The UK's National Archives Education Website
Tom O'Leary, Public Record Office, The National Archives, United Kingdom
http://The Learning Curve

Demonstration: Demonstrations 1

Launched in 1998, the award winning Learning Curve web site produced by the Public Record Office has become a valued and respected quality provider of learning materials for the teaching of history. With nearly 1000 years of original historical source material, the PRO has an amazing contribution to make to understanding history, but archives by their nature are not always easily accessible for the school learner. The aim of the Learning Curve is to take the archive to the learner via the digital medium. Tailored to the UK National Curriculum, The Learning Curve uses documents, images, sound and film to create historical investigations on subjects ranging from Medieval Cartoons to World War Two. The opportunity to see history this raw is unrivalled. Learners can access and benefit from this free resource from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. There have been literally millions of visits to this web site and there is clear evidence that it has had a direct impact on the quality of learning! Always trying to test the boundaries of new technology the Learning Curve is currently developing some resources specifically targeted to a broad band audience. One of the most recent projects completed which will form part of the demonstration is the 'Cold War'. Alongside the British records of this 'conflict' are featured sources from the US National Archives and Records Administration.