Independent Museum Learners

The Museum Magnet Enrichment Program

Project Participation Invitation For High Achieving Self Starters Who Use Creativity

The listed projects are some of the opportunities that identified learners have participated in during the school year. Students work with our enrichment facilitator. Students work with other students from various grade levels who have similar interests and abilities.

To Draw

You have expressed an interest in learning to draw. You will try different types of drawing tools. You will be able to try a variety of drawing styles. You will develop skills to help you become more proficient. You will draw landscapes, objects, and people. Come to the Artists’ Studio.

Science Investigators

You are being invited to participate in an independent research enrichment opportunity (Type III). You will be forming your own research question and hypothesis. You will be designing a procedure to test your hypothesis using a variety of construction/building materials. You may be using the computer to build a tool, to collect information, to record your data, or to regulate your experiment. Using your data you will write an analysis of your findings. You will be writing and documenting each day as well as building.

Exhibit in a Box. How can an exhibit be small enough to fold into a box, yet, cool enough to unfold and grab the audience’s attention? You would construct your own solution to this problem. The exhibit topic would be selected by you. I will show you some ways to design boxes to fold and we will have many discussions. You would then build your exhibit and the case that carries it. You will present your exhibit and explain how it works and its content.

Quilters Love Geometry

People who construct quilts are expert mathematicians. They especially love geometry. You will learn tons about two dimensional geometry. You will use what you learn to construct a small quilt piece. You will study traditional quilts made by the Prairie Island Native Americans and find out why they use the Morning Star pattern for their pieces.

Magic Actors. Ah, read carefully. You would be developing several acts in which you would be the star. Your goal would be to design a presentation similar to a magic act. The magic would be based on science principles. You would use science to astonish your first audience. You will do another presentation to a slightly older audience. After that performance you would explain to your audience how your ‘magic’ worked.

MicroWorlds.

You will design your own computer procedures using Microworlds. You will be introduced to the Microworlds software. With it you will be able to write procedures to do many things on the computer. You can draw, do animation, write interactive programs or choose your own adventure stories, even make a scrapbook about yourself. You will also become student mentors. You will be able to help other students and your teacher learn about Microworlds.

Storytellers.

If you like to tell stories this is your deal. You will first use a published poem. You will dramatize the poem and present to an audience. Then, if you are interested you will be able to write your own poem or story and present it to several audiences. If you need to design props or costumes to help tell your story, that’s just fine.

Data Investigators I. You will be investigating information describing the second grade students at Museum Magnet School. You will collect your information using a survey. Each of you will be collecting data about a different question. Once the data is collected you will be constructing a graph to represent your findings. You will be analyzing your work and comparing it to data collected by another group of second graders in a different school. This descriptive research project will allow you to compare Museum students to students from another location.

Data Investigators II. You will be investigating information describing a second grade student at another St. Paul School. You will collect your information using note cards, each with a different question. Each of you will be collecting data about a different student. Once the data is collected you will be writing a description of your research subject. Using your information you will also be drawing their portrait. You will be forming hypotheses about your subject based on the information that you already have. You will write new questions for them to answer based on these hypotheses. Later you will be able to see a photograph of your subject to see how accurate you were. You will also discover whether or not your hypotheses were correct.

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder began his art career by drawing and painting. Later he became interested in making his illustrations move. He began to construct moving sculptures (kinetic art). At the end of his career he was creating large mobiles. Many of them are exhibited in large cities around the world. You will learn about Mr. Calder. You will construct your own moving sculptures or mobiles. You will experiment to find the best way to balance your product.

Bookies

You would create your own ‘book’. The book is not limited to the traditional idea of a book, like a textbook. I will show you many different book forms. You would write the text for the book. Build the book. Illustrate the book. Illustrations can take many different forms or use many different materials. I would show you many examples. The subject is your choice. The writing form is your choice.

Plant Biologists.

You will be studying plants. You will be doing an experiment to find out more about plant life here in St. Paul. You will be developing questions. You will be forming a hypothesis about your question. You will be designing an experiment to collect enough data to answer your question. Once you finish your analysis there may be time to form a second hypothesis and improve your research.

Future Architects

You will draw floor, and elevation plans for your own three-dimensional constructions. Then you will use paper, card stock, or cardboard to construct models of your drawings. You will also do a drawing with details of the best view of your construction. You will learn about drawing and building to scale.