Integrating Museum Artifacts and Technology

In 1995, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) chose the Southern Illinois University Museum at Carbondale (SIUC Museum) to be one of four museums to be awarded grant funds to participate in the technology-based, "Museum in the Classrooms" project. ISBE began the project to encourage partnerships between schools and museums that would. use a museum's unique resources as a method to enhance classroom instruction use the Internet as a means to share museum collections for effective classroom use use computer technology as a way to develop project Web pages that include on-line digitized images and documents SIUC Museum is currently working with 37 schools to on projects that expand and develop curricula. These "Museum Explorers" use our arts, sciences and humanities collections to meet student/teacher identified project needs and to develop on-line project Web sites. Note: To view these projects, visit the Museum's homepage. This paper will focus on the processes involved in integrating object-centered learning and technology in the classroom, and the role museums play in extending learning beyond the classroom. Museum outreach has added a new direction with the "Museum in the Classroom" project through the use of computer technology and the Internet. Through this project, students are exposed to cultural diversity, learn diverse research methods, and cultivate state-of-the art technology skills.