Museum+Exhibits+Strategy

NCSS CURRICULUM STRANDS ~"" ...••~ V' K-2 V' 3-5 V' 6-8 I Culture II Time, Continuity, and Change Others (Depending on Topic) Most of us, as well as our students, have visited history museums on school or family trips. Sometimes we even find them to be a refuge in a busy city. Sometimes they are a small and powerful discovery we stumble on. Whenever and wherever we visit museums, there are specific exhibits that deeply affect us. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has numerous exhibits that take our breath away. The room with the display of shoes taken from prisoners at the camp in Majdanek can be overwhelming for the visitor. At the Emigrant Trail Museum and Pioneer Monument, located within Donner State Park in the Sierra Nevada, the video and audio story of the tragic experiences of the Donner party are enlightening. Also impressive is the Pioneer Monument, which features a statue of three pioneers looking westward. The statue is on a base that is 22 feet high, the depth of the snow the year the Donner party was stranded in the area. These are not the kinds of exhibits that our students would construct. However, creating an exhibit that is accurate, informative, accessible, and engaging about an event, era, concept, or individual is something they can do. Creating a museum exhibit is an effective synthesizing and evaluative experience for students and is a novel product-based assessment task. Creating an exhibit requires students to take large chunks of knowledge or information and retell them in a form requiring print and visual sources. It is also evaluative, as students determine what is essential or what are the most representative parts of the topic. Museum exhibits are also meaningful assessment tasks because students are able to connect what they have done to what they see in the world outside of the classroom (Parker, 2005). While it may be an unfamiliar assessment format for students who are used to paper-and-pencil tests, it is a familiar format in the world. • Determine which social studies units and learning objectives are complementary to a museum exhibit outcome measure. An exhibit could become a part of almost any social studies unit, but it may not be an effective or appropriate way for students to demonstrate their understanding. For example, sixth-graders studying Ancient Greece would not have a difficult time obtaining artifacts. They could access photographs and write accompanying text, but that learning could be demonstrated in numerous ways. On the other hand, first-graders studying community helpers would have easier access to artifacts from firefighters, physicians, sanitation workers, and so on. An exhibit about sanitation workers could contain photographs, gear, maps of truck routes, text from interviews, and perhaps even some artifacts that were interesting discoveries made by the workers. • Teach the unit as planned. Be sure to go beyond the textbook so that students see the connection between the topic and specific artifacts and primary sources. As appropriate, include primary source documents, guest speakers, photographs, audio recordings. Many of these sources may turn up in student projects. The museum project may be introduced at any time, but it is recommended that it not be introduced until about halfway through the unit. While it is important that students have time to think about the project, if they focus too early, they may just look for what they can use. • Determine parameters of the project and exhibits. Reflect on the learning objectives and consider these questions: As the teacher, what evidence do you need in order to know that students have learned the information? What do they need to show the teacher? Are there any "progress points" during the project when you need to check or assess info-rmation? Do you want any additional information beyond the exhibit? Paper? An oral presentation? Is the size of the exhibits a consideration? How much and what kinds of text are required? How many and what kinds of artifacts and primary sources are required? How will students address issues of authenticity? Who will be the audience for the exhibits? • Determine how exhibits will be constructed and where they will be displayed. Exhibits may be attached to walls or bulletin boards. If the school has enclosed glass display cases, these might also be useful for the exhibits. Eliminate financial costs to students by utilizing classroom and school resources, such as computers to print text, covered cardboard to provide stable backing to text and photographs, and so on. The goal is for students to demonstrate their learning in an attractive, thoughtful, and engaging manner, not just to have the prettiest display. • When the project is introduced, provide specific instruction on the purposes and structures of museum exhibits. If possible, arrange for a field trip to a museum or invite a curator or education specialist to explain the museum exhibits. Many universities have museum studies programs, and a faculty member or graduate student would be a good partner. These specialists assist students in learning some of the finer points of exhibit design, such as the use of item grouping, introductory text placement, the use of subheadings, item labeling, and object placement. • Provide time and facilities for student work. If possible, have students with varying skills work in small cooperative teams. Begin with the task of writing a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. This becomes the basis for the exhibit. What is the story they want to tell to the viewer, and why is it an important story? Addressing the importance of the story pushes students to higher-level thinking and should require both synthesis and evaluation. This story may become part of the introductory text, but it is most useful in guiding the students into thinking about what evidence and information will best tell the story. • Based on the story, what are the items (photographs, newspaper articles, artifacts, audio recordings) that assist in the telling of the story? • As students gather the items, they also work on using text to connect the items in their story. What should the introductory text explain? What brief information should be in the captions for each item? They also begin to think about the visual display. That is, what is the display order of the text item in the display? What should be first, and where should it be placed? Students are transitioning their story, with its beginning, middle, and end, from all text to a combination of visual and print media while retaining the story's chronology. • Construct the exhibits, invite an audience for the opening of the exhibits, and have students at their exhibits answering audience questions. ApPLICATION AND IDEAS Museum exhibits may be used in a multitude of ways. The following examples, grouped by grades, address eras, events, concepts, and individuals. K-2 3-5 6-8 Eras ..-:" First Grade, Childhood Colonial America, The 1920s, The Westward Expansion Vietnam Era Events Moving Day, Kwanzaa, Statehood The Holocaust, The First Day of The Iraq War School Concepts Family, Community Migration, Conflict and Resolution, Interdependence Innovation Individuals The President, Civil Rights Leaders, Nobel Peace Prize Important People The People Who Winners, People Who in the School Helped Build Our State Made the World a Better Place Anderson, D., Lucas, K. B., Ginns, 1. S., & Dierking, L. D. (2000). Development of knowledge about electricity and magnetism during a visit to a science museum and related post-visit activities. Science Education, 84(4), 658-679. Koetsch, P., D'Acquisto, L., Kurin, A., Juffer, S., & Goldberg, L. (2002). Schools into museums. Educational Leadership, 60(1),74-78. Martin, D. J. (2001). Constructing early childhood science. Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. Mayfield, M. 1. (2005). Children's museum: Purposes, practices and play? Early Child Development & Care, 175(2), 179-192. Milligan, M. J., & Brayfield, A. (2004). Museums and childhood: Negotiating organizational lessons. Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research, 11(3),275-301.