About the Strategy

When we talk about experiencing history museums, we are talking about taking students on actual or virtual field trips. For our purposes, a field trip can mean physically going somewhere with students or bringing the experience of another place into the classroom -- in this case, a history museum. The main goal of the history museum experience is to bring history to the students and allow them to actively interact with the past.

During a history museum experience, students engage with the artifacts of history. These interactions can happen in many ways, such as through touch or smell. Students can also draw pictures or write descriptions of what they see now, and make conjectures about what it would have been like to use these artifacts in their original time period. Such interactions can really bring to life the history of the people who created these artifacts. This can help students cultivate historical empathy -- an awareness of past people's viewpoints -- which is critical to understanding why these people spoke or acted as they did. And although it is time-intensive, museum field study can also dramatically increase long-term student retention of important factual information. This is particularly true when students are allowed tactile engagement with artifacts, in addition to seeing and talking about these resources.

When actual artifacts are not accessible, students can experience a history museum by creating their own artifacts for a classroom museum. Although some authenticity is lost through this process, the thinking and analytical skills required to complete the task are very critical and real. As they go through the process of making something look "old" and "real," students have to learn the makeup of actual artifacts, what they were used for, how they were used, the importance of the artifact to a particular culture, and more. Put plainly, students can't easily "fake it" when they are creating "fake" artifacts.

For more information, go to Creating a Classroom Museum.

Note that students who do not have access to an actual museum may do much of their preparation work online by visiting museum exhibits on the Web. In fact, you may choose to have students create their own virtual museum collection online as part of their classroom museum. A central task in this process would be to create the "curator's" notes indicating function and significance to the culture being presented. The following are some examples of museum exhibits available on the Web:

There are also many books and Web sites with photos that show in detail artifacts from the Pre-Columbian period; these artifacts may be replicated in the art classroom, or as an at-home project. Check out the Additional Resources page to access some Web sites that feature artifacts.