Curiosity-Driven Learning Museum

Dylan found out exactly what kind of adornment would have been on the jars that the deceased person's stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines were placed in and made replicas.

Brooke created a sculpture of Bastet, the goddess of Pharoahs and cats, featuring a drawing of a scarab, the symbol of immortality and protection.

The Curiosity-Driven Learning Museum was an opportunity for sixth graders on Team Impact and Team Perspective to research any topic related to material they had covered in social studies—prehistory, Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The result was a fascinating exhibit of hand-crafted, topic-related artifacts and an opportunity to learn from the sixth grade experts who created them.  

John Jay Middle School's library was the hub of the research project. Not only was the museum held there,  the projects also started there. Social Studies teachers Mark Grossman and Kathy O'Brien brought their students to the learning space to hone their digital research and organization skills with Staff Developer Cathryn Graybosch and Library Media Specialist Jenn Useted. 

"Students were motivated to be creative, think critically, and express themselves through their creations," said Grossman, a teacher with Team Perspective.

"They could modify and redefine the focus of their topics as much or as little as they wanted to as their research unfolded, which provided them with an opportunity to truly let their curiosity drive their learning," added O'Brien, a teacher with Team Impact.