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History and Geography Department: Grades 9-10 History Day Museum Exhibition Project Showcase

June 9, 2023

After half a semester of intense preparation, the students finally had their History Day Museum Exhibition project showcase on the afternoon of June 7. Based on the last semester's project of choosing topics in groups and collaborating on the academic journal, this semester, students had to design and produce “exhibits” based on the same theme. These included various types of artifacts, exhibit guides, posters, and exhibit labels. This is a test of the student’s ability to dig deeper into interesting materials and a great opportunity to show their imagination and creativity.

The theme of this History Day is "A Journey through Time", which spans the ancient and modern world and encompasses the world horizontally. Nearly 100 groups of students in grades 9-10 at S, S+, and H levels all participated in this showcase event. The first and second floors of the Zhen Tao Building were densely packed with booths of various themes, which were quite dazzling: On the first floor, the booths of the 9th grade which focused on the ancient civilizations of the world were divided into Asia, Africa, Ancient Greece and Rome, America, early modern Europe, etc.; on the second floor, the booths of the 10th grade were divided into Industrial Revolution, Regional Wars, Revolution, World War I, World War II, etc., so that students exploring similar themes could get together to inspire and learn from each other, and visitors could also get a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the corresponding themes through comparison of multiple groups. The groups of odd and even numbers took turns to do exhibiting and visiting. During the visit they were required to choose the four booths they wanted to visit the most according to their preferences to learn more about them and complete the corresponding reflection questions, while their booths ran themselves through the display of magazines, artifacts and exhibit labels; while the students whose turn was to exhibit were required to keep their booths running properly while being ready to answer any questions visitors might have, or to be a responsible “docent”.

The 9th grade “Vikings” booth attracted many students’ attention, with elaborate replicas of longhouses and helmets, well-made maps and images of warships, all accompanied by detailed introduction labels, and the mysterious and heavy atmosphere created by the old Norse music; a series of booths showcasing the Tang Dynasty also demonstrated the versatility of the students: landscape paintings, calligraphy, and brick paintings were all amazing; the religion and culture of the Byzantine Empire were also on display through elaborate iconography and exhibit guide. The creative 10th-grade projects such as “History of Sanitation”, “History of Trains”, and “History of Disney” also captured the attention of the audience; The models of sewing machines and early trains from the Industrial Revolution, and the tank drawings and airplane models from the World War II were all impressive. Students showed their creativity in their booths, introducing their work, admiring others' masterpieces, and finishing their reflection questions. The history teachers also took an active part in the event, walking from booth to booth, interacting with students, and encouraging them to think and learn from each other.

The History Day Museum Exhibition was based on the students' efforts in preparation and their ability to investigate, which included the use of historical methods such as extensive collection of materials, solid historical research, and rigorous essay writing, as well as various interdisciplinary investigations such as art design, the use of computer technology, and even the promotion and marketing of economics. The purpose of the History Day Museum Exhibition is to showcase the results of students' investigations and to allow them to fully appreciate the joy of learning history and the educational outreach of the museum; on the other hand, it allows for friendly exchange, sharing, and reflection among students across grade and levels, so that they can show off their skills during the exhibition and learn from each other during the visit, and think about how to take the strengths of others to make up for their weaknesses.

(Written by Shen Zhou Pictures by Shen Zhou, Hao Sun, Haijie Feng Reviewed by Qian Zuo)