Trip to the Museum

Day 5

Goals:

1. Students will observe cultures which have influenced the Caribbean area and get exposure to other cultures in addition.

2. Students will gain a greater understanding of the Caribbean region by seeing real artifacts of previous Caribbean cultures.

3. Students will gain a deeper interest in people of the Caribbean and in general, people of the world.

4. Students will complete a "scavenge hunt" activity and will be required to locate several items in the museum.

Time:

Approximately four hours depending on the distance of the nearest museum that has a Caribbean display.

Resources\Materials:

Permission slips, buses, chaperons, activity sheet, museum fees, maps of the museum, and a museum.

Procedure:

1. Spend about fifteen minutes introducing the museum trip to the students about one week in advance, so students can be prepared for the trip, and to allow a few days for the buses and chaperons to be arranged and permission slips to be completed.

2. On the day of the trip, students will be given an activity sheet that will require them to look for certain artifacts in the museum.

Note: The scavenger hunt activity sheet that is given to the students should include a number of different objects on it. For example, your list could include finding: the mummy, the tall stone figure, the drums, or the fish. All of these objects are just examples. It is up to the students to know what a drum is and there may be more than one drum in the museum. It is their responsibility to note the location of the drum (or mummy, stone figure, or fish). In addition to noting the location, students will be required to list critical information on each item they locate. It is important to note that we do not want the students to "race" through the museum in search of the items. Because museums are different across the nation, it is important that the teacher knows or visits the local museum first so the/she can put this activity sheet together.

3. After the students are done exploring the museum, they will share their answers to the questions they were assigned. Remember, students may find an object on the sheet in many different locations, so it is important that the students identify the location of the object in the museum. They must use complete sentences to describe the location of each object.

Assessment:

The only assessment for this activity, other than turning in the completed activity sheet, is to record information on the activity sheet using complete sentences to describe the location of objects. If students fail to submit this sheet, they will be given an alternate assignment, a written paper on the museum. The student will be required to write a detailed paper on a certain display at the museum as prescribed by the teacher. Encourage students to do the activity sheet and do not let them know about the alternate assignment until after the museum trip.

Sentence structure:


4 Student writes in complete and accurate sentences and makes no grammatical errors.

3 Student writes in complete sentences and makes few grammatical errors.

2 Students writes in complete sentences but makes many grammatical errors.

1 Student writes in fragments and makes grammatical errors.

Curricular Strands:

Critical Thinking - finding an object in a large building

English - writing skills

Possible Extensions:

Create a class museum at school in the gymnasium and invite parents and others from the community to come and tour the museum.

This page submitted by St. Norbert College Ocean Voyagers Program