Sound History:
Expanding Historical Inquiry through Universal Design for Learning & Podcasting
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Sound History is a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Western Region Grant funded by a sub-grant from Denver Metropolitan State University and in partnership between CFHE and NHD-CA.
About Sound History
Sound History is 6-month grant using Library of Congress primary sources - oral histories, folk recordings, radio broadcasts - to support History Day teachers and students with historical thinking skills. A team of educators is pairing Library of Congress audio sources with Universal Design for Learning to open rigorous historical thinking to multilingual, neurodiverse, and disabled learners across grades 4 - 12.
UDL Audio Toolkit
Nine adaptable inquiry activities using LOC audio, each anchored at a grade band but flexible across 4 - 12.
Student Guide to Audio Inquiry
Scaffolded organizers and listening tools for analyzing and communicating thinking.
Sound Inquiry
A self-paced asynchronous teacher course.
What's Ahead
JAN
2027
TEACHER WEBINAR
FEB
2027
CCSS CONFERENCE
MAY
2027
STATE CONTEST WORKSHOP
The Team
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Whitney Olson: NHD-CA Coordinator - Project Director
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Christopher Lewis, PhD: Multilingual learners Teacher on Special Assignment at Mountain View High School & pre-service lecturer at Chapman University
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Anne Olson, MA: Instructional Coach for Sequoia Unified School District
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Rebecca Valbuena, MA: Retired elementary teacher, educational consultant, pre-service methods instructor at Cal Poly Pomona.
CFHE serves as fiscal agent for this project; NHD-CA contributes dissemination support through its statewide network. Read more about how CFHE and NHD-CA work together on the student engagement page.