The Virtual Museum

What is a Virtual Museum? A virtual museum is a collection of electronic or real world artifacts and information resources - virtually anything which can be digitized or collected. The collection may include paintings, drawings, photographs, diagrams, graphs, recordings, video segments, newspaper articles, transcripts of interviews, artifacts, and a host of other items which may be saved in the virtual museum's electronic file or gathered, collected, and displayed. The museum may also offer pointers to great resources from around the world relevant to the museum's main focus.  

How is a Virtual Museum Organized? Name that reflects the general topic: The Museum of Geometric Shapes The Romeo and Juliet Museum The Academy of American Field Hockey “Wings” dedicated to major subtopics: Two Dimensional Shapes Settings Field Hockey Equipment “Rooms” dedicated to main ideas: Four-sided Figures Verona or The Capulet House Goalie Equipment “Displays” items illustrating details associated with main ideas Trapezoid, Parallelogram, Rectangle, Rhombus, Square Juliet’s room, Verona amphitheater Helmet, Leg guards, Gloves Information cards explaining more about the items chosen for display

What Else May Be Included? Introductory Page that explains: Purpose for the museum How the museum is organized Why specific items were chosen Links to websites and other resources A live museum guide to tour visitors and answer questions, or a guest speaker/curator A format for visitors to leave comments and ask questions An activity for visitors to complete as they tour the museum A tool for student self-reflection

What Format May the Museum Take? May be actual objects arranged around the room, on tables, in boxes etc. with signs indicating wings and rooms May be done completely on the computer: PowerPoint Prezi Google presentations There are some on-line templates available for creating virtual museums with samples and additional ideas and resources: www.christykeeler.com www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/virtual.html For the very tech savvy, there are sites that help you create 3-D virtual worlds for your museum

How Do I Prepare My Students for This Project? There are many on-line virtual museums that you can have students visit to see how they are organized and to get ideas for what they may want to include in their museum Students will most likely need support in organizing their topics, subtopics and main ideas based on your content—great opportunity for teaching/reviewing these concepts and skills and perhaps work on outlining, note taking, or using graphic organizers Can be done as a review or as new learning either collaboratively or independently

How Do I Assess a Museum? The virtual museum project can be assessed in its entirety or by components using a rubric and/or criteria points with feedback. You can assess: Written pieces--introduction, explanations, reflections Production quality—complete, thorough, accurate, overall appeal, choice of items included Organization—topics, subtopics, main ideas, details Student self-assessment Peer feedback and/or assessment Live presentation if applicable

Take a Look Click on the link below to see a virtual museum created by middle school social studies students http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/virtual_ex1.html

Have fun working with your students as they create their own virtual museums! Please share any ideas you have for topics in your content area that might work well as a virtual museum. Thank you.