A museum is a place that retains objects a society deems valuable.
Those valued objects may represent national interests, art, technology, history, science, or other aspects of our culture, but most assuredly, museums are no longer stodgy, old buildings with ancient artifacts behind glass walls or untouchable works of art. Museums have become architectural feats with interactive and multimedia rich exhibits to both entertain and educate their visitors since museum patrons are ever more visual and kinesthetic learners who require hands-on activities and media to tease their senses and stimulate active learning, not passive viewing.
When educators and students lack the funds or location restrictions to visit these monoliths of society, the internet is the next best means to bring the resources that museums offer right to the classroom. Aside from the opportunity to enjoy a virtual tour of a museum’s physical locale and its exhibits, their online resources should enhance Project-based Learning, making it authentic with inquiry and research instruments to develop critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills that lead the learner toward real-world applications of their gained knowledge.
My top choices represent museums whose missions are to stimulate intellectual curiosity and do so with a plethora of online resources. In addition to the standards of quality used to evaluate websites, I am focusing on interactivity, visual stimulation, validity, and a “coolness” factor in my ranking of what I deem the “best” museums with an online presence. Shining a spotlight on these evaluation elements means the sites I’ve chosen as “best” encourage students to explore more by doing something other than reading text and make teachers want to share because the content is driven by research, problem solving, and high level thinking strategies.
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| National Archives |
“Teaching with primary documents encourages a varied learning environment for teachers and students alike. Lectures, demonstrations, analysis of documents, independent research, and group work become a gateway for research with historical records in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities.”
This website ranks number one not only because of its outstanding primary resources for educators and students but because it houses our nation’s most esteemed documents. Every American should take the opportunity to visit the National Archives if for no other reason then to stand in witness to the dimly lit, climate controlled, heavily guarded, glass enclosed Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States. They are the nation’s definitive documents of freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, not all of us can afford such an opportunity, so the online exhibits bring the Archives to our homes and classrooms. We can conveniently view the pieces of history that have made us the nation we are today.
The focused online exhibits contain documented photographs, original testimonies, political cartoons, film clips and recordings, letters, diaries, and audio pieces that chronicle America’s history. Documented Rights, Charters of Freedom, Electing a President, The Way We Worked, and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake are just a few of the featured exhibits that give us a glimpse of our most precious national artifacts.
The Digital Classroom of the Archives provides teaching activities that are correlated to national standards and makes cross-curricular connections. Teachers will find printable worksheets for analyzing written documents, artifacts, cartoons, sound recordings, motion pictures, posters, photographs, and maps that will develop thinking skills prior to working with the online exhibits. A teacher is not limited to using the packaged exhibits contained within this site; she could develop her own units of study by choosing any of the sources available from the Archives.
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| Smithsonian |
The Resources Library contains printable lesson plans based on primary sources that are searchable by grade, subject, state/national standards, and specific museum. Publications and online conferences are also available sources for teachers.
Every educator’s goal is for her students to ask questions, think critically, and write effectively. In the IdeaLab for Artifacts and Analysis, teachers are provided a strategy for incorporating historical artifacts and documents into their curriculum to reinforce inquiry skills to emphasize analytical thinking and writing.
The IdeaLabs for students include US Rationing during WWII, Digging for Answers, Walking on the Moon, and Mr. President. These eye-catching, interactive lessons provide students opportunities to explore primary sources—such as photographs and audio and video recordings. In Prehistoric Climate Change, students learn to examine the fossils of tree leaves and use their findings in a mathematical equation that tells how high the temperatures rose in prehistoric times and how to extrapolate that information to today.
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| The Museum of Modern Art |
The third ranked Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art has audio, video, and images of great artists as resources to educators and students alike. Programs devoted to specific collections and special exhibits with artist and curator talks can be easily accessed through the Online Projects and Online Communities links of MoMA. Modern Teachers connects educators with MoMA’s resources and collection with guides, lessons, and images to use with their K-12 classes. Students and teachers can register to create their own collection of images for a project or lesson too.
Teens are just one focus group for the museum. The Red Studio is the place for them to go behind the scenes to post questions for artists, manipulate pieces of art, and listen to or create their own podcasts on topics like, “What does the American flag represent? Is a painting still a painting if it's made of chocolate or nails? How is the Museum like a teacup? What does the word "metaphysical" mean to you?” Contest links offer students a place to upload their artwork and compete for honors.
Kids love the works of Tim Burton, including the claymation/animated films “Night Before Christmas” and “Corpse Bride.” In Online Projects, students will find a multimedia lesson to watch two videos of Burton discussing his creative process and art.
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| AMNH |
“Resources for Learning were developed by the American Museum of Natural History to make our extensive collection of scientific and educational materials more readily available to anyone who is interested in teaching and learning about science…Resources on this Web site can help you explain and explore scientific topics and methods. Each resource has a concise description that includes a title, resource type, grade level, and key concepts.”
Educators will find the extensive online sources from the American Museum of Natural History organized by Activities, Curriculum Materials, Articles, Evidence and Analysis, Exhibition Materials, and Reference Lists, according to subject areas of Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Earth Science, or Paleontology and sub-topics in each. In the Special Collections, colorful, grade-level appropriate interactive and multimedia presentations supplement in-depth curriculum topics such as Antarctica or Biodiversity.
In addition, the AMNH is well known for their fascinating dioramas in each exhibit hall, and while they are amazing to view in person, online visitors can enjoy them conveniently too through life like virtual tours.
“The Museum's habitat group dioramas, located extensively throughout its halls, are among the most renowned and beloved exhibits at the Museum. With precise depictions of geographical locations and the careful, anatomically correct mounting of specimens, these stunning dioramas are windows onto a world of animals, their behavior, and their habitats. Moreover, since many of the environments represented have been exploited or degraded, some dioramas preserve places and animals as they no longer exist. The viewer of a habitat group diorama is able to travel not only across continents, but also, in some cases, through time....
The habitat dioramas are among the greatest treasures of the American Museum of Natural History, Perhaps nothing embodies the spirit and mission of the Museum so completely as these amazing technical feats of illusion, which are recognized internationally as superb examples of the fusion of art and science." –Lewis W. Bernard, Chairman of the American Museum of Natural History
Ology.com is the museum’s website for kids to explore science adventures, activities, and more.
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| Virtual Williamsburg |
“The sights and sounds of the 18th century: Experience life as it was in our nation's yesterdays…
Our tools for educators bring the excitement of history alive for students. Uncommon classroom resources combine historical content with modern media and teaching methods.”
This spectacular, award winning site is an interactive and media-rich resource replete with bios, essays, and articles on the everyday lives of extraordinary 18th century Virginia. The virtual tour of the Colonial Williamsburg includes maps, music, images, and timelines fully depicting each building and events in the town and nation highlighted.
Resources allow glimpses into the everyday lives of the people of the colony, politicians of the day, clothing, music and more. Multimedia sources include video, audio, photos, blogs, and games.
This site does not provide teachers with specific lesson plans, but it certainly makes the list of “best” museums because of the interactive quality and quantity of resources for students, allowing them to research and explore life during colonial times. Teachers could certainly develop their own plans of study with the multitude of options provided here. A virtual scavenger hunt could take students from building to building and across the span of events illustrated in the timelines.
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| USHMM |
“A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires leaders and citizens to confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy.”
The most heinous acts of violence and hate against a group of people took place during the Holocaust of World War II. This museum is a memorial to those who lost their lives, survivors, and a celebration of how nations, groups, and individuals fought the terror of the Nazis and their resistance efforts to protect Jews. The museum provides many online resources for teachers striving to help students learn the history of the Holocaust and reflect upon the moral and ethical questions raised by that history. Holocaust research sources include animated maps with timeline layers, official documents, photos of artifacts, and videotaped stories from survivors. Lessons for the Classroom and Activities are available for download as support for teachers, and Online Exhibitions and Encyclopedias are excellent sources for students to research further.
But the resources do not end with the Holocaust of yesterday because the world’s citizenry is still threatened by extreme acts of violence and hate; Contemporary Issues on Genocide and Anti-Semitism, Non-Jewish Victims of Hate (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Poles, Homosexuals, Handicapped, Sinti and Roma Gypsies), and Conscience Raising sources are here on this site as well.
