Eighth grade students in Mrs. Piccone’s class at the South Middle School in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District put together a mineral museum and had an opportunity to present their work.
The students worked on various tasks to put the museum together, eventually opening it to the 6th and 7th grade students at South Middle School the week before Spring Break. During the days the museum was open, the 8th grade students acted as teachers.
The students put in lots of work to create the museum. Their efforts included planning the layout of the room, writing an article about the opening of the museum including what was featured in it, creating an interactive pamphlet that museum visitors used while touring the space, making rock candy and epson salt crystals, and leading tour groups in demonstrations of how to identify certain minerals.
Last Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the students attended the Vassar College Transformative Classroom Learning Youth Conference to reflected on the process in its entirety. The students shared photos of the different stages of museum’s development.
