A practitioner study on preferences for informal learning resources and collaboration between social studies teachers and historic site supervisors

Historic sites offer valuable opportunities for experiential learning but are often underused in social studies education. This practitioner study explored how secondary social studies teachers—including those who teach geography—and historic site supervisors from an upper Midwestern U.S. state prefer to collaborate and which informal learning resources they find most effective. Using survey data from 136 middle and high school teachers and interviews with eight historic site supervisors, the study found that teachers prefer brief, flexible pre- and post-visit lesson materials, such as 10–15-minute activities and videos. Both groups expressed strong interest in collaborating to develop student-centered learning experiences beyond the classroom. Teachers preferred electronic resource distribution and suggested summer institutes, online collaboration, and graduate credit as ways to incentivize the co-creation of materials. Site supervisors emphasized the importance of tailoring visits to student backgrounds and highlighted the role of educational outreach teams. The study concludes with practical recommendations for resource design and collaboration models, such as developing site-specific lesson materials and establishing teacher–supervisor summer institutes. These initiatives can strengthen partnerships between teachers and historic sites and support informal learning in social studies classrooms, particularly focusing on enhancing geoscience education.