The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
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Indiana Academic Standard
correlation to a museum school visit
5th Grade


Language Arts
5.2.1 Use the features of informational texts, such as formats, graphics, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps, and organization, to find information and support understanding.
          Students can find examples of all types of information texts in the museum. Have them locate maps, diagrams, illustrations, and charts throughout the museum. Look in Passport to the World for maps and in ScienceWorks or the coral reef exhibit for other information formats. After visiting a few galleries, discuss how information is presented in various formats and why some formats are better than others. Observe how diagrams make scientific concepts or descriptions easier to understand.

5.7.1 Ask questions that seek information not already discussed.
          After visiting a gallery or listening to a presentation, students may want to know more than what they learned. They can ask the presenter or gallery staff for more information. There are also books in many galleries that relate to what is on display. Also visit the infoZone to find books or go on the Internet to get answers to questions. Students may also want to record their questions for further research back at school or at home.

5.7.8 Analyze media as sources for information, entertainment, persuasion, interpretation of events, and transmission of culture.
          Discuss the Internet as an amazing but problematic source of information. Have students discuss the pros and cons of Internet research-for instance, while it is vast and easy to use, no one monitors it to make sure all the information is true or up-to-date. There are 16 computers with internet available in infoZone. Do a sample search for "dinosaur" on the Internet in infoZone and demonstrate how some websites are reliable and some are not. Check out The Children's Museum's webpages about dinosaurs at http://www.childrensmuseum.org/themuseum/dinosphere/index.html.

Social Studies
5.4.1 Describe the economic activities within and among American Indian cultures prior to contact with Europeans. Examine the economic factors that helped motivate European exploration and colonization.
          Explain how we know that Native Americans traded with each other-because things like shells have been found far inland, indicating that there were networks of trade between coastal and plains Indians. Visit Passport to the World to see examples of artifacts from Native American cultures. Discuss the natural resources of the North American continent and compare how they were used by Indians, and how settlers planned to (and did) use them. Ask students to think about why Europeans were so motivated to take over Indian lands.

5.5.1 Describe basic needs that individuals have in order to survive, such as the need for food, water, shelter, and safety, and give examples of how people in early America adapted to meet basic needs.
          Have students identify basic needs for survival, like food, water, shelter, and safety. Then visit the cabin on Level 3 and identify in what ways the hypothetical residents of the cabin are meeting those needs. Identify the well for water, or the deer, livestock and crops for food. How did these pioneers construct their shelter? What tools or weapons can they find and why were they used? There is also a diorama of an early pioneer settlement-discuss how the location was probably chosen because there was nearby water and a forest for hunting and for logging. Students can also play "Load a Wagon" on the computer and see how what choices they make in loading goods can determine their survival on the frontier.

Science
5.1.4 Give examples of technology, such as telescopes, microscopes, and cameras, that enable scientists and others to observe things that are too small or far away to be seen without them and to study the motion of objects that are moving rapidly or are hardly moving.
          Register the class for a free see a planetarium show. "Galileo and the Tale of the Telescope" discusses the development of the telescope-how it worked and why it is important-and its use to examine objects in the sky.
          Register for a free program in the Biotechnology Learning Lab in ScienceWorks. Use microscopes in experiments to detect small organisms or particles. See the School Programs Guide for availability.


5.3.1 Explain that telescopes are used to magnify distant objects in the sky, including the moon and planets.
          Watch the planetarium show "Galileo and the Tale of the Telescope" to see the development of the telescope, how it works, and the advances in technology that have been made since the 1400s. This free show requires registration.

5.3.11 Investigate and describe that changes in speed or direction of motion of an object are caused by forces. Understand that the greater the force, the greater the change in motion and the more massive an object, the less effect a given force will have.
          In ScienceWorks students can work with many types of forces. How does water move objects? How can objects be designed to move faster or slower in water? What happens if an object is too heavy? Observe the Ball Machine and identify forces like gravity, or how simple machines like springs or gears change or enhance motion. Have students theorize how the Ball Machine would be different if the balls were heavier or lighter. What other examples of motion can the students find in ScienceWorks?
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