History’s greatest explorers gathered in Clear Lake Elementary’s cafeteria Friday to educate students about who they were and what great deeds they accomplished.
Vasco da Gama, Leif Eriksson, Daniel Boone, Marco Polo, Sacajawea, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, virtually all the giants of exploration were represented in a living wax museum organized by the school’s fifth-graders as part of a social studies lesson.
Each student literally became the explorer he or she researched by donning Viking helmets, fake beards, parkas, pith helmets, even a wet suit and scuba tank.
‘We wanted history to come alive,? said teacher Kerry Knight, who organized the activity. ‘For me and for them, it makes it fun.?
Explorers featured in the wax museum ranged from Zhang Qian, a 2nd century diplomat whose explorations of Central Asia opened imperial China to commercial trade, to Mae Carol Jemison, a physician who became the first African-American woman to travel in space in September 1992.
Each student had to compose and memorize a brief description of his or her explorer to recite when the third and fourth-graders came through to view the statues.
‘I told them that they were the teachers in the classroom today,? Knight said. ‘I didn’t have control over it, they did, and I’ve got to tell you they did a fabulous job.?
Knight said when it comes to social studies, many students view the subject as learning about dead people and wonder ‘why do we have to learn about them.?
‘Allowing them to take on the role of their explorer made that explorer come to life,? she said. ‘People back then were not much different than we are today. They still had feelings and questions.?
Knight said this activity made the explorers ‘more real to them? and helped the lesson take root in their young minds.
‘I think the learning became deeper,? she said. ‘I heard them using vocabulary that was part of this unit.?