by Dan Moser | Research and Economic Development
When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools and universities last month, the University of Nebraska State Museum was among many museums trying to figure out how to continue carrying out the educational piece of its mission.
Within days, Morrill Hall had some content available remotely for schoolchildren. Within just a few weeks, the museum has built a new library of activities and videos on top of an existing virtual learning effort.
April and May typically are big field trip months for Morrill Hall, with hundreds of students of all ages wandering the exhibits and soaking in lessons, and “it’s kind of heart-wrenching to walk through the museum now and see it empty,” Director Susan Weller said.
In fiscal year 2019, for example, a record 31,000 K-12 students from Nebraska explored the State Museum’s programs.
“Once we knew schools were shutting down … we thought through what we could do to support parents and teachers who are home and trying to support their children’s learning,” Weller said. “That meant taking what we usually do face to face and pivoting to deliver it remotely.”
Emily Brown, the museum’s education supervisor, and her staff, including virtual learning coordinator Annie Mumgaard, got to work.
Mumgaard said the museum began creating virtual field trips about five years ago.
“We started with what we knew best — elephants,” she said.
Eight virtual field trips consisting of standards-based material initially were created.
Read more:
https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/morrill-hall-expands-online-content-to-meet-pandemic-challenge/