Field Trip to the Smithsonian Museum

Amanda Ohlstein
1.1 Integration of learning outcomes/objectives
Students will visit the Smithsonian Museum and take a tour of the
invention exhibition.
Students will be able to learn about many new inventors and
inventions through an interactive exhibit
Students will be able to identify where each invention occurred by
marking it on a map of the United States and then coloring it in.
1.2 Standards
PA
3.4.3.A2- Identify that some systems are found in nature and some
systems are made by humans.
3.4.3.B 4- Illustrate how people have made tools to provide food,
clothing, and shelter.
NCSS
Identify and describe examples in which science and technology have
changed the lives of people such as in homemaking, child-care, work,
transportation, and communication.
NCSS3B- Interpret, use, and distinguish various representations of the
earth such as maps, globes, and photos.
1.3 Anticipatory Set
We will ask the students how many of them have ever been to a
museum. We will raise their interest by showing them pictures of the
Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. We will have them explain
to the students that we will be going to the Smithsonian Institute and
be spending the entire day there.
1.4 Procedures
We will ask the students what they think a museum is and if they can
define this word. We will allow students to turn and talk with a
partner. We will then redirect the students attention and ask for
volunteers to share their answers on what they think a museum is.
o A museum is a building in which objects of historical,
scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.

 We will display a map of the United States up on the SMartBoard. I

will ask the students if they can tell me where the Smithsonian
Museum is located. If the students are not sure I will tell them that it is
located in Washington DC and point to where it is on the map.
We will take a bus to the Smithsonian Museum. When we arrive the
students will break up into the groups that they picked during class.
Each group will be responsible for looking through the invention
exhibit and completing a map activity that goes along with it. The
students will need to find the correct state on a map of the United
States where each invention occurred and color it in using the
appropriate color given in the direction part on the worksheet.
The students will be visiting the Lemelson Center for the Study Of
Invention and Innovation.
The different exhibits that the students will be walking through and
observing are as follows:
o
Precision manufacturing in Hartford Connecticut
o
Technicolor in Hollywood California
o
. Medical innovations in Medical Alley, Minnesota
o
Hip-Hops Birth in Bronx, New York
o
The rise of the personal computer in Silicon Valley,
California
o
Clean- energy innovations in Fort Collins, Colorado
After the students are done walking through the exhibit we will wrap
up and head back to school.
1.5 Differentiation
For Visual Learners: For those students that are visual learners, they could
take pictures of the exhibits and inventions as they walk through the
museum. After the students have finished taking pictures of the exhibit and
inventions they can create a collage. This would help students visually see
and remember what they observed at this exhibit.
For kinesthetic learners: The field trip would benefit these students
because they would be walking around the exhibit and exploring the
different inventions. These students would be able to stay on their feet and
walk around. Kinesthetic learners need to be moving while learning in order
to learn best.
1.6 Closure

To close the lesson on inventions, we would have the students write a

paragraph on which invention from the exhibit was most interesting to them
and why. The students also could write about something that they might
have learned from walking through the exhibit.
1.7 Assessment
Summative Assessment: The students will be given a matching quiz. The
students will have to match each invention with the date and place it
occurred. The students will be given the appropriate time to complete the
quiz. The quiz will be collected for a grade. Also, the teacher can check for
understanding to see if the students studied what they explored at the
invention exhibit.
1.8 Materials
SMARTBoard
Printed map of the United States
Different color colored pencils
Quiz on inventions
1.9 Technology
SMartBoard