backs are eternally grateful.

925 – Number of objects on display in the Inspiration Gallery. The tallest, at more than 23 feet, is the 1942 wind generator. The International Boundary Marker, acquired in 1905, has been in the State Museum collections longer than any other item.

The tallest object on display is often overshadowed by one the most popular – the interactive tractor!

128 – Number of plastic potatoes that were found when moving offices in 2015. Those with especially good memories may recall a dozen or so of these potatoes being on display next to the John Deere tractor in the ND Heritage Center before the Expansion. Apparently there were some left over…

5 – Words per second that an average museum visitor reads. Exhibit writing aims to hit that sweet spot where all the essential information is conveyed, but done quickly enough that visitors stay engaged and do not walk away.

5 – Number of national awards the State Historical Society has won since 1999 for the exhibits: Early Peoples, Encountering Fort Totten; How Does Your Garden Grow? Gardening in North Dakota; No Two Horns: A Gallery of Art and Exploits; and Scared Beauty: Quillwork of Plains Women

3  –  Number of full-time staff in the Exhibits Department for the State Historical Society of North Dakota

The Exhibits Department bravely faces all exhibit-related challenges; even dinosaurs.