Ozarks and the Nation is a cooperative effort of the 44 districts making up the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence consortium, Missouri Southern State College, Joplin Museum Complex, George Washington Carver Monument, Truman Birthplace, Powers Museum, and Prairie Museum to enable American history teachers to become "a community of learners." Goals include increasing teachers' content knowledge, providing pedagogical training on inquiry-based learning and teaching with primary sources, creating a series of online local history learning modules, convening a Best Practices Conference, creating ongoing collaborations between college history faculty and teachers, and increasing student participation in National History Day Competition. Workshops will follow readings, seminars and institutes to facilitate knowledge transfer to classrooms. Focusing on the region, content will include exploration in the 1500s, trade in the 1700s, the Trail of Tears, Civil War battles, 19th and early 20th century politics and labor violence, nuclear missile silos and Superfund sites in recent decades, rights and responsibilities in history, and other topics.