Explorer Unit - Living Museum

The bulk of our Where We Are in Time and Space inquiry into Explorers ended last week on Wednesday with a Living Museum. We hope you enjoyed it.



After preparing presentations in groups about various eras of exploration, the fourth graders identified individual explorers to research. As always, the central idea, the lines of inquiry, and the other elements of the unit guided their research and determined the focus.

Central Idea: Exploration leads to discoveries, opportunities, and new understandings.


They created a short speech and five questions to help viewers learn about their explorer's unique points.

They dressed up as an explorer.


More importantly, they shared the explorer's reasons for exploring, the consequences of the exploration (discoveries, opportunities, new understandings), how it fit into the history of exploration (change/reflection), and issues of perspective related to the exploration. For example, African-American Mathew Henson received less accolades, less glory, than Robert Peary, though both of them, and others, Native Americans, reached the North Pole first.



The unit is over, but questions remain. Hopefully, fourth graders will "go further" independently. For example, they could use their knowledge of the history of exploration when they write historical narratives, a task we will start soon.