The Ball State University History Department and Gallia-Vinton Educational Service Center, workshop hosts, invite teachers of grades K-12 from around the nation to spend a week of summer 2023 learning about the history and impact of automobiles.

Beginning with the stories of the first automobiles, the workshop will take participants through the automobile industry that is found fifty miles on either side of the Indiana and Ohio state line‒the traditional manufacturing zone for parts destined to Detroit. Workshop content will also explore the Great Depression and into the twentieth century while looking at the impact of the automobile industry in small town America through unionization, recreation, and innovation. Teachers will be guided in developing dynamic materials featuring lesson plans, podcasts, and virtual field trips and using primary and secondary source materials such as photos, videos, and newspapers. 

Workshop sessions will be held at Indianapolis’s Landmark Center, the premier statewide preservation organization in the nation. Field trips include stops in  Indianapolis with explorations of auto-related heritage sites around the city, the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, and other historic locations including Kokomo and Fort Wayne. 

Ronald V. Morris and Denise Shockley, project directors, have a great deal of experience in working with teachers, facilitating elementary and secondary teacher professional development together for nearly a decade. They love social studies and enjoy helping others share their passion for travel, ideas, and interesting people. Morris and Shockley have drawn upon scholars of automotive history from the Midwest with decades of experience in telling multiple stories to varied audiences. The faculty consists of outstanding museum professionals and leading preservationists in the field of automotive history in order to immerse teachers in content that will then provide students a great experience thinking and learning about car culture.