![\"Neag](\"http:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/1978855_10151945196966765_1167663800_n.jpg\")
<\/a>Having students use their phones as part of the school day requires, in most school systems, advance parent permission slips and instructions on how to download free QR code scanning apps. But the potential results, Marcus believes, is well worth the effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids love their phones, so why not use them as part of learning, when they can be used so effectively?\u201d Marcus said. \u201cSmartphones use will allow us to capture students\u2019 real-time reactions to what they\u2019re taking in. Teachers can then use that collected data have rich follow-up conversations in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewell continued:\u201dThis kind of critical thinking and inquiry is at the heart of common core standards and makes this exhibit a real learning opportunity. The footnotes provide an important, added dimension, showing how finances, politics, societal pressure, personal preference and other factors influenced the final product. They show that an educational exhibit may not necessarily be an objective one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus said he hopes the success of the Neag-Fairfield Museum partnership will encourage similar collaborations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnow, Sand & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII\u201d also includes footnotes.<\/p>\n
Created by students in the Neag School\u2019s history teacher education program in collaboration with staff from the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, the exhibit explores the role weather and geography played in World War II military strategy and battle outcomes, as well as how it impacted civilians. Military leaders worked hard not just to limit the challenges geography and weather caused, but to take advantage of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exhibition is the culmination of three years of effort by the students to explore WWII from multiple perspectives and to study museum education,\u201d said Marcus, who served as faculty advisor for the project. \u201cThe students visited WWII sites and museums in Europe, participated in workshops with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and took related coursework. This exhibit is an expression of their growth and development as historians and teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Divided into seven display panels, each section is anchored by a guiding question detailing a specific aspect of the war. Students worked with museum staff member Collin Harty, who oversees exhibit and communication design. \u201cCollaboration with Connecticut State Museum of Natural History staff provided a wonderful learning experience for the students,\u201d Marcus added. \u201cThey received hands-on training that enhanced their understanding of how museum staff create exhibitions and helped them think about how to use, and collaborate with, museums in their future roles as history teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Connecticut Museum of Natural History also helped fund the Fairfield \u201cBehind the Scenes: Museum Footnotes\u201d project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that one of the results of these efforts is that they change the way people approach museums and make them part of their curriculums,\u201d Marcus said.<\/p>\n
For more information about \u201cSnow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII,\u201d visit\u00a0http:\/\/ww2weathergeography.weebly.com<\/a>\u00a0or call (860) 486-4460. The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.<\/p>\n