UW’s Wallop Civic Engagement Program Expands K-12 English and Social Studies Catalog Content

The University of Wyoming’s Wallop Civic Engagement Program has added new content for Wyoming teachers to its K-12 project catalogs for the coming school year.

The 20 new multimedia packages -- on topics ranging from single women homesteaders to Martin Luther King Jr. and “conscientious citizenship” -- align with state standards on social studies and English language arts and include short videos with accompanying resource guides.

All content packages are live on the Wallop K-12 social studies and English language arts catalogs, which are free and available to the public in UW’s WyoLearn catalog at https://civic.catalog.instructure.com/.

Expansion of the two catalogs has been made possible, in part, through a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). “Integrating the Humanities Across Civics Education in Wyoming” focuses on three themes: culture and people of the West; identity, community and rural life; and rights, liberties and civic responsibilities.

Through spring 2023, 116 educators in 19 counties and the Wind River Indian Reservation have used the content available on the K-12 catalogs. Daniel McLane, a social studies and computer science teacher at Riverton High School, regularly uses the Wallop social studies curriculum.

“I love to use the videos as a closer to my units,” McLane says. “This has been by far my favorite way to cover the Wyoming standards. Students respond well and thoroughly enjoy this activity.”

The project is inspired by former Wyoming U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop who, in his distinguished career serving in the U.S. Senate for three terms and in the Wyoming Legislature, is remembered for his commitment to civil discourse, public education and public service.

For more information about the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/wallop.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, NEH supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals throughout the nation.

For more information about NEH and its grant programs, visit www.neh.gov.