112 HAWAII PARENT September/October 2024 A fifth grader shows her exhibit about the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben at Island Pacific Academy’s American Revolution Museum. speeches, animated videos, computer games, and even wrote and choreographed rap songs to perform in the museum. Each exhibit was backed by months of inquiry, a research paper, and an impressive attention to detail. The students dressed in period costumes and spoke articulately about their research to every visitor who stopped by their exhibits. During their research phase, students benefited from a visit to the Honolulu Museum of Art and expert guidance from supportive museum staff, who provided valuable insights, feedback, and a real-world perspective, enhancing the authenticity of the project. The students’ museum spread across five classrooms and included an art gallery of multimedia projects about important people of the revolution, a technology gallery focusing on the causes of the revolution, and another gallery dedicated to models and artifacts of the American Revolution. It also included a colonial era tavern, with traditional baked goods and cider, and a movie theater showing a student-created film about the Boston Tea Party. One classroom was transformed into the Assembly Room of Independence Hall where a group of students re-created the signing of the Declaration of Independence, even performing a Declaration of Independence rap for museum guests. “The American Revolution Museum PBL stemmed from our belief in the power of hands-on, immersive learning experiences to deeply engage students with history,” explains Lisa Uesugi, fifth grade teacher. “We aimed to go beyond memorization of facts by fostering skills like teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication. By exploring history through this kind of project, we “We aimed to go beyond memorization of facts by fostering skills like teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication.”
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