LYNN — Lynn Public Schools students are experiencing hands-on learning in their social studies classes thanks to a partnership with the Lynn Museum & Arts Center.
For the second straight year, all 1,300 Lynn third-graders are visiting the museum as part of the History Detectives program. The student experience begins with students watching a video created by Lynn Community Television featuring local bootmaker Sarah Guern, as she explains how shoes were made with handmade tools, highlighting the history of Lynn as the “Shoe City.” The museum program focuses on the history of Lynn’s craft and industry.
The students can touch exhibits and artifacts and ask questions, according to Kristen M. Tabacco, LPS assistant director of Curriculum & Instruction, History PreK-12, who said the hands-on learning opportunity ties in with the state’s grade 3 frameworks for social studies, which focus on learning about Massachusetts. The students also receive a free membership card for the museum.
“Place-based learning is essential for grounding students in local history, especially whereas we live in one of the oldest parts of the United States,” Tabacco said, as about 50 third-graders from Cobbet Elementary toured the museum Tuesday. “The students get to interact with local historians and learn about the community they live in.”
Tabacco said History Detectives also ties in with the Investigating History curriculum offered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which several Lynn schools have been piloting this year.
The LPS third-graders started coming to the museum March 26 and the last group is scheduled to visit May 2. In addition to teachers, students from the Lynn English MCJROTC program are volunteering as chaperones during the visits, organizing the students and assisting with translation for some, which is very helpful according to museum Executive Director Doneeca Thurston-Chavez.
Lynn Classical High School 2020 graduate Bethany Russell, who is studying Community Education at Salem State University, is completing an internship at the Lynn Museum. The capstone project for her course will center on the Lynn Museum History Detectives Program, which has added a level of support for the program.
Ghafour Diallo, a Lynn English junior MCJROTC member and Lynn Museum intern, said he enjoys helping students learn about the history of Lynn.
“In the ROTC program, we learn about leadership and being good citizens and helping the community,” Diallo said.
While LPS funds the History Detectives program, Essex National Heritage Area provided a new grant this year that was used to supply the students with snacks during their visit to the museum.
“We are interested in helping schools make connections to their museums and historical societies and understand what makes their community unique,” said Beth Beringer, director of Education Programs at Essex Heritage.
All grade three students are invited to a special open house at the Lynn Museum on May 14 at which they can share what they learned about Lynn with their families.
