<p>This collection, along with its <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/replicable-activities-to-become-conversant-using-digital-museum-resources-in-the-classroom-flashcards/r0h2qObCwQZvSGxR" target="_blank">companion flashcard activity collection</a>, is designed to demonstrate various ways to use the Learning Lab and its tools, while offering specific, replicable, pre-engagement activities that can simply be copied to a new collection and used to help students engage with museum resources. The activities below can be used in both a virtual and in-person classroom in a variety of ways - to introduce concepts, to develop observational skills in students and confidence in their ability to express their ideas, perhaps as an activity to prepare them to visit a museum, and much more. <br></p>
<p>Included here are three sets of looking activities that pair works of art and other resources from the Smithsonian collections with thinking routines - "See, Think, Wonder," "The 3 Y's," "Step In, Step Out, Step Back," and "Think, Feel, Care" - from Harvard's Project Zero Visible Thinking and Global Thinking materials, to help participants develop their observational skills and to encourage a cross-disciplinary approach to help students think critically, globally, and empathetically. As you explore the objects below, we encourage you to move directly to the padlet so that you can do the first part of the activity - the "See, Think, Wonder" routine - before you have read the title and supplementary information next to the artwork itself. After doing the first part of the close-looking activity, you can then return to the Learning Lab collection to view the correlating video in the second part of each looking activity, and then record your next set of comments in the padlet. </p>
<p>Content in the "Additional Resources" section will help you in creating your own Learning Lab collection. Be sure also to check the <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/help" target="_blank">Learning Lab Help Page </a>for specific guidance in creating your collection. </p>
<p>This collection complements the opening unit, "Introduction to the Learning Lab and Museum Resources," of the EdX course, <em><a href="https://www.edx.org/course/teaching-with-the-smithsonian-addressing-21st-century-challenges-in-the-community-college-classroom" target="_blank">Teaching with the Smithsonian: Addressing 21st-Century Challenges in the College Classroom</a></em><em>. </em></p>
<p>#MCTeach #EdXTeach</p>
Philippa Rappoport
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