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Entries are projects that are developed as outreach to teachers, classrooms, or the community or are developed as pedagogical training tools. The educational component is key.
Jury Chair: Julia Shildmyer-Heighway,
Director of Content Services
Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC), Indiana
 GOLD: Flashpoint: 1908-2008, Springfield, Illinois Race Riot
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Judges said:
This was a fantastic and compelling project. It truly exemplifies teaching and outreach. The students were not passive participants. They were engaged learners and became the teachers and facilitators. Having the students work with a variety of experts, including librarians, historians, museum professionals, educators, graphic designers, and event organizers, led them through every step of the project design and event management. Along with learning about a significant event in the history of their community, they gained valuable career skills. The project based design involved the students in real work and exposed them to multiple media applications. The jurors felt the project was a phenomenal opportunity for the students and had the potential for long-term impact.
Producers said:
Flashpoint: 1908-2008, Springfield, Illinois Race Riot is an online magazine/exhibit, utilizing Z-mag software and comprising 22 pages of text, graphics, primary sources, audio and video, which explore the story of racial tension and violence that erupted in Mr. Lincoln''s hometown in August 1908. The magazine can be viewed at: www.PresdientLincoln.org or directly at: http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=htgrs=3#/page2/. Flashpoint was created as part of the grant-funded Abraham Lincoln Summer Scholars Program by 16 area high school students who spent two weeks at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois in summer 2008. Working with librarians, historians, museum professionals, educators and graphic designers, the students embarked on an intense project of historical inquiry, learning and job shadowing. The goal of the program was to improve, excite and awaken new educational and career opportunities for these adolescents. A secondary goal was to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot. During the two weeks the students conducted research on the 1908 Riot. Their efforts resulted in the stunning magazine which showcases their efforts as photojournalists, museum curators and research historians. The year 2008 was the second year of the program funded by the National Recreation Foundation.
 SILVER: CyberMuse Your Art Education and Research Site
The National Gallery of Canada
Judges said:
The intriguing videos, primary source documents, and activities made this a unique experience. The jurors were impressed with the wide range of resources and the accessibility to the museum's exhibits and collections which this project provided the museum audience. Also impressive was the attention to detail in providing experiences for a wide range of audience types and ages. The jurors felt it was "rich and deep" as well as "broad" and detailed". One juror expressed he could have spent hours enjoying the site.
Producers said:
CyberMuse Your Art Education and Research Site has become a leading visual art website in Canada. From a searchable database of the National Gallery of Canada permanent collection in 1988 to the current dynamic multi-dimensional art education and research website, it reaches five target audiences including: children, young adults, teachers, the general public and researchers. The content has increased considerably in depth and in scope, from 2,000 pages to over 8,000 in both official languages (English and French). Approximately 18,500 of the Gallery's 37,356 works of art have been digitized and are now online. CyberMuse receives an average of 3,200,000 site hits per month and 139,000 visitors.
The goals and outcomes for CyberMuse are to further the knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts among all Canadians and to an international audience; to reach a broader and more diverse audience; to make its collections accessible both in Canada and abroad and; to set benchmarks for delivering an exceptional online experience for art galleries and cultural institutions worldwide. Credits go to the National Gallery of Canada Web team, Education and Public Programs team and all professionals from the National Gallery that contribute to making the website a success.
 BRONZE:
Living Museum
Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
and
Think Design
Judges said:
What an incredible way to get children and parents engaged in conversation at home. This inspiring project proves that a museum is more than the bricks and mortar of a physical space. The project personalized the museum experience, helping students understand that we can all be part of the museum world and that we all have artifacts and stories worth sharing. The jurors especially appreciated the interactive nature of the project and the experiential learning that occurs throughout the experience.
Producers said:
The Living Museum is an interactive online venue where fifth and sixth grade students in Jewish schools create virtual exhibitions of artifacts that represent their Jewish heritage. Through their individual, family, and class research, the students develop a strong appreciation for Jewish culture, community, and history. The program begins with a visit to a local museum where students learn how to carefully study artifacts, and explore the composition of galleries to discover how objects are organized and displayed in a museum. Then, with the help of their parents, students choose meaningful artifacts or heirlooms from home that reflect their family history and Jewish heritage. Students and their families upload digital images of their objects and write artifact labels that tell the stories behind the artifacts. Schools also hold in-school exhibitions where students exhibit and discuss their artifacts with their families, community members, and classmates. The process of creating and displaying exhibitions inspires conversation through which students, parents, and teachers explore their Judaism.
In addition to offering users the ability to create and view exhibitions, the Living Museum features a Curriculum and Teachers'' Guide with videos that demonstrate how to implement the curriculum.
 HONORABLE MENTION: "Making History Live" Electronic Field Trip
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
and
EduWeb
Judges said:
Making History Live provides multiple access points and opportunities for participation for both educators and students. This project is expertly designed with very professionally produced video. It pulls together multiple types of technology into one cohesive package of rich content. The jurors especially appreciated the wonderful teacher support materials and the involvement of youth in the video presentations. The online games were not only fun, but well built and easy to navigate.
Producers said:
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation preserves and operates the restored 18th-century capital of Virginia as a town-sized living history museum, telling the inspirational stories of our nation''s founding women and men. Extending the mission “that the future may learn from the past” to new, distant and diverse audiences, Electronic Field Trips such as Making History Live bring American history alive and off the textbook page. Designed for 4th through 8th grade students, these programs combine interactive distance learning with relevant stories of people, places, and events from the past to motivate today''s learners.
Students build civics, social studies, and literacy skills through immersion in authentic historical content, presented through dramatic and documentary style video and interactive learning components including email, message boards, video questions, online votes, streaming video, and live phone-in questions. Crucial to the interactive component are the web activities created by eduweb. In Making History Live students go behind-the-scenes to look at how historical African-American character portrayals are created. From research through performance, experienced museum interpreters share their techniques for bringing the past to life. Students then work with special online activities, a performer blog, and teacher guided lessons to use research and dramatic presentation to explore history.
Jurors:
Dale Hilton, Director, Distance Learning, The Cleveland Museum of Art
James Yasko, Director of Education, The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson
Paul Richard, President, smallEXHIBITS.com
John Goehrke, Education Coordinator, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Tom Kraemer, Principal and Senior Designer , Kraemer Design & Production, Inc.
Cathy Burton, Beeler Family Director of Education, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art
Allan Busch, Senior Advisor, Product Innovation & Development, Ontario Science Center
More 2009 Muse Award Winners |
