All guided tours must be booked a MINIMUM of 48 hours in advance of arrival
Benefits of Place Based Learning
Place-based learning is an educational approach that connects students to their local environment, culture, and community. It emphasizes hands-on, real-world experiences by using the surrounding place as a context for learning, such as outdoor exploration, field trips, community projects, or local history studies.
This approach benefits students by making learning more relevant, engaging, and interactive. It encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and a deeper understanding of their surroundings. It also fosters a sense of community and environmental responsibility.
For educators, place-based learning offers an opportunity to teach beyond traditional classroom boundaries, promoting creativity and flexibility in lesson planning while strengthening student engagement and retention of knowledge.
Field Trip resources for educators
Field Trip Template
A collaborative project between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Wisconsin State Historical Society (WHS), Wisconsin Council for Social Studies (WCSS) and the Milton House Museum (MHS) to provide educators and museum educators the framework to work together to plan and provide fieldtrips that align with state standards.
Pre-Visit Assessment
This pre-visit assessment is designed to aid educators in tailoring their visit to the museum to ensure it aligns with students' abilities and expectations, creating a more engaging and impactful learning environment. Additionally, the assessment allows teachers to anticipate potential challenges, plan appropriate accommodations, and set clear learning objectives, ultimately enhancing the overall effectiveness and success of the tour.
Post Visit Assessment
This post-tour assessment is designed to provide insight for educators on how well their students grasped the concepts and objectives of the museum visit.
Additionally, by completing this assessment, educators share valuable insights with the museum on the effectiveness of the tour by identifying areas of strength, and pinpointing aspects that may need improvement for future tours.
The Impact of Visiting the Milton House Museum
Exploring history through place based learning
After visiting the museum, a student wrote a poem expressing their feelings about what they learned while at the Milton House Museum.
Chained
Sad, desperate
Working, hoping, striving,
Ground, trees, hounds, hunters
Running, hiding, following
Happy, hopeful
Free
Universal Essential Questions for any site
Place
• What questions do you have about the space or artifacts inside of it?
• What questions do you have about the people represented or not represented in this space?
• How does place shape identity and identity shape place?
• How does the layout/design of the museum space influence how and what you learn there?
Perspective
• What influences perspective and interpretation of history?
• How can engaging with multiple perspectives enrich our understanding of history/current issues?
• How can we identify whose voice is telling a story to help an individual understand perspective? Whose voice is missing and why ?
• Why and how do people take action in order to solve problems that affect them and others?
Purpose
• How did the people represented in this space contribute to their community or our nation?
• How do we see the history of this site represented in the present?
