Education Programs

The San Diego History Center’s K-12 Education Programs are exciting, engaging resources for youth to explore our region’s history and cultural heritage. Offering sessions throughout the school year at both of our museum locations, as well as providing educational summer camps, our Education Programs serve approximately 5,000 students per year, over half of whom come from Title I schools. Led by professional educators with backgrounds in inquiry-based learning, programs are provided at no cost to underserved students to ensure that limited resources are never a barrier to education. 

The San Diego History Center’s education programs use hands-on workshops that give students the ability to make real-world connections between the past and present while building skills that support increased academic outcomes.  A wide array of voices and perspectives, inclusive of all of San Diego’s residents, are core values of our curriculum. Some recent examples of our educational programs include:

Stories of San Diego offers a comprehensive exploration of San Diego’s early beginnings through the examination of artifacts, documents, art, historic photographs, and other activities. Student investigations focus on the contributions of the diverse peoples that settled here, the events and personalities that have shaped San Diego, and the role that human-environment interactions have played in our cultural development.

See Yourself Here is a workshop series that connects young people from traditionally underserved communities together with thought leaders, artists, and innovators from San Diego’s diverse communities.  The program encourages youth to see themselves as ‘Community Heroes’ and facilitates discussion of shared experiences, anchoring the idea of inclusion and multiple viewpoints as an important part of fostering relevant 

About the San Diego History Center

The mission of the San Diego History Center (SDHC) is to preserve our history, tell the diverse story of our region -- past, present and future -- educate and enrich our community, and foster civic pride. Through presenting dynamic and thought-provoking exhibitions, making available our extensive archive collections, and offering numerous K-12 education programs, we aim to expand public access to the  humanities while celebrating and preserving the history of the San Diego area. 

Our current work at the San Diego History Center reflects our belief that history belongs to everyone. We are committed to delivering programs to the broadest audience possible, as well as exhibits that reflect the ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic diversity of our region.