Eagle Eye Citizen

Eagle Eye Citizen engages secondary school students in solving and creating interactive challenges about Congress, American history, civics, and government with Library of Congress primary sources while developing civic understanding and historical thinking skills.

Created by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, Eagle Eye Citizen is a Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Project and is supported by a grant from the Library of Congress.

Below is a teacher’s experience using Eagle Eye Citizen. 

There are three different types of puzzles or challenges: Time after Time, Sort It Out, and Big Picture, and each connects directly to a historical thinking skill. Time after Time weaves in sequencing by tasking students with placing primary sources in chronological order. Sort It Out gets students to connect and contextualize primary sources by theme or topic. Big Picture focuses students’ attention on the main idea and purpose as they gradually uncover an image. Each primary source links out to other resources which help students with comprehension and allow them to delve deeper into each topic.

Eagle Eye Citizen is a fabulous tool that can kick of lessons allowing for student engagement with primary sources and to build understanding of topics like women’s suffrage, immigration, and civil rights. The individual challenges are organized by theme, and there’s a definite focus on diversity, democracy, and justice. Themes include “Girl Power,” “It’s All Rights with Me,” “Constitution Evolution,” “Fighting Against Barriers,” and “Moving Forward,” just to name a few. Students are also able to create profiles with avatars and screen names and view the activity of their peers thus leveling up the engagement. 

Eagle Eye Citizen PROJECT PARTNERS:

National History Day (Outreach and Pilot Testing)
National History Day (NHD)is a non-profit education organization headquartered in College Park, MD. Established in 1974, NHD promotes an appreciation for historical research among middle and high school students through multiple annual programs. More than half a million students participate in the annual National History Day Contest. These research-based projects are entered into contests at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD provides professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators of all levels. For more information, visit nhd.org.

Big Yellow Taxi (Design and Interactivity Consultant)
Big Yellow Taxi is a design and production company, specializing in education and interactivity. Since 1999, they have worked with a range of organizations that serve, engage, and positively impact teachers, students, and their communities. They have a proven history of developing educational games, websites, videos, and apps for all platforms with expertise in interactivity, animation, multimedia production, and graphic design.