Teacher Galleries

Created by: Alex

Created by: Andrea

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. This gallery features artifacts from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Permanent Collections from this region of the world. Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

Created by: Ashleigh

Eighth graders from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle School hosted Student Docent Day on September 26, 2018 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. As part of their Place Based Design class, students collaborated with Museum staff to chose an artifact from the Museum’s Collections and, through their classwork and research, designed a story to guide Museum visitors to a deeper understanding of their chosen artifact and how it relates to existing exhibits. The Student Docent Day project is a culmination of what the students have learned and experienced throughout their time at the middle school. This project allows students to share their work with a real audience; their interpretation provides GRPM visitors and field trip groups with an engaging, fresh perspective on our exhibits.

Created by: Alex

This selection of artifacts was used by the Grand Rapids Public Museum School in 2018. High school students will study the Industrial Revolution through hands-on exploration of artifacts.

Created by: Andrea

Can you imagine that the only way to talk to your friend is by letter because the telephone has not been invented? What about telling time not on your wristwatch, but by relying on the position of the sun? Or that there are no computers to type on or emails to send, just a quill and an inkwell?

From technological to medical devices, these artifacts selected by the Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle School students are common everyday artifacts from the GRPM’s Collection that are often overlooked as important inventions. They can inspire us to think about the incredible work done by inventors to solve problems and design devices that have not only made our lives easier - but better!

In the ancient world, the lyceum was where the greatest Greek philosophers taught. The concept of the lyceum was revived by American intellectuals in the 19th century who believed that public education was an important part of our democracy. Founded in 1854, the Grand Rapids Public Museum was originally named the Grand Rapids Lyceum of Natural History. In 2015 the Grand Rapids Public Museum School was founded with many community partners. The Museum School has developed its own version of the lyceum - an innovative after-school program that pairs local experts with middle school learners to exercise their minds and bodies by exploring an eclectic range of topics.

This changing exhibit was created by a class of lyceum students who designed the exhibit from start to finish, choosing the topic, selecting the artifacts and writing the text.

L is for Lyceum is one section of the interactive exhibit Collecting A to Z. This exhibit includes thousands of treasures from the GRPM’s Collections featured throughout the Museum.

Created by: Andrea

This Collection will be featured in 6th Grade Science Classroom of the Grand Rapids Public Museum School. Throughout the year these specimens will be referenced for curriculum relating to Michigan Ecology and Pop Dynamics.

Created by: Andrea

5th-grade students from the Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center compiled historic photos from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Collection for their ArtPrize installation entitled: Perspectives on Transformation in a Community. The goal of the project was to find up to five historical images of Grand Rapids, investigate the precise locations of the images as well as the site from which they were taken, enlarge the photographs, and then strategically place them in a position to allow observers a perspective on transformation in the community. There full project description can be found here: https://www.artprize.org/57479.

Created by: Erin

120 eighth grade students from Valleywood Middle School in Kentwood Public Schools participated in an exhibit design project in partnership with GRPM. Student groups selected an artifact or specimen from the GRPM's Collections and researched their object. These objects were loaned into the classroom for students to engage with more deeply. Valleywood students visited the Museum to gain insight on what goes into successful exhibit creation. They interviewed a panel of exhibit designers and curators to get advice on design considerations and how to engage audiences around the stories that artifacts hold. To wrap up the project, Valleywood hosted an exhibit gallery showcase where community partners and other students were invited to view the students' exhibit designs, featuring the real GRPM artifacts and specimens.

Created by: Andrea

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote. This Collection of artifacts can be used to help teach about this important event in American history and explore the subject of equal voting rights today.

Created by: Ashleigh

Eighth graders from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle School hosted Student Docent Day on December 5, 2018 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. As part of their Place Based Design class, students worked with Museum staff to choose an object from the Museum’s Collections and through their classwork and research, designed a story to guide Museum visitors to a deeper understanding of their chosen object and how it relates to existing exhibits. The Student Docent Day project is a culmination of what the students have learned and experienced throughout their time at the middle school. This project allows students to share their work with a real audience; their interpretation provides GRPM visitors and field trip groups with an engaging, fresh perspective on our exhibits.

Created by: Andrea

Pegeen Jefchak a 3rd-grade teacher for Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center selected fossils from Michigan. Her students examined these fossils to glean information about Michigan's prehistoric past.

Created by: Andrea

The following gallery showcases artifacts found in Inspired Style, a collaborative fashion project between the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University’s (KCAD) Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion. For this project, student fashion designers from the class Fashion Design: Fashion Archaeology (KCFS 310) visited the GRPM Archives and each selected a historic garment they were inspired by. The GRPM preserves more than 10,000 clothing and accessory pieces from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries for exhibition and educational use.

Archaeology can be defined as the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. Students were asked to excavate and evaluate the deep-rooted influences on fashion throughout history by using the GRPM clothing archives. They researched their pieces and were inspired by the society and culture they were originally created as well as historic sewing, textiles and details. Inspired Style showcases the work of student fashion designers paired with the GRPM garment that influenced their project.

Created by: Alanna

A collection of late nineteenth and twentieth-century objects selected by the Timothy C. Hauenstein Reynolds Township Library for a special summer program. Their program related to the local history in Reynolds Township which had a history of logging. Educators also wanted the program to offer hands-on toys and games.

Created by: Alex

Student's from Jordan Fenton's class, "Oceanic Art and the Global Age" at Kendall College of Art and Design have selected these objects from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Ethnology Collections for further research.

Over the course of the Summer 2014 semester each student in the class will visit the GRPM archives multiple times to select and closely examine objects from the collections.  The students will complete a research and documentation project on an Oceanic artifact which will enhance their learning and provide valuable information for the Museum's records.

Created by: Ashleigh

A glimpse into the GRPM's collection of presidential mementos. What souvenirs or mementos do you like to collect?

Created by: Alex

Classes from the Calvin College History Department regularly visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Archives. This grouping of artifacts was selected by students for study in 2016. 

Created by: Ashleigh

Eighth graders from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle School hosted Student Docent Day on March 11, 2020 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. As part of their Place Based Design class, students collaborated with Museum staff to chose an artifact from the Museum’s Collections and, through their classwork and research, designed a story to guide Museum visitors to a deeper understanding of their chosen artifact and how it relates to existing exhibits. The Student Docent Day project is a culmination of what the students have learned and experienced throughout their time at the middle school. This project allows students to share their work with a real audience; their interpretation provides GRPM visitors and field trip groups with an engaging, fresh perspective on our exhibits.

Created by: Alex

These thought-provoking natural science specimens are used for an annual collaboration with Forest Hills Central High School and the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids. Typically the program includes about 350 students who visit the Zoo and GRPM has provided 64 Tier 3 specimens from its Collections to place at stations around the Zoo. Students visit each station to do a hands-on activity about an aspect of evolutionary biology, ecological niches, anatomy and physiology, etc.

Created by: Andrea

Created by: Ashleigh

What do you wonder about working in the logging industry at its height from the 1840s through the early 1900s? What do you think it would be like to be a logger at this time of year?

Created by: Alex

Student's from Jordan Fenton's class, "Oceanic Art and the Global Age" at Kendall College of Art and Design have selected these objects from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Ethnology Collections for further research.

Over the course of the semester each student in the class will visit the GRPM archives multiple times to select and closely examine objects from the collections.  The students will complete a research and documentation project on an Oceanic artifact which will enhance their learning and provide valuable information for the Museum's records.

Created by: Alex

The following artifact gallery is part of a curated exhibit by 5th grade students of Harrison Park Elementry School, Grand Rapids.

These Museum artifacts help us understand how 14 million people depend on the Grand River for fresh water and domestic supplies. In the past, the Grand River was used mostly for food, transportation, and bathing. However, as people became more settled the river has changed a lot since the environmental dark ages of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
 
Below are some of our favorite Grand River Facts:
 
• Early settlers reshaped the downtowns terrain in about 30 years. At one time there were REAL rapids.
 
• The Grand River is the longest river in Michigan! It measures 260 miles in length.
 
• The Ottawa Indians inhabited this area and called it “Owashtanog”, meaning “far away water” before the European Fur Traders arrived.
 
• The river had man dug canals that powered about 86 factories.
 
• The Grand River starts by rising in Jackson County, then flows into Lansing, and empties into Lake Michigan in Grand Haven.
 
•A long time ago, the mile of boulder strewn rapids through Leonard Street and Pearl Street made the Grand River drop 18 feet. Today there are no rapids because the rock and limestone was removed to build the buildings of Grand Rapids.

Created by: Ashleigh

Canoemobile is a “floating classroom” that brings students out on local waterways in 24-foot Voyageur canoes to learn about science, history, geography, and culture.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum partnered with Grand Rapids Public Schools to run programming that considered the following driving questions: How has the Grand River shaped the development of Grand Rapids? How has the Grand River affected the lives of the people who live in Grand Rapids? And, how has the Grand River changed over time?
Students investigated historical Grand River artifacts and specimens in addition to studying a timeline highlighting the develop of the city of Grand Rapids.

Created by: Ashleigh

Eighth graders from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle School hosted Student Docent Day on May 15, 2019 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. As part of their Place Based Design class, students collaborated with Museum staff to chose an artifact from the Museum’s Collections and, through their classwork and research, designed a story to guide Museum visitors to a deeper understanding of their chosen artifact and how it relates to existing exhibits. The Student Docent Day project is a culmination of what the students have learned and experienced throughout their time at the middle school. This project allows students to share their work with a real audience; their interpretation provides GRPM visitors and field trip groups with an engaging, fresh perspective on our exhibits.

Created by: Alex

A group of artifacts and specimens from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.  These objects will be used by a group of 10th grade students at Forest Hills Eastern High School for a project related to their U.S. History/U.S. Literature classes.  Students visited the GRPM's archives and received a tour as well as training on artifact handling, reading an artifact, and how to write significance statements.  The artifacts then traveled to their classroom where the students were able to select an object to research and write about in greater detail.  Significance statements of high quality written by students will be added to the official GRPM database record for the object.

Created by: Alex

Lyceum is a program offered by the Grand Rapids Public Museum School after each school day.  It offers an eclectic range of additional courses that students can choose from. One of the regular courses is an exhibition design program led by Museum staff. Th 2017 exhibition, L is for Lyceum - Candy, was conceptualized, designed by the students and displayed in the Museum during the 2017-2018 school year. 

Created by: Andrea

This Collection of objects illustrate themes surrounding life and religion in ancient civilizations. It will be used for 7th and 8th-grade ancient civilizations and world religion taught at the Grand Rapids Public Museum School. The curriculum specifically focuses on classical civilizations, Eastern/Western Europe (up to 1500), Africa (up to 1500), Greece, Persia, Egypt, Rome, Byzantine Empire, Assyrian Empire, Chinese civilization, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism. 

Created by: Alex

The Grand Rapids Public Museum has over 250,000 artifacts in its collections. These artifacts have been donated by community members since 1854. Only 5% of the total collection is on display at the Museum.  In an effort to make the collection accessible to the public the Museum has been working to add photos and descriptions of these artifacts into an online database. In the freshman year of Museum School students will contribute to this work by selecting an artifact of which they are interested and researching the object from multiple perspectives and using diverse lenses. They are unearthing the hidden stories that artifacts carry.

Created by: Erin

This collection includes objects relating to Middle Eastern culture and Islamic religion. 8th grade students from the Grand Rapids Public Museum School conducted an artifact analysis to enrich their reading of the graphic autobiography, Persepolis. They were prompted to make connections between these items from the Collection and the author's life growing up in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. Holly Postma, their English Language Arts teacher, developed the following worksheet to guide their investigation and encourage critical thinking: Artifact Analysis Worksheet