Around the World
Introduction to the Spurlock Museum
Description:
Students are presented with highlighted
artifacts and gallery themes as they move through the Museum’s five feature
galleries. Browsing time is also included for individual exploration.
Program Length: 75 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 75
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: Free
Available as Outreach? No
Human Connections
Description:
Drawing on the cultural concepts of the Central Core, the Human Connections tour sets students on a mission. As students move from gallery to gallery, they record information and create descriptions of artifacts relating to one of the Museum’s cultural concepts (e.g., clothing, art, conflict). Through debate and discussion, students realize that the artifacts they have chosen also fit perfectly with other concepts and connect to the world they live in today.
Program Length: 105 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 75
Chaperones: 1 per 5
Cost: Free
Available as Outreach? No
Masks around the World
Description:
For thousands of years, masks have been created, worn, danced, revered, and
enjoyed in cultures around the world. The program looks at masks and their place
in society and may end with a 30-minute mask craft session. This tour is also
available as Masks of Asia, in which the concentration is solely on masks used in
East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
Program Length: 45-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 30 tour only / 24 with craft
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: Free or $1 per student, if craft is added
Available as Outreach? No
Oral Traditions
Stories around the World
Description:
Students learn about specific Museum objects and the oral traditions that add context and meaning to their places in culture. Teachers choose the stories presented from a descriptive list of prepared tales. Groups may end their tour with a 30-minute craft session related to one of the stories. Suggested topics for Stories around the World outreach programs include Cinderella around the World, Greek and Roman Mythology, Trickster Tales, and Boy and Girl Heroes. Teaching collection artifacts are brought into the classroom to complement the stories.
Program Length: 45-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 40
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student if craft is added
Available as Outreach? Yes
A Tapestry of Stories
Description:
From Rumpelstiltzkin to The Spider Weaver, folktales are filled with stories of spinning, weaving, and the wonders of cloth. Students hear a selection of stories related to objects on display or made available from the Museum’s teaching collection. Groups can end their tour with a 30-minute craft session. We encourage classes to schedule this tour in conjunction with the Resource Center’s A Tapestry of Stories Building Block, which includes Teaching Collection artifacts and pre- and post-visit activities.
Program Length: 45-75 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 40
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student if craft is added
Available as Outreach? No
Greek and Roman Mythology
Description:
Students listen to the stories of gods and heroes as they relate to the objects
in the Museum’s Ancient Mediterranean Cultures Gallery. Some students are
dressed as characters in the stories. Groups may end their tour with a 30-minute
craft session in the Learning Center. As an outreach program, Greek and Roman Mythology includes storytelling, dressing in the Greek style, performing a short play, and handling teaching artifacts.
Program Length: 60-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 40
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student if craft is added
Available as Outreach? Yes
Ancient Connections
In the Shadows of the Pyramids
Description:
Based in the Museum’s Ancient Egypt exhibit, this tour covers popular highlights
of this long-lived civilization: the importance of the Nile, scribes and writing, the
Rosetta Stone, tombs and the afterlife, and mummification. Students also hear an
ancient folktale and create their own scroll to take home. The outreach program is
similar to the in-house version but omits the craft.
Program Length: 105 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 36
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student
Available as Outreach? Yes
Life in the Polis
Description:
This tour touches on many aspects of ancient Greek life as discussed in the
Museum’s Ancient Mediterranean Gallery: home, clothing, war, athletic games,
religion, drama, mythology, and the afterlife. Activities include an artifact hunt,
dressing a few students in the ancient Greek style, and listening to the story of
Orpheus and Eurydice.
Program Length: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 30
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: Free
Available as Outreach? No
Greek and Roman Mythology
Description:
Students listen to the stories of gods and heroes as they relate to the objects
in the Museum’s Ancient Mediterranean Cultures Gallery. Some students are
dressed as characters in the stories. Groups may end their tour with a 30-minute
craft session in the Learning Center. As an outreach program, Greek and Roman Mythology includes storytelling, dressing in the Greek style, performing a short play, and handling teaching artifacts.
Program Length: 60-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 40
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student if craft is added
Available as Outreach? Yes
Medieval European Life
A Day as a Knight
Description:
As knights-to-be, students discuss suits of armor in the European Gallery, design
their own shields, hear a story, and play the medieval Game of the Goose. Except
for the gallery visit, the outreach program activities are identical to those of the
in-house program, and teaching artifacts the students may handle are brought into
the classroom.
Program Length: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 36
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student
Available as Outreach? Yes
The Blacksmith's Apprentice
Description:
As apprentice blacksmiths, the students create chain mail designs, play a game,
hear a tale, and learn about medieval European living conditions. Time is also
spent exploring armor in the European Gallery. This program (formerly called
Medieval European Craftspeople) can be combined with a general tour; total time
in the Museum for this combined program is three hours. Except for the gallery
visit, the outreach program activities are identical to those of the in-house program,
and teaching artifacts the students may handle are brought into the classroom.
Program Length: 105 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 36
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student
Available as Outreach? Yes
Special Exhibit Tours and Programs
Stories of Papua New Guinea
Description:
This special version of Stories around the World features folktales from locations around Papua New Guinea, as well as discussions of artifacts on display and hands-on time with PNG artifacts from the Teaching Collection. Groups may end their tour with a 30-minute craft session. IL Learning Standards: 16A, 16D, 16E, 4A, 27A, 27B.
Grades: 2-6
Program Length: 45-75 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 30
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost:$1 per student if craft is added
Lifeways and Artworks
Description:
Lifeways and Artworks highlights the use of art around the world as a medium for expressing and altering opinions, creating impressions, and blending traditional and modern motifs. The works discussed include traditional and contemporary pieces from Papua New Guinea, the Native American painting Tree of Life by Ojibwe artist Blake Debassige, statues and friezes from the ancient Mediterranean, Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, and WWII propaganda posters.
IL Learning Standards: 25B, 27A, 27B.
Grades: 6-12
Program Length: 60-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 30
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student if craft is added
The Culture of Death: Burial and Family Commemoration around the World
Description:
In this two-part program, students will visit highlighted feature galleries and the Korean Funerary Figures exhibit to explore artifacts related to burial and family commemoration around the world. They will then create an exhibit-related craft project in the Museum's Zahn Learning Center.
Grades: 5-12
Program Length: 75 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 24
Chaperones: 1 per 8
Cost: $1 per student (for craft expenses)