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Library Announces Grant Recipients for Educational App Development

The Library of Congress today announced the selection of two organizations that will receive a total of $489,219 during the next two years to support the development of engaging web- and mobile-based applications on the subjects of Congress and civic participation, for use in K-12 classrooms. These applications, to be completed by the end of the funding period, will be made available to teachers and students at no charge.

The Library received proposals from a wide range of public, private, not-for profit and for-profit organizations, including institutions of higher education, cultural institutions, other educational organizations and collaborative partnerships. The chosen proposals were submitted by teams with a record of success in the development and implementation of curricular programs on Congress and civic participation, and the development and long-term maintenance of successful online interactives or mobile apps for classroom use.

The selected organizations were chosen by panels of individuals with content and technical expertise from government agencies, non-profit organizations, universities, and the Library of Congress. The selectees will work with the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program to develop the online interactives and mobile apps. They will use and incorporate not only the Library’s online primary sources, but also many other resources available from the Library.

Organizations selected for funding include:

• iCivics of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The firm's "Reinventing Civic Education" project will build students’ core literacy skills through a digital approach called DBQuest, an interactive primary-source reading tool. It will help students understand important civic topics through historical documents and discuss them critically.
• Bean Creative of Alexandria, Virginia. Its "Case Maker" project will be a customizable system that will make resources of the Library of Congress accessible to teachers and students, be easy to use in classrooms, and foster an excitement among students for learning with primary source documents. Bean Creative will develop a system focused on challenges, evidence and cases to promote inquiry-based learning.

For more information about this grant opportunity, see the "Notice of Funds Availability."

For a decade, the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program has provided extensive professional development opportunities for educators and enabled the development and dissemination of teaching materials using the Library’s digitized primary sources. In its fiscal 2015 appropriation, Congress allocated additional funds to the TPS program to increase competitive opportunities for developing online interactives and apps for classroom use, focused on Congress and civic participation.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov and explore its specialized educational resource site at loc.gov/teachers/.

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PR 16-126 08/04/16 ISSN 0731-3527

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