Synergy: Collections

A collection is a group of things someone has gathered. A person is a collector when they bring things together into a group. People collect many different types of things. Collecting is a popular hobby.

Read the recently published children's book on the topic of collecting, then learn more at the website:

FINDING TREASURES written by Michelle Schaub and illustrated by Carmen Saldaña is a picture book about collections and collecting. When the class is given the assignment of sharing their personal collection, one student goes on a quest to learn about the collections of friends and family. From teapots and coins to baseball cards, the exploration leads to the discovery of her own passion.

THE LEARNING LAB from the Smithsonian invites youth to discover, creative, share, and learn using the Smithsonian collections.

THE LEARNING LAB
https://learninglab.si.edu/

ARC courtesy of Charlesbridge.

Website Review: Library of Congress: Free Sets

FREE TO USE AND REUSE SETS from the Library of Congress provide dozens of useful teaching and learning resources.

The Library of Congress contains millions of digital objects. Their free sets of materials makes it easy to locate useful content based on themes. Because the materials have no known copyright or are copyright cleared, they can be used by students in products such as web-based reports and presentations.

This section of the Library of Congress website currently contains over a dozen collections on themes such as dogs, classic children’s books, travel posters, and holidays.

Librarians will find this theme-based resource to be useful in introducing primary source documents. Of particularly note is the set called “Your Favorites” from Flickr.

To visit the website, go to https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/.

Website Review: Smithsonian Learning Lab

THE SMITHSONIAN LEARNING LAB provides access to digital resources across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo.

The project contains three major sections: discover, create, and share.

The Discover area provides easy access to the collections. Users can do a general search. Or, the search can be refined to include specific types of resources, exhibits, or resource providers. Details about each item can be viewed. In addition to the standard search, users can also select from surprises, what’s trending, and recent discoveries.

The Create section allows students and educators to build and customize their own collections including annotating and tagging objects. Teachers can create lessons and assignments to go with their collections. Resources including files and websites can be added.

The Share component allows users to share their collections, assignments, and projects with the global community. Teachers can assign particular collections or assignments using password access.

To use the system, teachers and students will need a login. This provides access to a Dashboard of options.

Librarians will find that this website provides an excellent entry point for building classroom collections, resources and activities with teachers across the curriculum.

To visit the website, go to https://learninglab.si.edu/.

Website Review: Google Cultural Institute

GOOGLE CULTURAL INSTITUTE is an astounding online resource focusing on art, history, and world wonders. It even contains powerful tools for creating online galleries and exhibits.

The Art Project section includes art collections from around the world. Users can browse the exhibits, zoom in for an up-close examination, and take virtual tours of art museums. Artwork can be searched by creator, medium, event, place, person, media, and date.

The Historical Moments area contains online exhibitions focusing on significant moments from human history. Exhibits represent the photos and historical artifacts of museums and personal collections. Historical materials can be browsed or searches. Don’t miss the new First World War and World War II: D-Day exhibits.

The World Wonders section brings both the modern and ancient world heritage sites to life using Google Street view. Like the other exhibits, the materials can be searched or browsed.

Tools allow users to share, compare, and save the collections. Those interested in building their own collections can “request an invite” to participate.

To learn more about the exhibits, go to https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute.
To build your own exhibit using their powerful online tools, go to https://www.google.com/opengallery