Updates
Smithsonian Learning Lab at ISTE: Conference Recap
Just two weeks ago, members of the Smithsonian Learning Lab team headed off to Denver for the annual ISTE conference, along with 16,000 other educators from around the world. Every conversation I had with teachers got me more and more excited about the potential of the Smithsonian Learning Lab and its use in classrooms across the country. Many of the teachers that I spoke with were looking forward to using the Smithsonian Learning...
Creating with the Learning Lab
By: Kate Harris, Learning Lab Coordinator, Pittsburgh, PA Teacher Tom Gray was not content just using artifacts from the Smithsonian Learning Lab to illustrate historical concepts or to practice analyzing visuals (although he found creative ways to do that with Civil War images). Instead, he wanted to see what students could make themselves using the fascinating resources within the Lab. Inspired by a collection made by Linda Muller that asked "John Brown: Mad...
Partnering Reading with Museum Resources
By Michelle Knovic Smith, Associate Director for Media, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access Museum-going and reading may seem like two very different ways to learn about the world. One is about looking at and "taking-in" ideas and concepts in the company of other people. The other is the solitary processing of words on the page. However, digital media is bringing these two experiences much closer together than ever ...
Smithsonian Learning Lab Launches at ISTE 2016
Colorado, here we come! Next week, Learning Lab team members will travel to Denver, Colorado, for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. Here's where you can find us from Monday, June 27– Wednesday, June 29? Check out the full schedule here. Some of the conference highlights you won't want to miss include: Make and take your own digital collection with Smithsonian Learning Lab Monday, J...
Exploring Essential Questions with a Group of Objects
By: Tess Porter, Educational Technician, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access Trying to brainstorm your next Learning Lab collection, but not sure where to start? With a particular topic in mind, creating a large collection of objects and grounding them in a few guiding questions can be a great way to create a simple, investigative, multi-disciplinary, evidence-based, discussion-sparking collection for your students....
