Teacher Galleries
The Teacher Galleries are a platform for teachers in West Michigan to share the unique ways they are using the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s Collection in their classrooms. Explore these Galleries for ideas and inspiration on how you can use the Collections. Share a Gallery with your students and community. Want to feature your newest project? Contact us for more information.
2020 Women's Vote Collection (15 items)
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.
African Masks (8 items)
Created by: Andrea
This gallery features ceremonial masks from countries across Africa now in the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Collection. They demonstrate the variety of styles, ritual uses as well as the powerful creative expression in their design.
Kay taught her students about African masks and used the Digital Collections to explore and study examples of authentic African masks. Students took inspiration from these records to create their own paper mache masks using half gallon milk jugs as the base and decorating with beads, string, paint and other craft items.
At Shawmut Hills Elementary School, 5th grade teacher Kay Bekampis designed a project related to curriculum standards on African history and culture.
Kay taught her students about African masks and used the Digital Collections to explore and study examples of authentic African masks. Students took inspiration from these records to create their own paper mache masks using half gallon milk jugs as the base and decorating with beads, string, paint and other craft items.
East Asian Clothing - GVSU Honors College (17 items)
Created by: Erin
As one of the most visible forms of consumption, clothing performs a major role in the social
construction of identity. While we often think about fashion as a means of expressing our individual style or identity, in previous centuries, East Asian societies dressed more or less according to their social station. Certain items of clothing worn by everyone, such as hats, were particularly important, sending instant signals of ascribed social status. Thus, clothing was the principal means for identifying oneself in a public space.
Grand Valley State University professors Meghan Cai and Jeremy Robinson collaborated with the GRPM to develop a research project for freshman students in an East Asian Sequence offered through the Honors College.
Student groups had personal choice in selecting a piece of clothing or accessory item from the GRPM's archives. They completed this object pre-study using the Digital Collections website. Students took an onsite visit to the Archives Building and worked with museum staff to analyze the items and make detailed observations, 'reading' the clothing to find further clues about the stories they contained. They recorded their findings in this Object Study Worksheet.
Students were pushed to think critically about the artifacts and what they reveal about the lives and identities of the people who owned them. They conducted scholarly research to connect their observations with information about the cultural norms, context and history of past East Asian societies. Their final product will culminate in a research poster and presentation. Select posters may be selected for inclusion on the GRPM Digital Collections website to benefit the whole community of learners.
A detailed description of the project, including the grading rubric, can be found here.
Grand Valley State University professors Meghan Cai and Jeremy Robinson collaborated with the GRPM to develop a research project for freshman students in an East Asian Sequence offered through the Honors College.
Student groups had personal choice in selecting a piece of clothing or accessory item from the GRPM's archives. They completed this object pre-study using the Digital Collections website. Students took an onsite visit to the Archives Building and worked with museum staff to analyze the items and make detailed observations, 'reading' the clothing to find further clues about the stories they contained. They recorded their findings in this Object Study Worksheet.
Students were pushed to think critically about the artifacts and what they reveal about the lives and identities of the people who owned them. They conducted scholarly research to connect their observations with information about the cultural norms, context and history of past East Asian societies. Their final product will culminate in a research poster and presentation. Select posters may be selected for inclusion on the GRPM Digital Collections website to benefit the whole community of learners.
A detailed description of the project, including the grading rubric, can be found here.
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: Erin
“This small community’s collective agency reflected the determination of African Americans nationwide to be free from the corrosive effects of racial segregation.” - Historian Dr. Randal Jelks
In this lesson, students will take a ‘virtual tour’ of Grand Rapids by following a map linked to artifacts and newspaper stories from the GRPM Collections. Students will use Grand Rapids as a case study of the experiences of the first migrants out of the South by contextualizing the period right after the Civil War as the Freedman’s Bureau brought Black laborers to work in the city for the first time. Students will then follow the migration patterns of participants of the Great Migration and learn the strategies employed by the local Black community in conjunction with the NAACP to battle segregation and press the Michigan Supreme Court into action in the late 1920s.
In 2021 the Grand Rapids Public Museum, funded through a grant from Steelcase Inc. partnered with East Kentwood Highschool Teacher, Matt Vriesman, to develop curriculum inspired by a GRPM exhibition, Windows GR. The curriculum utilizes the GRPM Digital Collections to teach about local Black leaders and efforts to battle racial segregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the early 1900s. The lessons are also published on Matt Vriesman’s website, Antiracist APUSH .
View the lesson plan, slide deck and student handout
In this lesson, students will take a ‘virtual tour’ of Grand Rapids by following a map linked to artifacts and newspaper stories from the GRPM Collections. Students will use Grand Rapids as a case study of the experiences of the first migrants out of the South by contextualizing the period right after the Civil War as the Freedman’s Bureau brought Black laborers to work in the city for the first time. Students will then follow the migration patterns of participants of the Great Migration and learn the strategies employed by the local Black community in conjunction with the NAACP to battle segregation and press the Michigan Supreme Court into action in the late 1920s.
In 2021 the Grand Rapids Public Museum, funded through a grant from Steelcase Inc. partnered with East Kentwood Highschool Teacher, Matt Vriesman, to develop curriculum inspired by a GRPM exhibition, Windows GR. The curriculum utilizes the GRPM Digital Collections to teach about local Black leaders and efforts to battle racial segregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the early 1900s. The lessons are also published on Matt Vriesman’s website, Antiracist APUSH .
View the lesson plan, slide deck and student handout
Logging in Michigan (89 items)
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: Sarah
During the spring 2022 semester, Grand Rapids Public Museum School 8th grade students worked to create an exhibit for display in the middle school. Students in the 8th-grade seminar class worked with museum staff on theme development, artifact research, and exhibit design.
Presidential Mementos (10 items)
Created by: Ashleigh
A glimpse into the GRPM's collection of presidential mementos. What souvenirs or mementos do you like to collect?
The Grand River, Not Just a River! (27 items)
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.
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: 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
Created by: Andrea
Covid-19 Gallery (48 items)
Created by: Ben
This gallery was created as part of the Public Museum High School's curation class. It represents a cross-section of the Public Museum's Covid-19 artifacts and the stories these artifacts help to tell.
Fashion & the Industrial Revolution (33 items)
Created by: Andrea
During their World Industrialization unit, 9th grade students from the Grand Rapids Public Museum School analyzed and researched a clothing item (artifact) from the GRPM collections. They worked to determine the natural resources, people, and processes involved in creating that piece of clothing, and connected it to innovations from the Industrial Revolution. They also explored the environmental and social consequences of the clothing industry.
Essential Question(s):
--Was the Industrial Revolution worth the human cost?
--Progress, who is it good for?
Materials:
Project Criteria and Rubric
Student Worksheet - Artifact Analysis
Template for Student Research Presentation
Exemplar for Student Research Presentation
Essential Question(s):
--Was the Industrial Revolution worth the human cost?
--Progress, who is it good for?
Materials:
Project Criteria and Rubric
Student Worksheet - Artifact Analysis
Template for Student Research Presentation
Exemplar for Student Research Presentation
Geometric Shapes Scavenger Hunt (86 items)
Created by: Ashleigh
Shapes are all around us! Explore this gallery to hunt for a variety of geometric shapes. Designed as an elementary math extension to address Michigan Math Standard 3.G: Reason with shapes and their attributes. Check out the
Lesson Plan and
Student Worksheet
GRPMHS - Donor Wall (14 items)
Created by: Alex
Potential artifacts and specimens to feature in the donor wall cases. Cases will be lockable, but easy to access to swap objects.
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.
Oceanic Art and the Global Age (23 items)
Created by: Alex
Students 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.
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.
Revolutionary War Era (150 items)
Created by: Erin
This grouping is designed for a social studies unit on the Revolutionary War. These primary sources are representative of America in the time period explored in the curriculum, 1765-1815. Items included connect to causes of the war, weaponry, political, social and cultural aspects of life in the early years of the country after the American Revolution.
The Things They Carried Program (29 items)
Created by: Sarah
Valleywood Middle School Artifact Project (37 items)
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: Sarah
Grand Rapids Public Museum School Students will be utilizing artifacts including reproductions of wartime propaganda posters to gain a better understanding of World War I and World War II.
Docent Day March 11, 2020 (27 items)
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.
Finding Refuge Collection (40 items)
Created by: Sara
Created by: Sarah
This Artifact Deep Dive Project was part of the curation class curriculum at the Grand Rapids Public Museum High School during the 2021-2022 school year.
Throughout this project, students learned how to attach context to an artifact or specimen. Students selected objects from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Collection which became the subject of this research project. Students learned how to “read” an object, conduct research, and synthesize information about their artifact or specimen. The end result of this research culminated with a podcast and/or infographic about their artifact for the GRPM database, photographs of their artifact, and deeper knowledge about their object.
You will be able to access student-created podcasts and infographics in the media files of the records in this gallery.
Throughout this project, students learned how to attach context to an artifact or specimen. Students selected objects from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Collection which became the subject of this research project. Students learned how to “read” an object, conduct research, and synthesize information about their artifact or specimen. The end result of this research culminated with a podcast and/or infographic about their artifact for the GRPM database, photographs of their artifact, and deeper knowledge about their object.
You will be able to access student-created podcasts and infographics in the media files of the records in this gallery.
Immigration Worldwide Virtual Museum Exhibit (32 items)
Created by: Erin
At the Grand Rapids Public Museum High School, 9th grade social studies teacher Lindsay Lane and English language arts teacher Holly Postma collaborated to lead a unit of study on immigration. The students were asked to create a classwide virtual museum exhibit on immigration as the culminating performance task.
The learning took place via 100% Virtual Instruction in the Fall of 2020. At the beginning of the module, students completed an activity related to the Newcomers Exhibit. They viewed the Newcomers Exhibit Tour Video , as well as analyzed chosen artifacts from the exhibit. The purpose of viewing the exhibit tour video was so that students who were unfamiliar with the exhibit could "experience" the exhibit in a virtual format, however, it was also useful for all students to see an exemplar of a museum exhibit. The artifact exploration was used to help students gain an understanding of how certain objects play a role in the lives of immigrants, and how they serve a role and purpose in a museum exhibit. This knowledge would then help to guide them in both their individual and group contributions to the class-wide museum exhibit. To provide inspiration and advice on the exhibit development process, a panel of GPRM staff joined with students via zoom. Finally, students presented their virtual exhibit presentation to a panel of Museum staff members who provided verbal and written feedback to the class.
A detailed rubric for the virtual exhibit can be found here.
Check out the student-developed virtual exhibit
The learning took place via 100% Virtual Instruction in the Fall of 2020. At the beginning of the module, students completed an activity related to the Newcomers Exhibit. They viewed the Newcomers Exhibit Tour Video , as well as analyzed chosen artifacts from the exhibit. The purpose of viewing the exhibit tour video was so that students who were unfamiliar with the exhibit could "experience" the exhibit in a virtual format, however, it was also useful for all students to see an exemplar of a museum exhibit. The artifact exploration was used to help students gain an understanding of how certain objects play a role in the lives of immigrants, and how they serve a role and purpose in a museum exhibit. This knowledge would then help to guide them in both their individual and group contributions to the class-wide museum exhibit. To provide inspiration and advice on the exhibit development process, a panel of GPRM staff joined with students via zoom. Finally, students presented their virtual exhibit presentation to a panel of Museum staff members who provided verbal and written feedback to the class.
A detailed rubric for the virtual exhibit can be found here.
Check out the student-developed virtual exhibit
Mining in Michigan (83 items)
Created by: Erin
These sources were compiled for a local teacher whose students are studying the history of mining in Michigan. Specifically, we pulled in photographs and artifacts relating to copper and gypsum mining. Human uses of copper and industries relating to gypsum mining, such as plaster companies, were included as well.
Web resources to explore:
MICHIGAN’S COPPER DEPOSITS AND MINING
| MSU Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Science ,
Timeline of Michigan Copper Mining Prehistory to 1850 ,
Gypsum Mines | Grand Rapids Historical Commission ,
GYPSUM | MSU Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Science
Oceanic Art and the Global Age II (41 items)
Created by: Alex
Students 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.
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.
She Persisted (49 items)
Created by: Holly
She Persisted
2020 is the centennial of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote and affirming the goals set by suffragettes in their fight against inequality. This collaborative exhibition will explore one hundred years of women who refused to be silenced, committing themselves to breaking stereotypes and shattering gender roles through their persistence and successes. With objects on loan from the Grand Rapids Public Museum we will showcase the work of strong women from West Michigan.
The dates of this exhibit will be August 26 – September 24, 2020
Transportation Innovations - Horse and Buggy (18 items)
Created by: Erin
This Collection was put together for Ana, a 4th grade student at Explorer Elementary School in Kentwood Michigan as part of a research project on innovation. Ana was looking to the GRPM to gather information and materials for the essential question: How have innovations changed transportation over time?
Analyzing these items from the GRPM Collections helped Ana with research and project development. Ana was looking to find what innovations have had the greatest impact on transportation over time.
Ana was particularly interested in the horse and buggy, so that's what we focused this Collection on. The GRPM staff also directed Ana to explore the A is for Auto Virtual Discovery Kit and the Virtual Exhibit Tour of The Streets of Old Grand Rapids to learn more about the time period that horse and buggies were used.
West Michigan Construction (30 items)
Created by: Kelsey
2021-2022 M-School Deep Dive Project (43 items)
Created by: Kelsey
Dwellings (23 items)
Created by: Erin
This is a collection of detailed, accurate models of dwellings from cultures around the world, past and present.
We recommend using these objects in an activity to prompt students to make detailed observations and then think critically about what the dwellings can tell us about the culture that used them. What was the climate like in that area? What natural resources were utilized to build these shelters? What can we infer about familial structures, religious beliefs and other values?
Artifacts like these can transport us and help us imagine what life was like for the dwellers!
Check out the student worksheet designed to accompany this Collection
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.
Grand River Use Over Time (40 items)
Created by: Ashleigh
Investigate historical Grand River artifacts and specimens highlighting the develop of the city of Grand Rapids. The following driving questions are considered: 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? This gallery was developed for Canoemobile 2019. 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.
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: Sarah
During the spring 2022 semester, Grand Rapids Public Museum School 7th grade students worked to create an exhibit for display in the middle school. Students in the 7th-grade seminar class worked with museum staff on theme development, artifact research, and exhibit design.
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.
Stone Tools-Museum Middle School Project (14 items)
Created by: Sarah
Transportation Innovations - Trains (28 items)
Created by: Erin
This Collection was put together for Jayden, a 4th grade student at Explorer Elementary School in Kentwood Michigan as part of a research project on innovation. Jayden was looking to the GRPM to gather information and materials for the essential question: How have innovations changed the way that humans travel? Analyzing these items from the GRPM Collections helped Jayden with research and project development. Jayden was looking to find what innovations have had the greatest impact on transportation over time. Jayden was particularly interested in trains, so that's what we focused this Collection on. The GRPM staff also directed Jayden to explore the A is for Auto Virtual Discovery Kit and the Virtual Exhibit Tour of The Streets of Old Grand Rapids to learn more about the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad that Grand Rapids was connected to in 1870.