Discovered History: Summer Cohesion

 By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

What do clues, white curator gloves, pencils, paper, and objects have in common with eight- and nine-year-olds during the summer? It might sound like a sure recipe for eye rolling, but these materials actually created history detectives out of 128 Summer Cohesion students and their counselors.

This year, students had a chance to sharpen their literacy and drawing skills by examining objects from Chemung’s past. Many are eager to return. Here’s what they did.

Each group’s visit started with a scavenger hunt in the main gallery, where they were given visual clues in the form of a tiny picture. This activity encouraged students to move around the large room as they searched for their item and gave them a chance to see the wide variety of items we have on display. Quite a few students had been to the museum before, but by being asked to look for specific items, they discovered things they hadn’t seen on previous visits. They also had the opportunity to revisit familiar items. This approach kept things interesting for everyone. Our galleries are filled with hundreds of items of all sizes. Objects vary from small military medals to fossilized mammoth teeth and a tusk, and everything is connected to Chemung County’s past. There is always something new to see.

Once students found the item that matched their clue, they had to determine if the item was an artifact or a document and report their discovery. Additionally, they were asked to provide two words to describe the item.  As a result of collecting descriptive words, students saw how a “box” became a “small blue box made of metal and leather, while a “trunk” became a “large, old, decorated box.” Their words were recorded on a large sheet for them to see.

After the hunt, participants gathered in the education room for the next activity. Working with a partner, they received a photograph of an object to draw. Each object was different and it wasn’t always obvious from the photograph what kind of object they were looking at. This helped students focus on the details they saw and not ones they assumed existed. Each pair of students had to look closely at the photograph and draw what they saw.

When students were satisfied that they had drawn the object the way they wanted, they put on white curator gloves. For many this was particularly exciting, because they knew it meant they would be handling the actual objects. They brought their photograph up to match and collect its real object, which they carefully brought back to their table. Taking turns, students compared their objects to their drawings in order to make any additions or changes to their work.

Sometimes making changes to written text is tough for students this age, who often falsely interpret needing to make changes or editing as having failed rather than as receiving the chance to improve their work.  Comparing the photo, their drawing, and the actual objects helped guide the students through the process of editing. Although photographs are helpful, being able to see and handle a real object gave participants an entirely different experience of these historical items. Some students found their objects were a surprise because they were smaller or larger than expected. Others found the object’s color to be different. Holding the objects and feeling how heavy or light they were often changed what students thought the items were used for.

Each pair of students also worked together to write a label for their object. Here, using descriptive words became especially helpful if they weren’t able to identify what it was. Some objects looked familiar and were easier to decipher. A mortar and pestle, for instance, was described as a “food masher.” Other objects were tougher to identify and required some creative thinking. A cast iron bank shaped like a log cabin was labelled as a “house,” and students described a Haversack, similar to those used by soldiers to carry supplies during the Civil War, as a “traveling bag.”

Before they left, students compared their work to a poster with photos and labels of each object.

 We gave everyone the option to take their drawings with them or leave them for display in the museum. You can see some of their work on the wall as you enter the Museum’s Bank Gallery.

Mindful that this is their summer break, and a being a firm believer that kids should be allowed to play, discover, and create, especially in summer, when I heard the comment “this is the coolest thing ever” I felt that these detectives had successfully uncovered a new way to look at history around them, and no eyes rolled!