Mighty Museum in Schools
from Michelle Willard, Mighty Museum
I recently visited École Robb Road, a French immersion elementary school located in Comox, BC. I was invited to speak to grade 6 and 7 classes about doing community research and sharing stories of historically under-represented people. I also examined the importance of using primary and secondary research sources.
One of the exercises I prepared for the students involved identifying primary and secondary research sources. Here is the exercise (in French!): type de sources final
I also showed examples of interpretive signs created by the Province of BC and the Government of Canada that only tell stories from the settler perspective and how this practice is changing, however slowly!
The following comments from students about my presentation not only put a big smile on my face, but also revealed that these students are well on their way to becoming skilled critical thinkers, readers and researchers. Success!
Student Comments:
- “One of the best parts in my opinion was to learn about the history of the Japanese people in Cumberland and the fact that they were sent to internment camps!”
- “I like how she created the signs and put them out for the people to know the real history.”
- “Before this presentation, I had no idea what primary and secondary sources were and how important they are. Your researches are only as good as your sources. I really like going for walks in Cumberland and I like to know more now about its history.”
- “I liked to learn about primary and secondary sources because I looked at them every day without realizing what they really are.”
- “My feedback is that she should make her presentation longer; I learned a lot.”
- “I learned that there is a better and more correct way to research history.”
- “I learned about how our history is not what it seems; there is more than one perspective to a story. I was surprised to find out how much false information there is all around us… like all those signs that are not very openminded. It was interesting to know that there are still many false signs that have not been changed yet! I think the presentation was perfecto!”
