Article Review

I truly enjoyed this article because it was a full blown hands on experience the whole way.  The method of teaching this social studies lesson was having the students do everything together on their own after the teacher gives them the information they needed to know.

            This article had five different treasure hunt strategies to strengthen children’s perceptions of the past.  The first strategy was to conduct a personal home furnishings inventory. The students had to chose a room in their home and use a home finishing inventory chart given out in class to describe what they see. When the form is completed the students should be able to figure out the time periods the furniture is from.  This is a great activity because it allows the students to ask their parents the history behind their furniture if they have a real old piece in the house.  The second strategy was the “then” and “now” class museum. Students would be looking at a Sears catalogue from 1897 and comparing it to a catalogue from present day. They would then be asked to bring in examples from the olden catalogue like a wooden spoon and have items from the new catalogue. The class would be set up as a museum to show the differences.  Strategy three was plan an old object with new uses and this allowed the students to look at outdated models of different items and think of ways they could be used today. Strategy four was plan a grandparents day where the student goes through their grandparents garage or attic to look for “treasure”.  The last strategy was a neighborhood treasure hunt. The students can break into groups or work alone to figure things out about their neighborhood. A treasure hunt list would be provided in class and they have to answer the questions.

            What I like about this lesson is that it allows the students to do all different things.  It allows them to get involved, research new things, interview their parents and grandparents and learn about the past.  What I don’t like about this activity is that some of it may be hard for students. I was thinking that if the students home only had modern furnishings or they couldn’t go to a grandparents house they might miss out on a lot of things. Personally my favorite one was the grandparents strategy because when I go through my grandma’s house I always find cool things, but thinking about it, it’s hard to get to my grandma’s house because she lives over an hour away.  I would find the neighborhood treasure hunt difficult because my neighborhood was built twenty years ago, so many of the items on that list would be impossible for me to find. 

            Overall I believe this could be a great activity but the teacher would have to do a little research about the students before it could be assigned. I think if the students can’t use their own homes then something should be arranged for them to go to a museum or an old historic house for them to conduct this activity. The idea behind this activity is great but it just might need to get tweaked for all the students to do it.