GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Field trips to the Grand Rapids Public Museum have long been common for students at Grand Rapids Public Schools.
But starting next school year, those trips are set to grow in size and scope for 10 of the district’s fifth grade classes. Instead of a day-long visit, students will spend an entire week at the public museum, focusing on various projects chosen by their teachers.
Grand Rapids Public Museum Education Manager Rob Schuitema said the idea is to give students access to the numerous displays, artifacts and archives housed by the museum. Students would use the resources as they research and work together to solve a problem or master a concept.
“We have unlimited resources, and we want to be a community resource for our schools,” he said. “This is an opportunity for students to learn in new ways and become engaged with a long storied public institution.”
Under the partnership, funded through a $50,000 grant from DTE Energy Foundation, each class would visit the museum at a different point in the school year. Organizers would like the initiative to become a long-term partnership.
Student projects have not yet been picked, but they could incorporate a wide range of materials found at the museum, Schuitema said.
Among them: displays on Native American tribes that once resided in the Grand Rapids area, exhibits and archived materials on the history of the region, including how immigration and the changing economy impacted how residents live. Students also would have access to the museum’s planetarium.
“It’s just yet another example of how we can partner and create very unique and rich educational experiences for our students and staff,” said GRPS spokesman John Helmholdt.
Kendall College of Art and Design is also participating in the effort.
Faculty and students who focus on design could help the museum brainstorm more engaging ways to display exhibits, which would benefit students visiting the museum, Schuitema said.
Organizers would like the partnership between GRPS and the museum to result in the creation of a specialized school, similar to that of other “theme schools” operated by GRPS, such as the Blanford School.
Schuitema said in the 2014-15 school year, the museum would like to create a space where sixth grade students could learn year-round.
Eventually, the goal is to create a sixth-12th grade school, housed either at the museum or its archive building on Jefferson Street. Students would focus on project-based learning.
“Our biggest asset is we have real world items,” Schuitema said. “What we can provide that a traditional classroom can’t is those primary source materials.”
No plans for a school operated with the museum have been finalized, but such a partnership has been included in the district’s long-term planning, Helmholdt said.
But, he added that such a learning environment is “breaking the educational mold.”
It’s “looking at true 21st century learning that appeals to the interests of students that creates a learning environment outside of four typical walls with 25 to 30 chairs in a room with a teacher at the front of the class,” Helmholdt said.