Promoting Student Learning in Museums, Part One

We are currently in the thick of school tour season at the Dickinson County Heritage Center, and so far, it has been a great experience meeting school kids and showing them some of our museum artifacts.  We have certainly seen the affects of the US economy this year.  In some cases, schools have decided to cut down on field trips due to transportation costs.  In other cases, schools have banded together, planned their field trips in conjunction, and traveled together on the same buses.  One teacher, whose students arrived at the museum in a charter bus, said it was cheaper for the students to travel in a rented bus, rather than one owned by the school.  She also said that a large portion of the travel costs were paid with money raised by the students.  No matter how you look at it, field trip budgets have been severely diminished across the board.

Now, I realize you may be thinking, "Well of course he is going to complain about this.  He works in a museum and wants visitors."  That is probably a valid criticism, but while I do want visitors at the Heritage Center, I more importantly want learning to occur.  In school, most students are educated via direct learning, meaning they are directed through a specific lesson or curriculum, with their teacher serving as a guide and educator.  This type of learning exists in museums as well.  As a museum educator, I get the opportunity to lead students through a museum tour.  I offer factoids, ask questions, and point out important things.  But I always do one other thing as well: I let the students explore.  The students are allowed free-reign of an area of the museum, a chance to explore, to learn something new.  Free choice learning gives visitors the chance to learn at their leisure.  We all have different experiences and interests that guide us through museums.  Just because I am interested in historic photographs does not mean the next guy will be.  That is the beauty of museums: there is something for every type of learner.  At least, there should be.  Does free choice learning occur in classrooms as well?  Undoubtedly.  But it occurs in museums to such a large degree, it becomes of paramount importance for museums to provide and promote these opportunities.

In my next post, I will focus on what museums need to do to entice school districts to support field trips for their students.  I will also provide some examples of what museums can offer the public inside and outside their physical buildings.

Memories of the Prairie Schedule for 2012

The Memories of the Prairie Lecture Series will be held Saturday evenings June 2 through July 21 at the Dickinson County Heritage Center beginning at 7:00pm.  All programs will last approximately one hour.

June 2: Life of Henry Varnum Poor; Artist from Chapman by Ron Michael
June 9: Kansas and the Civil War in American History and Memory by Brian Craig Miller (KHC)
June 16: Rose by Another Name: Life of Rose Kretsinger, Famous Quilter by Debbie Devine
June 23: Kansas through the Lens of F.M. Steel by Jim Hoy (KHC)
June 30: Kansas Opera Houses and Community Events by Jane Rhoads (KHC)
(Co-Sponsored by the Heritage Homes Association)
July 7: Lt. Frank Baldwin and the Indian Territory of 1874 by Dan Holt
July 14: Harvey Girls: It all Started in Topeka by Michaeline Chance-Reay (KHC)
(Co-Sponsored by the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad)
July 21: Annual Ice Cream Social with music by Alice Thomas

"KHC" designates programs offered through the Kansas Humanities Council.  This organization promotes understanding of the history, traditions, and ideas that shape our lives and build community.

For more information, please feel free to contact the Hertiage Center at 785-263-2681, or visit our website.

Step Back in Time and Live Like a Pioneer!

2011's Week 2 group poses for a photo at the Volkmann Cabin during Pioneer Camp.

One of the Dickinson County Heritage Center’s most popular programs, Pioneer Camp, will be here soon, and plans are currently underway to make it a great experience for all youth who participate. If you are not aware, Pioneer Camp is a week-long day camp for young kids to come to the museum and not only learn how pioneers lived, but actually live that way! The kids get to take part in a bunch of educational and physical activities, getting an experience of life in the mid-1800s in Kansas. Many of the activities include crafts, games, a visit to the prairie, class in a one room schoolhouse, and typical chores. What parents often find fascinating about this program is that their kids actually enjoy doing chores! Granted, these are not the types of jobs they normally do at home. Most kids don’t have to fetch a bucket of water or stuff sausage. With all of these different unique activities, Pioneer Camp is quite an experience.

As always, this should prove to be a fantastic event this year, and I’ll be sure to post images and a recap in June. The activities for this year’s camp are already planned out, and we are going to try a few new activities throughout the week. Since we are a small county-based museum, we would love to hear new ideas on how we can continue to make Pioneer Camp a great experience. If you have any thoughts, comments, or new activity ideas, feel free to comment below. Together, we can create great programming at the Heritage Center.

Quilt Giveaway at the Dickinson County Heritage Center!

The Dickinson County Historical Society is pleased to announce that we will once again have a quilt giveaway during the Chisholm Trail Day Festival on October 6.  The quilt is currently on display at the Heritage Center, and tickets can be purchased with a donation to the museum for $1.00 each, or six tickets for $5.00.  This beautiful quilt has earth tones and is in the Grandma’s Vegetable Garden style.  It is approximately 67” x 76”, making it about the right size for a twin bed.  It was generously donated by Nelda Emig, and was hand-quilted by the Mud Creek Quilters.

Dickinson County's Annual Easter Pageant at Brown Memorial Park

Clipping from the Kansas City Star, 4/13/1963.

The Brown’s Park Easter Pageant presented its first show in 1946. The Topeka Daily Chronicle wrote of the pageant in 1955, “With a handful of participants, no setting, borrowed costumes, hymnals borrowed from different churches, the project was started by the Rev. W.M. Rogers, former superintendent at Brown Home for the aged, and Miss Wilma Knisely, the youth council’s adult counselor.”

The pageant was originally sponsored by the Dickinson County Christian Youth Council, and as mentioned in the above quote, it was a simple affair. This did not deter the youth from participating or crowds from attending, and within a few years the pageant had become a large production featuring area youth in elaborate costumes and a few different set pieces.

In 1953, the pageant sponsors began construction on a variety of sets for the young performers to act within. These were built out of stone, and though some of the proposed buildings were never constructed, several of these set pieces are still used by the pageant today.

Illustration from Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, 4/18/1957, showing proposed set pieces for the pageant.

In its inaugural year, the pageant began at sunrise, 5:15am. The pageant organizers soon decided that might be too early of a time for most audience members, and changed the official start time to 6:00am beginning in 1948. In 1955, the Topeka Daily Chronicle also reported how the pageant’s structure is arranged. “Each year, additions have been made and the story started a little bit earlier. It now contains 16 speaking parts and a choir of young people from county churches, including four soloists.” Of course, the pageant grew to accommodate a large cast, at one point featuring approximately one hundred student performers.

Over the years, the script has changed, and the pageant’s actors have come to include adults as well. One aspect remains the same, every Easter morning, several Dickinson County residents put on quite a show. No matter what your beliefs may be, I think we can all find something moving in seeing a dedicated group of performers gather together in the early morning hours to put on an honorable show, a show about a story they and many others strongly believe in.