Teaching Community Powered Innovation through Digital Exploration

Outline

The Henry Ford’s Learning & Engagement team will talk to participants about lessons and approaches, grounded in innovative, creative, and inventive thinking, that will help students learn about the relationship between community activism and innovative thinking skills through the museum's collections and stories. One of these stories features the Jackson family, who played a pivotal role in the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama. Their house has been recently relocated to Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI. Educators will learn about available resources (like digital artifacts, Kahoot! games, and ArcGIS StoryMaps) that they can use to explore stories like that of the Jacksons to help students assess their knowledge and reflect on how they can stand up for their beliefs in their own lives and communities. All resources that educators will encounter are rooted in community-based and place-based teaching principles, such as centering students, drawing on student backgrounds and experiences, and can be adapted for many kinds of learners.
Participants who approach our poster session will receive an individualized conversation. The presenters will ask each educator where and what they teach and the most common problems or needs they have in their classrooms. Based on those responses, the presenters will provide customized suggestions of resources that the educators can use from The Henry Ford.

An educator could think about the story of the Jacksons, for example, through the following lenses:
o The Jacksons were ordinary people who did extraordinary things. They made deliberate choices and took calculated risks to stand up for voting rights. All of us have the potential to make similar courageous choices and stand up for what is right. Individually, identify a problem or issue that is important to you. What is one action you could take to bring awareness to this issue?

Presenters will share where participants can access key resources and will help make them aware of how they can adapt them to meet student needs and to address any curriculum or standard requirements. Finally, participants will have the chance to ask any final questions or share final reflections on the experience.

Supporting research

• On the importance of place-based and community-based education: Bring it on Home article: https://ascd.org/el/articles/bring-it-on-home
• Jackson House information and significance: https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/greenfield-village/jackson-house/
• The Henry Ford’s inHub and learning approach: https://inhub.thehenryford.org/overview