What is an Educational Virtual Museum?

Enjoy viewing and using the virtual museum samples attached below. These examples were created by teachers of students in grades 3, 4, and 5 during a Teaching American History Grant module on Native Americans.

• The Iroquois by Ryan Keeler, 5th grade student
  
• Native American Food Museum by Tina Tenenholtz, Teacher
  
• Native American Housing Museum by Suzanne Hill, Teacher
• Native American Housing Museum by Monica Modesitt, Teacher
• Native American Food Museum by Laurie Nicholas, Teacher
• Native American Food Museum by Donelle Stevens, Teacher
• Native American Food Museum by Kristin Karyczak, Teacher
• Native American Economics Museum by Jennifer Bonilla, Teacher
• Mayan Museum by John Yoder, Teacher

Virtual Museum Templates

Below are links to several sample virtual museum rooms I developed based on an example I was provided by the generous educators at Keith Valley Middle School. The first sample is a full template to use in the development of a virtual museum. Use and share it freely. The room samples, with the exception of "Class Slides," were all developed by Keith Valley personnel and I modified them for use in new museums. Note that the "rooms," as opposed to the template, do not include active links.

Full Virtual Museum Templates

• Warneka Design—4 rooms, 13 artifacts
  
• Blue-Yellow Design—4 rooms, 16 artifacts
  
• Grand Entry Design—5 rooms, 23 artifacts [Note: With the exception of the text and wall hangings, the graphic elements in the museum entrance are grouped. To make changes to this template, ungroup the project.]
  

Virtual Museum Rooms

• Grand Entry
• Class Slides
• Long Walls
• Psychodelic
• Blue Walls
  

Using Virtual Museum Templates

This video teaches the process of using a virtual museum template to create a virtual museum. The focus of the video is on using tools to insert pictures and create non-linear hyperlinks within PowerPoint.

Video: Creating Your Own Virtual Museum Rooms

This video introduces a method of creating virtual museum "rooms" in PowerPoint.

This video introduces a method of creating virtual museum "rooms" using PowerPoint.

Benefits of Using Virtual Museums

During an in-class activity of the Teaching American History Grant module on Native Americans and Technology Integration, third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers responded to prompts. The prompts and their responses appear below.

• What is the purpose of a virtual museum?
• They enable teachers to infuse 21st Century Skills into traditional learning.
• They promote cross-curricular integration by having students link ideas.
  
• The museums provide new, meaningful, and contemporary opportunities to integrate technology.
• They help students gain presentation skills.
• They motivate student learning through high-interest activities.
  
• Research for the museum and the construction of the museum requires students engage in higher-level thinking.
  
• They allow for differentiated instruction/learning.
• They offer students opportunities to think flexibly and creatively.
  
• Virtual museums offer a form of interactive and engaging learning.
• They engage students in content learning.
• They offer a form of visual and kinesthetic learning.
• They are a means of sharing what students learn at school with their parents at home.
  
• Virtual museums require students use research-based skills and primary sources.
• They encourage students to write.
• They appeal to students who are visual learners.
• They teach design and aesthetic concepts taught in art classes, and, if including music, aural concepts and connections between art and music.
  
• Other than virtual museums, what PowerPoint-based projects could you assign your students?
• Timelines
• Games: Jeopardy
• Research Reports
• Book Reports (e.g., each student in the class could write a book report and the artifacts on the walls would be the book covers)
  
• Flipcharts
• Presentations
• Illustrated Glossaries
• Flash Cards
• Interactive Biographies
• Role Playing Activities
• News Articles
• Virtual Field Trips
• Video Slideshows
• Picture Books for Sharing with Younger Students
  
• How could you use virtual museums to teach integrated subjects?
• Students could create rooms about topics other than history (e.g., math, science, literature, civics, geography).
• Students could create rooms on a single theme with each room representing a different content area (e.g., If studying Galileo, one room may focus on geometry, one about daily living during his time, one with a written biography, and one on the science of his time).
• Students could present the rooms in the form of an auction with bidding starting at a set amount for each picture.
• Have students use the same pictures in each room, but use different writing styles for the placards (e.g., biography, persuasive, descriptive).
• Use the museums to teach research, notetaking, and writing skills.
• Have students create museums as portfolio assessments of all content areas from a single semester.
• The teacher may use the museum development process to teach students to follow and give directions.
  
• How would you organize your class and students if planning for them to create virtual museums?
• Place students in heterogeneous or homogeneous groups depending on the teacher or school philosophy.
• Offer student the opportunity to work on virtual museums in centers.
• Organize students using a jigsaw method to first learn about content in one group and then the new group creates one room with the same content. All groups would complete museum rooms with the same content and students could compare and contrast the rooms.
• Introduce the entire class to the virtual museum concept, and then have students rotate through the process by working in small groups.
• Have students work in small groups. Each group populates one room and the whole class creates a single museum.
• Have one or two students responsible for only one picture and one placard. The teacher could combine student work into the final museum.
• Develop groups including novice and experienced technology users and novice and experienced writers.
• Have the entire class create a single room using a projector. Students could vote on which pictures they feel are most applicable to the topic, and the class could collectively write the placards. Alternatively, each table group could collectively write a single placard.
  
• How would you grade a virtual museum?
• Is the museum visually appealing?
• Do the placards include proper spelling and grammar?
• Is the content accurate and thorough?
• Did students work well collaboratively?
• Did students employ strong organizational skills?
• Do the placards match the pictures?
• Use a student-generated rubric that includes an element of teacher observation.