Virtual Museums as Education Resources

Exploring Virtual Museums - This is an interactive WWW page which introduces the visitor to the concept of a "virtual museum" and suggests sites to visit, providing links to facilitate the exploration.

Welford and Wickham Primary School - An impressive collection of pages devoted to various topics in history which includes excellent graphics and student art as well as interesting text. Here you may learn about the Stuarts and the Aztecs, for example. The intent of these pages is education through exploration, communication and entertainment.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science They feature student projects such as theTopo New Mexico project--a project for students in grades 8 and higher in New Mexico. We should be excited about virtual museums because they have the power to inform and they have the power to construct information in new ways. For example, virtual museums can take a topic deep into a hierarchy, so that people can explore and learn at some depth a particular topic. People can feel free to explore tangents and get lost in this new space.-- Robert Guralnick, University of California - Berkeley Museum of Paleontolgy.

ELECTRONIC ELLIS ISLAND: A VIRTUAL HERITAGE MUSEUM Mission Statement: The mission of this museum is to chronicle and celebrate the diversity of the many cultures around our world through the eyes of children. The children and the staff at Alderwood Elementary (Bellingham, WA) have collected electronic artifacts which provide the basis for exploring origin and heritage and this site.

Fairhaven Turn of the Century Museum Fairhaven Middle School (Bellingham, WA) provides a local history museum showing life in the 1890s and early part of this century. Great photographs of timber, salmon fishing and canning as well as other aspects of community life.

Global Show-n-Tell Museum A wonderful online collection of children's art and other productions. They were awarded X-Journal's 1995 "Best Innovative New Service" Award. "We think this service exemplifies all that is good on the Internet and the World Wide Web, and is deserving of a corporate sponsor for increased bandwidth and capacity" Stephen Mikes, Editor, The X Journal, SIGS Publication, Inc. NY, NY May-June 1995, Vol 4, No 5. p. 78

The Lake Whatcom Centennial Museum Looking back on its history of 100 years, Lake Whatcom's history provides a microstudy of that which is rich in pioneer study for the Pacific Northwest. This museum include student writing, photos, and Internet links!

The Mastadon in Our Backyard dealing with the diversity of what was in our "backyards" 16,000 years ago and present day. Created by a third grade classroom in Lombard, Illinois as part of a collaborative project with the Illinois State Museum and Brookfield zoo.

Museums in the Classroom is a Learning Technology Initiative of the Illinois State Board of Education. In this initiative the ISBE is partnering with eight Illinois museums (or consortia of museums) to provide on-line access to museum artifacts, fine arts and histories. The museums involved in this project are partnered with a total of 200 classrooms (25 classrooms with each museum group) in order to bring students, artists, scientists, curators, educators, keepers, and technicians together to explore the issues of interest to the students. Students from the classrooms visit the museums to image objects from the museums collections and to work with museum personnel. Students are also video-conferencing with museum personnel from their classrooms. The on-line presentation of the student-constructed projects will be presented with a "kid spin" on both context and significance.

Pacific Rim Kulshan Middle School (Bellingham, WA) is developing resources to assist students as they compare and contrast Pacific Rim Cultures.

The Rice School Galleries (TX) including student writing, photography, and art. Some projects listed are: A student based Internet project for 6-8 graders taught by Ms. Kathy Heath and Dr. Carlos R. Solís centered around the life of Galileo Galilei; Miller Post: A weekly newsletter created by Michael Miller's 3-5 class; Children Overcoming Prejudice--Children from the k-2 clusters collected their thoughts on what it prejudice means and how to overcome it. They also collaborated with children from Manhasset ,NY via electronic mail. These pages reflect their work.

The Uxbridge (MA) Public Schools - The Discovery Museums A Partnership of the Uxbridge Public Schools and The Discovery Museums where students design interactive exhibits that are shared system-wide. School yards and classrooms become places for experimentation, exploration, and discovery.

Virtual Renaissance: Twin Groves Junior High School in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Virtual Renaissance has been created by students and teachers to provide an interactive resource to those interested in the life and times of the Renaissance period. The travelers to this Website will find themselves transported back through time and space to a period completely different from their own. They will meet many interesting characters who will be happy to speak with them about the many different people from this time period; what they did, who they were, and the accomplishments they achieved.

World Writers The following pages were created by students at Birchwood Elementary School, in Bellingham, Washington. Join them for a writing adventure where you will be able to get ideas for stories, see what other students are writing about, and get help with editing your stories.

Hooper Virtual Paleontological Museum Ontario college students have published their multimedia research reports at this very impressive site. A great model for what is possible.

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