An educational application for working with historical sources
Welcome to HistoryLab.cz! HistoryLab.cz is an educational app for working with historical sources, originally created in Czech and now available with a specially selected set of activities that have been translated into English.
Go to the catalogue of activities →
HistoryLab in numbers
5,607 teachers
208,384 activities completed
35 expert authors
as of May 22, 2025
Let us tell you more about HistoryLab.cz!
In each HistoryLab.cz activity, you will find one or more historical sources (for example, a photo, a painting, or a clip from a television broadcast) along with a set of targeted questions and exercises to help students analyze them.
The activities also come with a Recommended Approach document, which provides additional information on the activity and the relevant historical context for the teacher. These activities allow users to dive into a wide range of historical topics from the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The activities draw on a wide range of digital tools, which you can explore here in our activity toolkit.
Activity toolkit →Six main areas in which HistoryLab.cz excels
A strong guarantee of effectiveness
Tested and evaluated by both researchers and teachers
Proven to work for teacher training
Teaching students learn pedagogical methods by using HistoryLab
Thoroughly based in pedagogical theory
Constructivist pedagogical theory guides both HistoryLab.cz’s architecture and its user experience
Offers ready to use material
Each activity fully developed and ready for immediate use
Flexibility in working modes
In class or as homework, with teacher guidance or independently
A wide variety of topics for teachers to choose from
10 activities in English cover a wide range of key topics from the 19th and 20th centuries
Why work with HistoryLab?
Let teachers who have worked with HistoryLab.cz tell you about their experiences!
“They feel the need—whether it’s driven by curiosity or a desire to craft the most refined answer—to look up additional information. And it’s all the more rewarding when they write in the final answer field, or in the comments, that they enjoyed the exercise, that it broadened their horizons, and that they learned something new. That’s a really pleasant side effect of working with HistoryLab.”
JD, Grammar School
“This is really something—when I first saw it, I thought, wow, this is great. Why didn’t someone come up with this sooner?”
LH, University
“I’m always looking for ways to make it fun, modern, meaningful—for life. So it engages the students, because if it doesn’t, it doesn’t engage me either. HistoryLab, from the very beginning, struck me as a great way to liven up the teaching and give it purpose.”
PV, Elementary School
“I focused on students with learning difficulties and watched how they progressed between their first HistoryLab and after about half a year. The difference was huge. One of my weaker students had a hard time at first, but by the fifth try, I could see real progress. He could describe images, work with texts, and write short but meaningful sentences. That’s a big step forward. For me, it’s more useful than textbooks or worksheets—it builds reading and historical literacy.”
AH, Elementary School
About Us
HistoryLab.cz was built by a consortium of Czech research institutions, governmental agencies, and NGOs. Its aim is to utilize digital technologies to innovate history teaching effectively and offer a carefully curated set of activities that are proven to work.
The consortium brought together expertise in history, memory studies, history education, civic education, sociology, and evaluation.
The Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
National Pedagogical
Institute
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University
Masaryk Institute
and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian
Regimes
Pedagogical Faculty, Charles University
Antikomplex, z.s
The HistoryLap application is being developed within the framework of the “HistoryLab: The use of technology for the development of historical literacy” project, no. TL01000046, with financial support from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.
Partners
Since 2016, several institutions whose work includes the aim of effectively using digital technologies to innovate history teaching have been working together to develop this application. Outside of the TAČR project’s framework, they also work with a consortium of other partners (like Czech Radio, for example).
