| LeArnInG connec TIons
Put that Research Project in a Box
ah, the research project. That ubiquitous assignment con- tinues to haunt high school
history students. In my first year as
a student teacher of AP U.S. History,
I’ve had the chance to see firsthand
the arduous process of choosing a
topic, developing a thesis, gathering
resources and evidence, revising an
outline and introduction, and building a coherent, focused argument. I
certainly remember with grudging
appreciation my own experience with
historical research and argumentation,
timeless skills that should remain a
central element of the history curriculum. But I’m surprised at how little
the process has changed since my high
school days, especially in terms of
organization and presentation.
Say No to Tattered Index Cards
Although Internet resources and
Google searches have significantly altered the nature of research—students
no longer have to spend all of their
time in the library stacks—the handwritten index card remains the preferred method for gathering evidence.
Sure, they might look nice and crisp at
the beginning, but over the course of
a semester, the shine wears off. Easy to
misplace and hard to revise, the index
card organizational scheme seems
antiquated and tedious. And, quite
frankly, it makes history seem like a
total drag—not exactly the sentiment
that I want to inspire as a teacher.
But some new digital alternatives
are both practical and engaging. In my
search for a Web 2.0 tool that would
be applicable for teaching social studies, I stumbled upon Museum Box
( www.museumbox.e2bn.org), an
innovative tool designed for history
By Stella Gorlin
classrooms but easily adapted to any
discipline.
Museum Box gives students the
tools to build an argument or describe
an event, person, or historical period
by placing items in a virtual box.
This tool offers students and teachers a myriad of options for research
projects, interactive presentations,
collaboration, and organization. Museum Box can act as a virtual file cabinet, with separate drawers for audio
files, video clips, images, PDFs, Word
documents, PowerPoint presentations, original text, and website links.
Teachers can devise complex lesson
plans with multiple source materials,
neatly organized and labeled for easy
access. Students can use Museum Box
to catalog their research, allowing for
constant revision and addition.
Use Artifacts to Illustrate Your Point
Developed by The Abolition Project
( www.abolition.e2bn.org), Museum
Box was inspired by the story of British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, who
worked tirelessly in the 18th century
to raise awareness about the horrors
of the transatlantic slave trade. Recognizing that artifacts and pictures
influenced public opinion in ways that
mere words could not, Clarkson visited ports and toured trading vessels
bound for the African coast, collecting evidence in a specialty box. One
artifact in particular, the Brookes Diagram, which illustrated the appalling
conditions under which African slaves
were “packed” and transported across
the ocean, deeply affected the public
and remains an important piece of
historical evidence for teaching about
slavery.
Keep All Class Projects in One Place
So how does Museum Box actually
work? The first step is to register your
32 Learning & Leading with Technology | August 2010
school through the Teachers Area link
on the homepage, a process that can
take up to five days. A site administrator will contact you to approve your
application. Once you are officially
registered, you can either add student
accounts manually or ask your students to sign up on their own.
From the homepage, students
should follow the Start link to create
their own museum boxes. An empty
project template will appear, with compartments for various artifacts, spaces
for titles and descriptions, and options
to add images, text, sounds, videos,
files, and links. By clicking on the Save
link at the top of the page, students can
easily create a login name and password. Don’t forget to tell your students
