Indiana Academic Standard correlation to a museum school visit 6th Grade Language Arts 6.1.4 Understand unknown words in informational texts by using word, sentence, and paragraph clues to determine meaning.           Students may come across new words at the museum, but remind them that by reading for context clues in the labels or surrounding exhibits, they should be able to determine meaning. Help students if they cannot find the definition by locating resources such as staff people or going to the infoZone and finding a dictionary. 6.2.7 Make reasonable statements and conclusions about a text, supporting them with accurate examples.           After reading labels, discuss as a group what students have just learned. Have students identify how they know what they have just stated, citing where they got their information. 6.4.5 Use note-taking skills.           You may want to require your students to carry a notebook and take notes on oral presentations or new information. You can direct this activity by requiring them to get specific information, such as "Find seven artifacts that relate to Indiana" or "Identify five simple machines." 6.7.2 Identify the tone, mood, and emotion conveyed by oral communication.           As a group, listen to the speakers in Story Avenue. Identify what tone, mood, and emotion was conveyed by the speaker. Have students identify what aspects of the speaker's performance conveyed those messages. Social Studies 6.1.16 Develop and compare timelines that identify major people, events, and developments in the history of individual civilizations and/or countries that comprise Europe and the Americas.           Find the biotechnology timeline in ScienceWorks. Discuss how these advancements have changed the quality of life for various peoples. 6.3.5 Describe major cultural characteristics of regions in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.           Visit Passport to the World. See an example of a Latin American festival called "Dia de los Muertos." What can the students infer about life in Latin America from the display? Throughout the exhibit, look at how the materials of various artifacts, such as masks, clothing, or toys, differ according to their culture of origin. Discuss with students how materials can reflect the resources available or the values (such as precious metals, etc.) of a culture. 6.3.13 Analyze and give examples of the consequences of human impact on the physical environment and evaluate ways in which technology influences human capacity to modify the physical environment.           Observe the Fall Creek watershed model in ScienceWorks and discuss how water is diverted or redirected to meet the needs of the community for agriculture or drinking water. Students can experiment with changing the flow of water-ask them to observe how this might affect the environment (flooding, destruction of natural habitats, etc.). 6.5.2. Distinguish between material and non-material aspects of culture.           In Passport to the World, students will see many artifacts. Explain that these are examples of material culture because they are tangible objects. Then identify non-material aspects of culture, such as music, sayings, or body language and find examples of those in Passport to the World. Students may listen to traditional music or find traditional blessings on the walls. Or they can see how people greet each other in Japan or how close they stand next to each other in different parts of Africa. 6.5.6 Define the terms anthropology and archaeology and explain how these fields contribute to our understanding of societies in the past and present.           The mummy's tomb in the What If? Gallery shows artifacts that have been recovered from ancient Egypt and how they are interpreted by anthropologists and archaeologists. 6.5.7 Examine art, music, literature, and architecture in Europe and the Americas; explain their relationship to the societies that created them; and give examples of how artistic ideas have spread from one culture to another.           Find examples of music and art in the Passport to the World gallery. Identify common aesthetic preferences like color or design in, for instance, the artifacts from the Plains Indians or the people of South America. Look for the integration of native customs and materials to celebrate European religious ideas in South America in the "Day of the Dead" exhibit. Can students see other examples of cultural influence in the gallery? 6.5.9 Examine artifacts, including documents, from other cultures to determine their use and significance.           In Passport to the World, compare the collection of masks. How do they look different, and can students guess what world culture produced them? Can the students determine how the masks were used based on what they look like? Are masks used for similar or different purposes in our own culture? Science 6.1.2 Give examples of different ways scientists investigate natural phenomena and identify processes all scientists use, such as collection of relevant evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and the application of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations, in order to make sense of the evidence.           Discuss with students how scientists collect data, such as observing or performing experiments. You can see examples of the outcomes of scientific investigation in the biotechnology timeline. Help students understand how advances in the past have resulted in the sophisticated technology of today. Can students identify how Barbara McClintock discovered "jumping genes"? 6.1.5 Identify places where scientists work including offices, classrooms, laboratories, farms, factories, and natural field settings ranging from space to the ocean floor.           Discuss with students that behind the scenes at The Children's Museum there are people with backgrounds in science who develop the exhibits and work in ScienceWorks and the biotechnology lab. There are also scientists who work as consultants to develop Dinosphere! And many artifacts at the museum, such as Supercroc or Stan the T-rex, were uncovered and brought here with the help of scientists. 6.1.7 Explain that technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.           Make a reservation to see the free show "Galileo and the Tale of the Telescope" in the Planetarium. Afterwards, discuss how the telescope was a major leap in technology, and how more advanced space exploration techniques were developed after Galileo. Also discuss how the telescope changed previous thinking about outer space and how the telescope worked to correct these false assumptions.           Also visit the Mir exhibit on Lower Level, which features the space suit of local astronaut David Wolf. Discuss how technology has made space exploration possible, by enabling us to send rockets into outer space and develop devices to make breathing up there possible. What other problems and solutions can students find presented in the Mir exhibit? 6.2.4 Inspect, disassemble, and reassemble simple mechanical devices and describe what the various parts are. Estimate what the effect of making a change in one part of a system is likely to have on the system as a whole.           Find examples of simple machines in the construction site in ScienceWorks. Discuss how a lever or inclined plane or pulley makes moving objects much easier than by using unaided manpower.           To see an example of a complex system, observe the Ball Machine. Have students theorize how the system would be changed if the balls were lighter or heavier, or if the springs were tighter or looser. 6.2.6 Read simple tables and graphs produced by others and describe in words what they show.           Find the charts that record the results of the hydroponic garden exhibit in ScienceWorks. Help students identify how it is organized, and have them explain what information is being presented in these tables. 6.2.7 Locate information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines, CD-ROMs, and computer databases.           Visit the infoZone, a branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, to access research materials like reference books, media print sources, and the Internet. This is a great place to find answers to questions that may have been raised throughout the day. Be sure to visit the Biotechnology webpages at http://www.childrensmuseum.org/biotech/index.htm or Dinosphere's webpage at http://www.childrensmuseum.org/themuseum/dinosphere/index.html. 6.3.3 Explain that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and that the moon, as well as many artificial satellites and debris, orbit around Earth.           Make reservations to see a show at the Planetarium to find out more about our solar system. Also check the Programs Guide to find special programs on the planets. 6.3.16 Explain that human activities, such as reducing the amount of forest cover, increasing the amount and variety of chemicals released into the atmosphere, and farming intensively, have changed the capacity of the environment to support some life forms.           Observe the Fall Creek watershed model in ScienceWorks and as a class discuss how the diversion of water to support people and agriculture has changed natural habitats in the surrounding areas. Remind students that originally Indianapolis was located in a swampy marsh area, and that over time it has been drained to create space for the city. Students may want to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these changes.

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