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Course: The Seeing America Project > Unit 1
Lesson 1: What is Seeing America?About Seeing America
What is Seeing America?
We believe that historical works of art are important and engaging primary sources. Seeing America is a multimedia learning resource for American history that makes key works of art accessible for the American History and Socials Studies student. Seeing America is a free resource and includes no advertising.
Who created Seeing America?
Seeing was created by Smarthistory together with curators and educators from 16 museums:
Where else can I access Seeing America?
How is Seeing America organized?
By theme:
Migration and settlement (coming soon)
Geography and environment (coming soon)
America and the world (coming soon)
When complete, this resource will include 100+ videos and essays, quizzes, discussion questions and lesson plans.
Who funded Seeing America?
Seeing America has been funded by generous grants from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Walton Family Foundation.
Special thanks to the Seeing America team: Dr. Sarah Archino, Dr. Kelly Enright, Dr. Naraelle Hohensee, Dr. Virginia Spivey, and Dr. Bryan Zygmont; and our advisory committee: Sarah Alvarez, Steve DeBoer, Michael Jacobs, Sara Klein, Gideon MacKay, and JJ Rutherford.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why is learning history important when you can make history.
I get it's so we don't make the same mistakes but adults are always telling us that we "learn by making mistakes", so shouldn't we make mistakes and learn from them?(11 votes)- i think it's important to learn from the experiences of others even if they're not alive anymore, but they reflect their life experiences and teachings to us through their makings.(2 votes)
- why do they add content all the time.(0 votes)
- bruh. you literally just asked "can you make more about this stuff."^(23 votes)
- can you make more about this stuff.(3 votes)
- what do you mean by "seeing america is a free resource and includes no advertising"?(3 votes)
- I did the entire unit entitled "Seeing America". It cost me nothing. It was free. I did not encounter any advertising as I listened to and learned from the lessons. They contained no advertising.
What were you charged for taking the course?
How many ads have you encountered?(8 votes)
- seriously people we are learning this for fun geez have a little fun!(5 votes)
- why is it so important for us to learn this(3 votes)
- I answer this question, or something else much like it, about once a week. Before I answer it to you (which, I promise I will do), I want to challenge you, and everyone, to take a minute before putting anything in the question box to scroll down through the questions of previous learners and read some of the answers they've received.
OK, that was my challenge. Now, to answer your question:
What this is about is a "method" for seeing the history of America through artworks. In that way, it's better than just having some old white guy stand there and tell us stuff. Besides, people who are NOT Americans, and who see this, can transfer the method to seeing their own nations' histories through their own nations' art. How cool would it be to see the history of Haiti through Hatian art, the history of Taiwan through Taiwanese art, and the history of Mauritius through Mauritian art!(5 votes)
- what other stuff will you guys be adding?(1 vote)
- From the author:We will be adding about 40 new videos in the next few months, videos we have made with museums around the US.(7 votes)
- What are some of the most famous types of Art? I love art and am willing to learn.(2 votes)
- Do the whole course. It took me about 3 years, but I learned much. Drs Zucker and harris are excellent teachers.(3 votes)
- I love art but I have no clue how to
do this(2 votes) - why did art become popular by the skilled artist who used there great skills throughout the years art has existed(2 votes)
- Art is based on what makes us most human. Skillfully executed good art attracts attention of many people, so it's popular.(2 votes)