For my first “Museum at Home” virtual tour, I chose the “Take Me There: Greece” video. In this video, they took us on a virtual tour of the Greece exhibit. They took us through the “Take Me There Airways” plane so we felt as if we were really headed to Greece. We were taken through a town that mimicked life in Greece. We saw bus stops, bakeries, markets, etc. It was cool to see how everyday life in Greece would go; this virtual tour hit on all of the hotspots to give the viewers a good feel of a typical day. I think that all students older than the early childhood age would enjoy this exhibit. Early childhood students are much too young for this exhibit as it requires too many interactive pieces/moving around which could cause many issues with toddlers. For the elementary students, they would enjoy the simulation of the fake flight and getting to look around at the different foods and touch on the different interactive pieces (screens, foods, etc.) that were offered. This would pertain to their sensorimotor piece, they would be more apt to enjoy the things that they could touch/play with/interact with. In terms of the middle school/high school level, they would be able to learn a lot about life in Greece through the markets, pharmacies, etc. They would have more of an educational experience. They would see how these people make their money and the history of where they came from. They would benefit more from the hidden educational/historical pieces of this exhibit rather than the interactive parts. For all age levels, this gives students an opportunity to travel to somewhere unknown with a culture that is different than their own which I think is extremely beneficial. If I had to choose one age group that would benefit most from this activity I would choose the elementary/middle schoolers who are still very much into the interactive pieces and whose motor skills are still developing/need to be exercised.
Next, I did “Warm-Up: Skipping,” which was a part of the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience. The coaches helped the students get up and get active! I definitely thought that this activity could work for any age; all students can benefit from a warm-up. These coaches taught the proper way to skip, which they said is the most athletic movement that you can teach a young person. They help the audience focus a lot on movement and coordination while doing this simple activity. For the early childhood/elementary ages, I think that this warm-up is very helpful just to get them up and active, to get their blood pumping and their brains moving- skipping is a very easy task that all ages can do. Motor movement is critical for young students, this activity can also aid in the development of their fine motor gross skills). With the middle/high school ages, they can focus more on their specific technique and body movement and even add a hint of competition in there to spice up/channel energy in a particular day. I’m sure that our human movement group can reiterate the importance of warm-ups with learning for ALL age groups.
This website is very helpful for teacher resources as well, as Professor Meyer pointed out. They are able to provide resources for all age groups, especially for a time like this when learning is primarily done through e-classrooms. After looking through the “Classroom Connections” tab of the museum at home, I was able to find many different lesson plans for a teacher’s e-classroom. For example, I found one activity that applied to grades K-2 that went through the steps of figuring out a dinosaur’s name which encouraged creativity and exploration. They had activities for grades 3-5 that dealt with Fireworks which encouraged the examination of characteristics and elements to put objects in different collections and classifications. For the middle school group (grades 6-8), the talked offered an “extraction of the DNA” activity that allowed the students to learn how DNA can be found in our different foods. In terms of the older students, they have a lot fo educational programs that would nurture/aid their search in their “future paths,” a lot fo these exhibits can help high school students determine where they passions lie for their futures (such as theatre, outdoor recreation, travel/tourist exhibits, etc.)