The Smithsonian Institution's History Wired is an experimental site to introduce visitors to some of the three million objects held by the National Museum of American History, Behring Center. There is less than 5% of their collection on public display in their exhibit halls.
The 450 objects that were selected by museum curators for Internet display include famous, unusual, and everyday items.
Type of Material:
Collection
Recommended Uses:
Social studies courses; social studies methods courses
Elementary, middle school, and high school social studies classes
General usage by the public
Technical Requirements:
The information on the website noted that the exhibition of objects work best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0+ or Netscape Navigator 4.0+, with Java enabled. Multimedia features on the site require the RealPlayer plug-in.
However, the site worked very well using Firefox with Java enabled on a Mac or PC.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
1. To gain knowledge of everyday life, cultural, and artistic objects in American History.
2. To make connections between daily objects and lifestyle in American History
Target Student Population:
This website could be implemented with K-12 students and college students.
Teacher candidates in teacher education programs could use the resources in this website in their developed lessons to use during their practicum and student teaching experiences.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Students using website as a resource would need basic computer skills. If students are at primary level, this could be used as a resource where the teacher would read and talk about the historical objects.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This is a website with high quality information that was developed by the the Smithsonian curators. Each object has a main link with basic knowledge and additional links for more in-depth information.
The materials could be connected to a variety of disciplines.
Concerns:
The search feature is useful in connecting content to your course materials, but a list of objects included is difficult to find.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This website could be used as an educational resource for a variety of content areas. The historical object map is divided into time periods and interest area, such as science, art, people, and home.
Older students (3rd grade and older) could use this resource site independently. Younger students could have assistance from their teacher to use it.
This material supplements instruction by making connections to real objects that are in the Smithsonian Collection. A timeline is very useful in determining the place of the object in history. A search feature does not eliminate objects, but highlights those that are connected to the search term. The site is interactive. Viewers can vote on the objects and they are then moved around or eliminated based on viewer response. Visitors can let the Museum and other HistoryWired users know what they think about the objects by rating them with the voting feature on each object page. Averaged ratings determine the size of the squares on the object map. This is meant to reflect the social cues and atmosphere found in a physical museum, and helps shape the exhibit.
Teachers at all levels could use the website with direct instruction through the use of a monitor or projector for whole class viewing.
Concerns:
By going into "About this Program" and then into the FAQ, educators can obtain a list of all the objects. It seems a bit difficult to find.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The historical object table is well organized. When a visitor enters the website a small window opens with clear instructions on how to use the object table.
Concerns:
Although the table is well organized, it may be useful for a teacher of elementary grades to demonstrate the selection of objects from the table.
Visitors or instructors will need to be sure the computers to be used with this website have the requirements needed for this website, a Java enabled browser and RealPlayer plug-in.
Some links are broken.
Other Issues and Comments:
This is a wonderful opportunity for users to access the Smithsonian's collection!
Creative Commons:
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