Classroom Resources

The School for Advanced Research supports learning at any age. The following includes materials especially geared toward grade-school students. Please take advantage of these resources and activities as lessons plans for your classroom or pre- and post-visit activities to SAR.

Southwest Crossroads

Southwest Crossroads: Cultures and Histories of the American Southwest is a dynamic, interactive, on-line learning matrix of original texts, poems, fiction, maps, paintings, photographs, oral histories, and films that allows users of all ages to explore the many contentious stories that diverse peoples have used to make sense of themselves and the region. This resource is especially designed for use by New Mexico grade-school students.

Curriculum: Trade, Trails, and Mapping the Southwest

This downloadable curriculum was developed as a six-week unit (four days a week, one hour per day) for 21st Century Learning After School Programs and examines “Trade, Trails and Mapping the Southwest.” The curriculum is geared toward 3-5th grade after school programs, but can easily be implemented in the classroom, scaled up or down, extended or shortened.

Collaboratively created by the Museum of International Folk Art, New Mexico Museum of History, and the School for Advanced Research, this unit explores art and history through the lenses of the Indigenous Southwest, the El Camino Real, and the Santa Fe Trail. Lessons focus on hands-on activities and include projects such as pottery-making, tinwork, and weaving.