Suppose you’re doing a section on labor in America.
Students could have a project to create an exhibit about some aspect of labor.
Some examples:
- An exhibit of safety appliances on the railroads, and the role of labor in causing their adoption.
- an exhibit of racism and union organizing
- the role of organized labor in creating the 5 day week
Why SL? In SL students can create an exhibit without the time and mess of physical building. Students can incorporate ‘real’ items – like the exhibit about railroads, which could include the actual safety items.
Doing so may allow students to incorporate elements from something they already are interested in (say, trains) and see the relevance of a topic they may be less interested in.
The conventional research project for students at lower levels is the paper. Most students have limited composition skills and this perhaps prevents the student from learning the content. Many students will find building in SL and creating posters to be more natural forms of expression.
You could provide a kiosk where passersby could tell stories about relatives or their own stories of working in union shops, organizing, etc.
A drop box for notecards is all that’s needed. Students could revisit the drop box and create a display of submitted stories.
Some students could be detailed to publicize the drop box.
