This collection uses primary sources to explore cross-cultural conflicts during the Colonial period of US History. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Students examine images related to early manufacturing in Jamestown, looking for the connections among the objects and their relation to the settlement.

This project is done with research and using Minecraft: Education Edition. Students will be working as a group of settlers that have landed on the coast of Virginia, survive while building the Jamestown Colony. Some research will be done pre-building in order for the students to get an idea for the purpose of the settlers coming to Jamestown. After the project is completed students will reflect on working in a hostile environment while working virtual strangers to survive and thrive in a new land. The lesson aligns with 5th grade Social Studies but could be used by other grade levels with minimal remixing. It will require all students to have access to the game and computers capable of running the game.

The web of maritime connections between Western Europe, western and central Africa, and the Americas that made up the Atlantic world is the focus of this section of "On the Water: Stories from Maritime America", an online exhibition from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Students will learn how Atlantic-based trade shaped modern world history and life in America. Topics covered are the tobacco and sugar trades, the Middle Passage and the transatlantic slave trade, and the piracy that plagued the Caribbean Sea and North American coast during this period.