Incorporating museum exhibits and educational programs into the curriculum will get kids excited about learning. Many museums have developed an education department with the purpose of providing programs and materials for students and teachers. Now with the web at our fingertips, museums can be accessed readily without ever leaving the classroom.
Finding museums online is as simple as typing in a keyword. By using a standard search engine like Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com or the comprehensive search hound, Dogpile - www.dogpile.com, teachers can type in "museums" and expect a large number of hits. More detailed searches will produce results yielding subject specific museums and exhibits such as space, art, or natural history to name a few.
When you mention the word museum, the obvious come to mind - Smithsonian, Louvre, and National Museum of American History. These are all available online offering educational resources and virtual tours. While searching for museums for this article, I also came across several others that are worth mentioning here as well.
The Smithsonian Institution - http://www.si.edu/ is currently featuring a virtual exhibit entitled, "The American Presidency, A Glorious Burden". Activities, resources, and teacher materials are all included with this exhibit. The Field Trips and Learning Resources link leads to lesson plans, a resource bank, field trips in addition to a media catalog.
Also a part of Smithsonian but located at a different web address is the National Museum of American History - http://americanhistory.si.edu. The site offers an extensive collection of virtual exhibits and a "Not Just for Kids" section plus a link for history timelines.
If you've never had the opportunity to visit the Louvre museum in France, it alone is worth the trip abroad- http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm. When I studied in France during the summer of '85, I visited Paris and spent an entire day, which wasn't near enough time, at this magnificent museum. Visitors can easily be overwhelmed by the expansiveness of the place. Virtual tours are organized into nine different categories including Oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, Sculptures, Objets d'art, Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Medieval, and Architectural.
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