Field Trip Perspectives: Henricus Historical Park (Part 3 of 3)

Museum: Henricus Historical Park
Audience: 2^nd grade
Format: 2 hour guided exploration of life at Henricus

Luckily, I had a day to recover between my 5^th grader’s field trip and my 2^nd grader’s. The second grade traveled to Henricus Historical Park. Unlike the 5^th grade trip, it was a relatively short distance from school, and therefore was not an extended day trip. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I had never visited Henricus, and had never been on a field trip of children younger than 4^th grade.

Upon reporting to school, we received our groups and instructions from the teachers – we were to stay in a large group that would then be taken through the program by the museum educators. As chaperones, we were to help shepherd the kids from place to place, assist when someone needed a bathroom break or a behavior reminder, and generally help make sure the kids were engaged (they were extremely engaged the entire time!).

This was a very different format from the trip I had just taken, and my role as chaperone was different as a result. While the kids at the Aquarium had taken their own initiative to see this exhibit or that, the museum educators at Henricus were guiding us through various aspects of life for the Powhatans and the English 400 years ago in Colonial Virginia. The program had the kids planting seeds the way the Powhatan Indians would have, hoeing tobacco, and grinding corn. The kids were experiencing a ‘living lesson’ so to speak, while at the Aquarium the kids were largely ‘curating’ their own experience. What I realized was that both formats are extremely valuable for different reasons, and both formats have benefits for different age levels. One benefit of a program such as the one we experienced at Henricus, is that it can be correlated specifically to the standards and curriculum the children are learning in school.

An Aside (Diverging a bit from a chaperone perspective):
Again, there were several children on our trip with special needs. We had school personnel who work with these children on a daily basis on the trip, and we chaperones helped steer these kids back on track when necessary, such as when one child got very caught up in some nearby construction equipment that was working when we as a group were ‘focused’ on the workings of an English farm in Henricus. This made me wonder about best practices – this was a child who, in all likelihood, did not realize that earth moving machinery did not exist in 1611 (I’m sure he was not the only one!). Would this have been an opportunity for the museum educator to discuss “then and now” in a more basic way for the students who may have benefitted from such a discussion? Perhaps it might have, but perhaps not. This was a format where there were four groups circulating through various ‘stations’ within the museum area, and likely each educator had a strict timeline along with learning outcomes to cover. These types of issues, and a myriad others, are those that come up daily in the lives of museum educators, and discussing practices with colleagues and teachers allows reflection and refinement of strategies for all.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed the four ‘stations’ that they visited at Henricus. Each allowed them a glimpse into life at Henricus from various perspectives: the Powhatan perspective, the farmer’s perspective, the tobacco trader’s perspective, and the soldier’s perspective. Each of the educators had their own distinct style, which was good in that different kids  got ‘hooked’ by different strategies and styles. The kids got to see firsthand the differences between the homes, tools, and rules that governed the people who lived in Virginia in 1611.

Once our tour wrapped up, we ate lunch on the lawn before our busses rolled in. My son slept the whole way back to school. Again, I hope that, once back at school, the kids had a chance to reflect on the wide array of learning that took place that day. Research says sleep helps us process new information. Perhaps my son was “reflecting” all the way home!