How To Teach Kids

Long-term learning for students is one goal of teachers, right?   Well, according to the Abraham Lincoln Museum site, museum studies show the following:

• The museum experience brings students out of the textbook in an exciting way.
• The people in history come alive!
• Exposing students to things they can see, hear, and touch greatly increases their long-term learning after being presented with new material in the classroom .  Experiencing exhibits and artifacts reinforces what was learned.
• The social experience that occurs on a field trip greatly increases the learning that happens in the museum.
• The exhibits appeal to the many different learning styles of students, and they also appeal to all ages. (I can testify to that!)
• The powerful stories told by the exhibits and artifacts help the students to remember their experience for a long time.

Austin, the capital of Texas, is home to the fairly new Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.   The building is impressive on the outside and inside, being three stories tall.  It contains interactive exhibits, an IMAX Theater, and a great Cafe for meals and snacks.  We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits and theater,  and we had fun eating in the Cafe.  This is a museum we definitely recommend.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, located in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the museums we have visited.  It’s a fairly new musem that is architecturally beautiful.  It is very informative and lets visitors see, hear, and experience what life was like back in the early days of cowboys and cowgirls.  I definitely recommend this musem.

Cowboys and cowgirls are part of our national history, an important part in  teaching Texas history.  What better way to make that history come alive than to plan an educational trip as part of a vacation.   That’s something that our family has done on many occasions and has greatly enjoyed!