Focus Area Description:  Go back to the Cold War and Space Race of the 1950s and 60s through first person recollections of individuals involved, interviews with historians and authors, and archival footage.

Our current library of 30 videos in this Focus Area are available in the “Related” column to the right; to view them click a thumbnail and become a member of Educate.Today.

To see sample videos in this area of the collection, click any of the titles below:

New March 2023! Space Walks in the Gemini Missions

Other Samples:
Remembering the Cuban Missile Crisis–Mary Hall Ries, Program 1
The Use of Chimpanzees in the Mercury Capsule Testing Process

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Quick Ideas for Using our Cold War and Space Race Videos:

• Provide the videos for students to view independently to gain insights into the time period or to satisfy their own curiosity/interest in the time period.
• Use the videos as a conversation starter for a class discussion on a topic, event, or person linked to the Cold War or Space Race.
• Use the videos with journal prompts for students to write about as they respond to/reflect on content included in the video.
• Use the videos in class to show first person experiences in/responses to the events of the Cold War and Space Race.
• Use the videos with lesson plans you create that have students research a particular person or event in the time period through secondary sources first and then gain first person perspective from the video. As part of the activity, have students evaluate how the primary source impacted their learning/understanding.
• As part of student research for a History Day project, paper, etc., have students view relevant videos to find primary source information they can use.
• Have students include insights gained through the videos as part of their projects, papers, and presentations on a history-related subject by:
  • interpreting and/or summarizing what they saw and learned in the video.
  • citing quotations from the expert in the video.