Field Based Learning & Digital Media Expand Our Networked Learning Ecosystem

Students love to use social media to share their opinions... They also use smartphone apps to make the most creative digital media mash-ups. So, how might we leverage these powerful tools to get our kids to tell the story of their learning when the scope of their learning takes them well beyond the four walls of the classroom? 

Let's take a closer look at a recent Holy Family Academy Field Experience - Our day at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, PA. We toured four floors of exhibits, including:

We Can Do It! - WWII Exhibit

Pittsburgh: A Tradition of Innovation

The Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum

From Slavery to Freedom

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

The diversity of topics and sheer size of the exhibits at the History Center made it a fast-paced day of student inquiry and exploration.  On each floor, students stepped back in time and came face-to-face with artifacts from our collective past.Students were encouraged to "live-tweet" their adventures in learning. Students focused on topics that they found particularly intriguing. For instance, in the photo above, Frank is taking a snapshot in the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum's Trophy Room. The medals, trophies, pictures, and awards are an impressive display of the fruits of hard work, dedication, and the age old edict, "practice makes perfect"!Another approach to telling the story of our learning is the option to use Google Slides, Google Drawings, or smart phone apps like Pic Collage to capture the awesome artifacts and exhibits that captured our attention. Students snapped photos in each of the exhibits to make postcards to digitally send to friends, family members, and teachers.  How to create a postcard using Google Slides:- Create a new Google Slide Deck

- Insert an image as the background of the title slide 

  - Images can be uploaded from students' phones or students may select images from Google: In our case, I asked the students to use photos from the History Center's expansive digital archives.

- Format the text on the title slide in any creative manner:

  - The student objective is to become a "graphic designer" working for the Heinz History Center & to create a postcard that is both beautiful and informative

- Create a second slide and format the text so that it appears as the "letter" that one would write when sending a postcard to friends, family, or colleagues.

  - Have students write a thoughtful letter to friends, family, HFA teachers or administrators, or their Corporate Work Study supervisor.

- Send the postcard to its intended recipient by clicking "share" and entering that person's email address.

  - Be sure to check the share-settings: For something like this, I recommend that you give the recipient permission to "view" or "comment".

Behind The Scenes Videos - Women in WWII: 

When I went to the Heinz History Center to "scout-out" the exhibits and coordinate this field experience, I was fortunate to hear museum curator Leslie Przybylek talk about how J. Howard Miller's iconic "Rosie the Riveter" poster was designed to boost morale among the female employees of Westinghouse. The Westinghouse Corporation was a major employer in the Pittsburgh area during WWII. In fact, the architectural marvel, the Westinghouse bridge was a known target for proposed Nazi airstrikes and explosives. The bridge spans Turtle Creek, separating the two powerhouses of the Mon Valley--Westinghouse & US Steel's Edgar Thomson Works.

On a personal note--in my family, three generations of immigrants and their children lived by the edict "You work hard and get yourself a good job working for Westinghouse or in the mill." That edict held true for many families before Pittsburgh's economy diversified to include "eds & meds" and a tech-centric culture of innovation.

Curtiss-Wright was another employer hiring thousands man and women in the Pittsburgh area during WWII. Individuals made aviation equipment in Curtiss-Wright's Beaver Valley facility. Integral to the US winning the war, their manufacturing operation would not have been accomplished without enlisting a robust and diverse workforce. It should be noted that this exhibit featured commercials showing husbands and wives working at the Curtiss-Wright factory. These shorts aired in movie theaters, just as newsreels would inform the theatergoers. My favorite commercial starred a spry grandmother who picked up a shift on the factory floor.

In the YouTube video above, curator Leslie Przybylek discusses how Curtiss-Wright needed to devise a strategy to empower women to take-on these wartime factory jobs. Housewives needed to be reassured that they could develop the skills necessary to be contributors to the war machine.

For more information about this part of the "We Can Do It!" WWII exhibit at the Heinz History Center, check out Liz Simpson's blog post "A History of Curtiss-Wright During WWII" below.