Urban Museum Collaborative Takes Flight!

 

When does a dollhouse become a lesson about race or a sewing machine the path to freedom or a coat symbol of compassion? Students at St. John the Baptist School in south St. Louis city made history come alive in dramatic new ways by creating an interactive Museum in their school. It was the culminating experience of a pilot project developed by the Urban Museum Collaborative—an organization that came into being through generous support of the Missouri Humanities Council. After using the newly completed UMC educational materials that included a website, touch trunks, and lesson booklets, and visiting each of the museums in the collaborative—the Eugene Field House Museum, the Campbell House Museum, and the Griot Museum of Black History, the 3rd and 8th graders shared what they learned by developing their own “Museum Day” with hands-on activities, displays, first person performances, and docent-led tours.

During this six-week program of exploring life-stories, looking closely at artifacts, and visiting museums, students learned how this information could be woven together to create a deeper understanding of 19th century St. Louis in the years surrounding the Civil War. Using the newly developed “Discovering Our Stories: Looking Forward/Reaching Back” lessons and activities, these students were busy taking notes, writing in their mini “one-liner” journals, drawing, discussing, and doing more research. What they discovered they put into a series of projects that became a “hands-on” museum. One activity was inspired by a period dollhouse where rooms reflected divisions of race and privilege—Museum Day visitors created miniature furnishings interpreting these ideas.

 In another part of the museum space, docents led small groups of students through a dark tunnel as a part of an Underground Railroad experience. Here the students were learning more about the fears and risks of those trying to escape slavery, along with the use of quilts, quilt making, trying to write with a quill and ink, feeling the weight of shackles, maps and how mountain men, trappers, and native Indians were a part of the fur trade were also some available activities. Students had their own Museum Store where proceeds from sales went to a humanitarian project in Africa.

Museum consultant and UMC director, Barbara Decker, worked for several months with the three museums, school staff, and educators on the curriculum team to develop the shape of the dynamic, experiential pilot. But the teachers at St. John the Baptist are the ones that guided and facilitated classroom learning and the resulting museum day. Third grade teacher Jean Turney (also on the UMC education team) introduced her students to the project through hands-on explorations of the “touchable” artifacts, the web site, and relating it to prior learning. The result was responses such as “wow” and “I saw that, I know what it is” when they visited the museums. Eighth grade social studies teacher Michelle Boehne let the touch trunks be the inspiration for her students as they began to explore themes and personalities.

Later, students commented on the museum visits and their roles on Museum Day as what was “best” about the pilot project. One eighth grader wrote that it was “fun because it helped the younger kids learn about American history.” The enthusiasm of the third graders was palpable in comments that ranged from “we got to spread the word” to “I got to teach kids how to weave and that was fun” to “museums show more real stuff,” and “it is easier to learn when I see it.”  Experiential learning does deepen knowledge and understanding as evidenced not only in the success of Museum Day but in the end-of program student evaluation—93% of 8th graders and 100% of the 3rd graders indicated “that historic objects are important in understanding our lives today.”

The collaborative was formed in 2009 with generous funding from the Missouri Humanities Council. It brings together the knowledge and creativity of museum staff and the rich collections housed in each museum—all gems in the St. Louis landscape. Together these three museums create something larger than the sum of their parts—a museum without walls. The rich array of resources developed by the Urban Museum Collaborative weaves together a more inclusive narrative and connects local history to that of the nation. What about the dollhouse, the sewing machine, the coat, and the life-stories? They are the tools and inspiration for these young people. By exploring our common humanity, each will be better prepared to be a citizen of tomorrow and to “make a difference” in the communities in which they live. These students are on the way.

An exhibit at the Richmond Heights Library through early January 2012 has highlighted Urban Museum Collaborative, the touch trunks, and the St. John the Baptist pilot project. Since the UMC materials and programs were unveiled at the beginning of 2011, more than 15,000 have been impacted by these educational resources—this includes the website at www.urbanmuseumcollaborative.org. Photos by Robert Gordon

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