Social+Studies+2.0

[|Digital Vaults] reminds me of Museum Box. It is an engaging site where students can create digital posters and movies using primary resources (photos, documents, other records) that they search for and collect to add to their collection. Students can also create a Pathway Challenge that includes a series of clues that show relationships between photographs, documents and other records. There are also ready made challenges that students can take part in. For elementary students, I recommend that teachers use [|Digital Vaults] as a whole class activity on their Promethean or other interactive white board. Teachers could also create a challenges for their students that relate to their specific curriculum. What a cool way to learn about history.

Museum Box is a website that I heard about through a tweet on Twitter a few weeks ago that is really impressing me today (that is saying a lot since today is MacWorld and they are announcing big things!). Museum Box is based on the work of Thomas Clarkson who collected items in a box to help him in his argument for the abolition of slavery. He collected items in a box to demonstrate to others the fine craftsmanship and abilities of the African culture. He used his box as a sort of travelling museum to aid him in his debate. The [|Museum Box] website provides a place for students to collect information and arguments in a virtual museum box of their own. They can collect items to provide a description or add to an argument of a historical event, place, or time period. Students can add images, text, sounds, video, external links, etc. to each compartment of the box helping them form their own virtual museum. The [|Museum Box]can be shared as a presentation, saved, or printed. After a box has been created, students can view other students' boxes and leave comments about the box. You really have to check this one out! So neat for history and literature classes!