Pocket museums

Pocket Museums…

ignite a child’s curiosity

John Paull

Save it! Save it forever!

In a pocket museum!!

Kids come to school to learn to ‘read, write and do their arithmetic’ – the 3 Rs. That’s right, isn’t it, in all school classrooms?

They come from different backgrounds and experiences.

But, as teachers know, at the beginning of their schooling, some of the children are better prepared for schools’ 3Rs curriculum than others. They are read to at night, they help with their parents’ gardening, and may go on weekend nature walks.  Some, perhaps, have been to a Pre-School.

Whatever their background, all kids bring their innate sense of curiosity to their classrooms – some with it already fired up by family and friends, last year’s teacher, some not.

We put them in classrooms and we tell their teachers what 3Rs to teach them.

Sometimes we make the big mistake and even tell the teachers how to teach the 3Rs.

But when the classroom doors close, teachers, of course, work out their best way to get to really know their new class, figure out how to ignite their curiosity, and how to use that excitement to set them on the 3Rs learning track.

Remembering what sparked them when they were young, from the first day of school many teachers use the children’s natural curiosity, and, in some cases, enthusiastic interest in the ‘wild’ environment (rocks, crystals, fossils, birds and creepy crawlies, for example) to engage and motivate their class of learners. Perhaps they plan to bring in things to show, and then encourage the students to do likewise. They may set up an ever-changing, eye-catching display of Mother Nature’s delights on a science table, much like a ‘hands-on’ miniature museum.

The science table (sometimes called Nature Table, Curiosity Table, Class Museum Table, Makers Table) is often owned by the teacher, and then eventually maintained and co-owned by the class. The table is usually placed close to a wall that is covered with display paper, and accompanied with questions, pictures, reference books, magnifying glasses and a binocular microscope.

It works!     

In my experience, a well-displayed, interactive science table is a key part to a classroom layout. It appeals to students’ sense of curiosity and really does impact the classroom ethos, promote interest, frequent classroom discussion, and, often, team/individual research – if that’s what the teacher wants. It can help set the right inspiring mood for the classroom.

Sharing Mother Nature’s Delights and igniting and fanning student curiosity at the beginning of each school day - or teacher workshop - has always worked for me, especially when I use pocket museums.

Pocket museum? What’s that, then, I hear you ask? Well, quite simply, it’s a small tin that’s home to one or more of Mother Nature’s Delights, and is kept in the pocket.

As a teacher of children and as a teacher of teachers, I’ve been using my pocket museums’ strategy effectively for well over fifty years to ignite curiosity and create a community of inquisitive learners whose pursuit of knowledge can be never ending. When sitting in front of a new class, without uttering a word, I very slowly, tantalizingly, open an old tin [1]and stare at what’s inside. This process NEVER fails to pique student curiosity. I look up and tell my young audience that my tin is a pocket museum. As they crane their necks to see what’s inside, I know I have them…………right in the palm of my hand!

“What’s in the museum tin, Mr. Paull? Go on, show us……show us the pocket museum…..please!” is a request I never tire of hearing

I then stand, turn the tin at an angle,  and show everyone my first-ever pocket museum contents – a wishing rock and a beautiful, smooth piece of amber found on a beach when I was five years old - and tell their story. 

When questions and comments have wound down, I place it on the science table, telling everyone, “Hey, I have a tin…..for each of you………..take it home and fill it with something special, bring it in tomorrow and show everyone what you’ve got.” 

Then, I add, “Hey, first, though, let’s make it look nice.”

I hand out pieces of colored felt, scissors and glue.  “OK. Cut the felt to the size that fits inside your tin. Glue the felt to the bottom of the tin. Then, at home, glue something really interesting on the felt, and, hey, you have your first-ever pocket museum – which you can keep, forever, forever and a day!”

And then I add: “Cut out the date on your parents’ newspaper and stick it inside the tin lid. 
That way you’ll always know when you made your pocket museum.”

Before the students go home, I hand out a cottonwood twig to each kid and show them where to snap it to release its inner star. [2]

Doing that is always another ”Ooooh, Aaaah’” moment!  When the class settles down having seen and released their star, I tell the kids, “Hey, tonight, open your curtains before you go to bed and look in the night sky for your star, way up there, twinkling bright. That’s YOUR star!!”

The next day the kids are bursting to tell me they saw their star high up in the heavens, and to show me - and each other - what’s in their pocket museums.

Sometimes, someone will show me a wishing rock found at home in his/her garden!

Good. I know now my classroom is off and running. 

The spirit, energy and engagement are there for me to teach my students the 3Rs…………………….or something as profound! :)

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How to make a pocket museum

for your special find…..

You need a tin, a piece of felt, scissors, glue, and an artifact or two (or more).

1. Cut the felt to size.
2. Glue the felt inside the tin.
3. Glue something very special to you........or rocks/minerals/crystals/bones, and,
4. hey, you have your pocket museum! KEEP it, FOREVER!

 John Paull

www.mywishingrock.blogspot.com

**   Kids of all ages really do love their pocket museums.

Over the years, in loads of classrooms, making and sharing stacks of pocket museums has helped me especially nurture the curiosity and excitement and joy young scientists naturally feel when interacting with, and learning from me and each other, more about, the world around them.

And it motivates them to engage happily in the 3Rs.

I am convinced, too, that Pocket Museum owners/creators have a pro-active view of the ‘wild’ environment.

***

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[1] An OXO tin, vintage 1947, given to me by my parents).

[2] This is a great activity to do with students. Collect dry, dead twigs from around the trunk of a cottonwood tree. Break the twigs open at the growth line and see the beautiful star shape inside. There’s a Native American legend that says that these are the tiny stars from the heavens above.