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Featured Artifact:  PT-305 ( Full Story | Video )

 

 

Live from New Orleans… VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

The Education Department offers the following Virtual Field Trips that can be videoconferenced live to classrooms across the country:

• NEW! The War that Changed Your World: Science and Technology in WWII

• NEW! Los Veteranos: Latinos & Latinas in WWII

• The Giant Awakens: The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

• D-Day: The Turning Point of the War in Europe

• Iwo Jima and the War in the Pacific
 
• We're All in this Together: The American Home Front during WWII

• Double Victory: African Americans in WWII

• The Warrior Tradition Continues: American Indians in WWII 

 

Who can participate?

You must be able to videoconference through IP (Internet Protocol) and have the ability to print out and photocopy documents from the Museum’s website.  All programs include pre- and post-program curriculum materials.

 

But what if my school doesn’t have videoconferencing equipment?

No problem.  Videoconferencing equipment is not required to experience a Virtual Field Trip.  If your classroom or library has high-speed Internet access, all you need is a laptop with an IP address and access to a videoconferencing bridge (to receive the videoconference), an LCD projector or interactive whiteboard (to display the videoconference on a larger screen, external speakers (so your students can hear the presentation), a webcam (to allow the presenter to view the classroom and students) and an external microphone (so that they can actively participate in the videoconference).  It's not as complicated as you think!

If you are still not sure if you have the proper equipment or know-how to host a Virtual Field Trip, contact your school or district’s technology director, or contact us and we will offer you any technical assistance we can.

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS:

The War that Changed Your World: Science and Technology in WWII Today’s televisions, computers, and cell phones can all trace their origins to technological advancements realized during WWII.  Other facets of our modern lives owe a debt to WWII, too: modern building materials, ways of teaching and learning, even the way your supermarket stocks its shelves.  Students explore a top ten list of WWII science and technology and brainstorm design solutions to various WWII challenges.

 

Los Veteranos: Latinos & Latinas in WWII An important part of U.S. history long before WWII, the war gave Latinos new opportunities and presented them with new challenges.  Because Latinos did not serve in segregated units, as African Americans did, their WWII history is sometimes overlooked.  Was that history unique, and if so, how?  Students learn about Latino WWII heroes and average soldiers, as well as issues of ethnicity and acculturation on the Home Front.

The Giant Awakens: The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor In the war that changed the world it was the day that changed the war—a “Day of Infamy.”  That day brought the United States into WWII, adding the strength and determination of the American people to the Allied arsenal as it struggled to defeat the Axis.  Students explore Japanese and American motivations and actions through maps, primary sources, and role playing.
D-Day: The Turning Point of the War in Europe Students receive background on Operation Overlord through maps and audio-visual presentations, explore a “Bigot” map of Omaha Beach to learn about the challenges of planning and executing Operation Overlord, make decisions about where and when D-Day should be launched, “read” a D-Day artifact to learn about using objects to tell stories, and finally, working in groups, compare and contrast four archival descriptions of the Allied invasion of Normandy.  D-Day: what a difference a day makes!
Iwo Jima and the War in the Pacific Students learn about the vastness of the Pacific Theater by exploring its geography.  They “read” a Navy “Shellback” certificate and participate in an Equator-crossing initiation.  Next they survey the Island Hopping campaign using maps and viewing video of oral histories.  This leads up to the invasion of Iwo Jima.  Here they explore the campaign and analyze the photograph of the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi.  Students learn to personalize history by exploring a set of artifacts from one Marine who fought there.
We're All in this Together: The American Home Front during WWII The Home Front program begins with a brief background describing how the U.S. entered the war.  Students then tackle four challenges of the Home Front: making all the materials we need to win, dealing with food shortages, protecting the country from attacks (real and imagined), and keeping America optimistic and “war-minded.”  Through photos, posters, editorial cartoons, songs, and speeches, students learn about the triumphs and mistakes that were made at home during the war.
Double Victory: African Americans in WWII Students learn about the triumphs and tribulations experienced by African Americans on the battle fronts and on the Home Front.  They meet Pearl Harbor hero Dorie Miller, the Montford Point Marines, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the seven African American Medal of Honor recipients.  They learn about A. Philip Randolph’s push for racial equality in war factories and in the barracks and trace the historic path from Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 (establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee in 1940) to President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 (desegregating the military in 1948).  An analysis of contemporary African American poetry will get students thinking about issues of race, equality, and how we remember and teach history.
The Warrior Tradition Continues: American Indians in WWII In this Virtual Field Trip students explore the WWII contributions of an often-overlooked group—American Indians.  The program begins with a brief history of American Indian participation in the U.S. military, looks at the struggles of American Indians to maintain their cultures over time, and challenges students to confront some common American—and maybe their own—stereotypes.  Students listen to American Indian oral histories of WWII veterans, decipher “Navajo code,” and analyze a poem honoring the American Indian spirit that helped the Allies win the war.  As students meet these American heroes, they tackle issues of identity, culture, and patriotism that American Indians faced when called upon to defend their country.

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PROGRAM LENGTH: approximately one hour (but if you have more time, we can do more).

COST: $100 per videoconference.  Volume discounts available.

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: these programs are designed to be experienced by one class of studnets at a time.  That way each student has more  opportunity to participate.

To print out a flyer listing current Virtual Field Trips, CLICK HERE

 

To schedule a Virtual Field Trip or for more information,
email virtualclassroom@nationalww2museum.org
or call 504-527-6012, x 351.