1. Freer and Sackler Galleries
How do you see the world? What’s your point of view? Join staff at the Freer and Sackler Galleries for a breakout session that explores perspective taking and how visual media impacts worldviews. We’ll examine diverse takes on the subject in the special exhibition Symbolic Cities: The Work of Ahmed Mater, and engage in creative and reflective strategies you can employ in your classroom. New online resources, including the museum’s digitized collection, will also be shared.
Most applicable for teachers interested in strategies for enhancing the 21st century skill of global competency.
2. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s ARTLAB+
This hands-on session will give teachers a first-hand experience with the unique All Access Digital Arts Program. Since 2011, ARTLAB+ at the Hirshhorn Museum and the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access have collaborated on a museum immersion program for teens with cognitive disabilities. All Access utilizes the wider Smithsonian and the digital arts studio within ARTLAB+ as a means to help the teens explore and develop their creativity and self-expression through digital media tools, and to provide a much needed and inclusive social network. Teachers attending this session will have opportunities to learn more about the program’s progression over time, experience museum content, and create in 3D using both paper and digital tools!
Most applicable for teachers interested in strategies for differentiated instruction and use of digital tools in the classroom.
3. National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum houses the largest collection of air and spacecraft in the world. These artifacts include the Wright brothers’ first airplane, which flew only twelve feet on its first try, and the Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia," which made the incredible journey back from the Moon carrying the first humans ever to set foot on a celestial body. The National Air and Space Museum breakout session will begin with an introduction to NASM’s new web based offerings and programs. We’ll also take some time to explore the Wright Brothers Gallery and take a tour through our latest exhibit A New Moon Rises Views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Educators will also be introduced to our new interactive webcast series “STEM in 30”.
Most applicable for STEM and history teachers interested in object-based learning strategies and connecting with experts via webcast.
4. National Museum of African Art
The Arts Can Take You Places! How many of the 55 African countries that compose the world’s 2nd largest continent can you name - other than Egypt? Enrich your teaching by fostering awareness of Africa as the birthplace of humanity and the extraordinary contributions of Africans to the arts, sciences, and global heritage. Learn how the National Museum of African Art uses object-based teaching and its world-renowned collections to break down stereotypes and reflect on the influence of African art in the formation of Modernism in the West. Consider numerous themes that cross disciplines and subject areas to include language arts, social studies, geography, world history, astronomy, math, and the environmental sciences –our own STEM to STEAM! This session will include a brief tour of the exhibitions, short gallery activity, and a behind the scenes visit.
Most applicable for elementary teachers interested in cross-disciplinary approaches.
5. National Museum of American History
Meet the Wheelwoman! Join us to participate in a theater program on the impact of the bicycle on American life, and consider how storytelling can draw learners into history. Participants will meet with the museum’s Director of Program and Experience Design about developing theater programs and will participate in theater games to support instruction.
Most applicable for elementary and secondary teachers interested in use of storytelling and drama to enhance instruction.
6. National Museum of American History’s Lemelson Center
After a tour of Spark!Lab, the Lemelson Center’s hands-on invention center for kids and families, teachers will work together to create a hands-on invention activity. With guidance from Spark!Lab staff, teachers will brainstorm a theme or topic for the activity, select materials, and develop instructional signs. Finally, they will introduce the activity to Spark!Lab visitors and assess the activity’s effectiveness. The workshop will conclude with a discussion of how this type of activity might be used in the classroom.
Most applicable for teachers interested in hands-on learning approaches and open-ended challenge- based learning.
7. National Museum of Natural History
At the National Museum of Natural History, teachers will explore collections based learning through behind the scenes access, onsite school programs, and online resources. The morning will start with a behind the scenes experience with Forensic Anthropologist Kari Bruwelheide, and end in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, where the teachers will see how her department’s scientific research was translated into the onsite school program “A Grizzly Discovery”, and a Mummy Science-based Learning Lab collection.
Most applicable for science and social studies teachers interested in activities grounded in real-world research.
8. National Portrait Gallery
Explore the connections among social studies, English language arts, and visual arts in this breakout session at the National Portrait Gallery. Museum educators will take a broad look at the museum’s collection and will introduce ways to use portraiture in the classroom to teach the Common Core State Standards. Utilizing an interactive approach, participants will learn how to "read" portraiture and use the art as a springboard to more in-depth discussions.
Most applicable for social studies, ELA and visual arts teachers interested in a series of visual thinking strategies and lines of questioning for deep engagement with portraiture.
9. Smithsonian American Art Museum See –Think –Wonder: Engaging with art to inspire. Step inside the Renwick Gallery's “Wonder”-filled, room-sized sculptures for a workshop focused on inspiring meaningful student inquiry. Explore artworks that pique your curiosity. Peel back their layered meanings to discover how humble, workaday materials build bridges to issues of global significance. Meet the mastermind behind the Wonder exhibition, curator Nicholas Bell. Collaborate with other educators: how can you integrate visual thinking routines, environmental themes, and artists’ creative approaches into your curriculum? Learn by doing: no prior knowledge of art required.
Most applicable for teachers interested in cross-disciplinary connections grounded in the visual arts through a series of visual thinking strategies.
At the center of research across the Smithsonian are specialized libraries. The network of 20 branches that make up Smithsonian Libraries are a hidden national treasure, where experts come to test and expand knowledge and where America and the world can turn for authentic answers. Come preview our first outreach tool, SEE/WONDER, based on our collection of 15,000 scanned images from rare and modern books. This prototype pairs high resolution images, from across all subject matter, with contextual information written for a student audience, featuring interaction tools that allow your class to share their observations directly with Smithsonian Libraries. We will explore the digital versions and then get a chance to tour our rare books library, where you can see the actual image up close and have a chance to share what you see and wonder.
Most applicable for teachers interested in honing students’ observation and analysis skills through imagery in a variety of subject areas.