EDUCATION RESOURCES

Sensory Play
Encourage creativity with hands-on, messy activities that help children explore materials and problem-solve.

Story Time
Find tips for selecting engaging books that enhance learning and fun during story time.

STEAM Activities
Find tips for supporting young children as they experiment with STEAM concepts in new and exciting ways.

Compare past and present toys and games to discover how Hoosier children spent their time.

Explore what animals need to survive and how they adapt to their environment from Ice Age to modern day.

Every community is made up of citizens who have a wide variety of jobs. Indiana is home to some amazing entrepreneurs – people who started their own business or created something new. Join us as we check out Hoosiers who had interesting jobs and helped the people of Indiana.

What role have Native Americans played in shaping Indiana? What did these earliest residents leave behind and what can we learn about how they lived, worked and played?

Rocks and minerals are all around us. Did you know they can tell us stories about the past? Learn more of these stories and how a rock can change over time.

Simple machines make the work we do so much easier! Check out some cool ways that we’ve used simple machines from the 1800s through today.

How did one of the oldest Indiana settlements come to be? How did the Native Americans and Europeans live and work together to create a community there? Learn how Vincennes became the capital of the Indiana Territory and helped guide us to statehood.

While Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana during his formative years, he is most remembered for his lasting impact on Indiana, and as president of the United States.

Art can tell a story, evoke emotion, and even help us better understand someone’s culture. How do artists convey the Hoosier spirit and tell the American story? Come along with us as we dive into our collection to see how different pieces of art reflect our society and culture.

What can we learn from a pendulum? Come explore earth’s rotation, cardinal signs and force and motion as we investigate this amazing Foucault pendulum.

People have lived in Indiana for thousands of years. Explore how Native Americans and settlers adapted. They didn’t just survive but they thrived. What carried on to today that was established from the earliest communities around the state?

Indiana was once covered by water and then ice. How did those ecosystems change as the climate changed? Explore how climate change impacted those ecosystems and what we can learn about humans impact on Earth.

Indiana’s past and present are home to women who helped shape our state through their creative, entrepreneur and political work. Learn more about their impact and how it shaped our future.

Dive into our stories of African Americans who’ve called Indiana home and made their mark as entrepreneurs, performers, world class citizens and more. We will discuss some of their challenges and triumphs as laws and society changed.

Do you know the story behind the school’s façade? Join us as we share how immigration has shaped Indiana.

Iisha Wesley, Greg Smith and Keith Baker Jr. from Minority Recovery Collective Inc. share their perspective and experience on how the opioid crisis is perceived and handled based on race.

Wendy Noe, executive director of Dove Recovery House for Women, discusses how gender impacts women seeking help during the opioid epidemic.

Susannah Koerber, chief curator and research officer at the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, speaks to how race, class and gender impact societal response to the opioid crisis from the 19th century to today.

Dr. Amy Williams is a pediatric psychologist for youth who experience chronic or recurrent pain. Learn about the gate control theory for pain and three strategies to control pain. Dr. Williams is also an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Emily Israel, Pharm.D., shares how and when opioids are used and how healthcare providers seek the right treatment to help with pain management. Dr. Israel is a clinical associate professor at Purdue University College of Pharmacy.

Nate Moellering is a community outreach coordinator with Fort Wayne Recovery and Allendale Treatment. He was injured as a high school and college athlete and shares his journey through opioid use disorder, overdoses and recovery. With help from his family and a police officer who encouraged him, Nate entered recovery. He urges others to reach out because there are always people in the recovery community that care and want to help.

Lade Akande is a yoga instructor and director of college counseling at University High School in Indianapolis. To help high school students deal with stress, teachers are integrating wellness into the education setting. Akande shares ways that she teaches yoga and stress management and how these techniques empower students to take care of themselves.

John Lee is a peer recovery coach and in long-term recovery. Lee shares how being consistent with self-care keeps his mind, body and spirit healthy.

Zach Adams is a psychologist who explains that stress is a normal part of life. He shares strategies and advice for when stress becomes overwhelming and the importance of staying connected to others.

Justin Wade is the executive director for React, formerly Young Actors Theatre, and Georgeanna Smith-Wade the artistic director. They share how they use personal stories and theater arts to help teens feel self-empowered to face stress and challenges.

Spoken word poet Manon Voice shares her experience with the power of words and stigma. Are the words we use about others the words they would choose to describe themselves and their experiences? She calls for compassion and empathy and performs a poem about stigma in its entirety at the end of the video.

Madison Weintraut is a program manager for the Safe Syringe Program in Marion County. How does language and word choice create stigma? Weintraut explains that we shouldn’t define an individual by one aspect of their life.

John Lee is a peer recovery coach and an individual in long term recovery. Lee shares the stigma and negative bias of some recovery language and how it impacts individuals trying to get help.

How do opioids affect brain chemistry? Learn what happens with opioid use disorder that makes it so hard for people to stop taking opioids.

Family physician Sarah Gopman works with women and families and has a sub-specialty in addictions medicine. Dr. Gopman explains how understanding the brain’s biological processes and the role of neuroreceptors helps doctors treat individuals with substance use disorder.

Rebekah Gorrell, manager of Indiana Recovery Network, and Melisa Cole, evening coordinator for Community Fairbanks Recovery Center, are both individuals in recovery. Understanding brain chemistry is helpful to support people in recovery and they explain how opioids interact with receptors in our brain and share their experiences.