Ice Harvesting Anyone?

It was a beautiful day to visit Hanford Mills Museum in East Meredith. After an overview of the museum's ice harvest program, we had a nice stroll around the museum grounds. I think we all enjoyed the visit. I think we all recognize that sites like Hanford Mills truly bring history to life. You can also see the essential role that museum education plays in their mission and programs. Is there a better way to create a learning experience (or lifelong memory) than to have kids harvesting their own ice blocks with the tools of the trade? It makes you wish for a return to the days before electricity. Or maybe not.

More importantly, our visit today gets us thinking about ideas for our own projects and the Yager Museum. A couple ideas that we discussed on the way back to Hartwick are listed. Any other thoughts?

• Pre and post school curriculum visit information incorporated into the Yager Museum website (Hanford Mills has recently added this feature, and it is great!)
• Pre and post info and education for our April 19th public program (our facebook profile is one way, and our blog is another)
• Teacher workshops on how to use museum resources and integrate into the classroom (The Yager Museum could hold an open house for the faculty and showcase museum resources and suggestions for use)

Readings for Tuesday, March 18th:
1) Talboys Chapter 6 “User Groups” pp. 51-65
2) Falk and Dierking Chapter 5 “The Physical Context: Exhibits and Labels” pp. 67-81
3) Paris Chapter 14 “Object-Based Learning and Family Groups” pp. 245-259
4) Paris Chapter 16 “Pathways Among Objects and Museum Visitors” pp. 285-299