Teacher Galleries: Immigration Worldwide Virtual Museum Exhibit

At the Grand Rapids Public Museum High School, 9th grade social studies teacher Lindsay Lane and English language arts teacher Holly Postma collaborated to lead a unit of study on immigration. The students were asked to create a classwide virtual museum exhibit on immigration as the culminating performance task.

The learning took place via 100% Virtual Instruction in the Fall of 2020. At the beginning of the module, students completed an activity related to the Newcomers Exhibit. They viewed the Newcomers Exhibit Tour Video , as well as analyzed chosen artifacts from the exhibit. The purpose of viewing the exhibit tour video was so that students who were unfamiliar with the exhibit could "experience" the exhibit in a virtual format, however, it was also useful for all students to see an exemplar of a museum exhibit. The artifact exploration was used to help students gain an understanding of how certain objects play a role in the lives of immigrants, and how they serve a role and purpose in a museum exhibit. This knowledge would then help to guide them in both their individual and group contributions to the class-wide museum exhibit. To provide inspiration and advice on the exhibit development process, a panel of GPRM staff joined with students via zoom. Finally, students presented their virtual exhibit presentation to a panel of Museum staff members who provided verbal and written feedback to the class.

A detailed rubric for the virtual exhibit can be found  here.

Check out the student-developed virtual exhibit