Fun educational activities for middle and high school aged kids

[Jacco]

I'm currently helping a small upstart museum and I need ideas for activities of what middle and high school aged kids would like to do.

Basically, they want to do a community outreach program that will get people interested in coming to the museum. My focus right now is on 12-17 aged kids and what kinds of activities they could offer to get them to come and enjoy and learn something.

Anyone have ideas?


Capcha: "sound of sirens."

lol capcha. Not quite the kind of fun I'm looking for.

Edit:

The museum is a small little former one room school house in Conifer, Colorado, US that was gifted to the historical society by the county when the school house was put out of commission. What the Conifer Historical Society wants to do is turn it into a museum that showcases the history and culture of Conifer to outside visitors. They want to do this by appealing to the widest range of people possible.
My job in this case is to recommend ways they can appeal to the 12-17 kids.

 

[Parallel Streaks]

What kind of museum is it? For a general museum focusing on history, I remember when I was around fourteen the main thing that tempted me into a museum was the promise of recounting horrendous acts of violence. Sorry, I'm not much help.

Just don't condescend to them and put forward things as if you're speaking to an equal.Nothing repelled me from something more than all of that "LEARNING IS COOL" schtick, being talked to like an adult was refreshing. Make sure they keep that in mind, it's too easy to think of young teenagers as seven year olds. Maybe a focus group at local schools could help?

Sorry man, I'm just offering vague answers, I don't have much experience making young people care about something. Just remember you're not going to bring in teenagers who flat-out have no interest in a museum. If they're not into it, the only thing that'll get them there is free shit, and that doesn't foster commitment to learning. Aim at the teens who WANT to be there, but are worried it's going to be dry, slow and boring. Make a spectacle and a lot of teenagers interested in the subject will attend, and it'll be because you've convinced them it's more fun and interesting than Wikipedia.

 

[Quaxar]

Well one issue is kids at 12 and 17 aren't really into the same stuff.

But yes, it would probably help very much to know what kind of museum it is and maybe if there's specific exhibitions.

 

[Jacco]

It's a small former school house that a tiny historical society was gifted in a small town in the mountains east of Denver, Colorado (where I live). They don't have money or anything and their museum (at least how they see it; it wont actually end up this way) is dedicated to the town's history, geography, and culture.

What kind of museum is it? For a general museum focusing on history, I remember when I was around fourteen the main thing that tempted me into a museum was the promise of recounting horrendous acts of violence. Sorry, I'm not much help.

Just don't condescend to them and put forward things as if you're speaking to an equal.Nothing repelled me from something more than all of that "LEARNING IS COOL" schtick, being talked to like an adult was refreshing. Make sure they keep that in mind, it's too easy to think of young teenagers as seven year olds. Maybe a focus group at local schools could help?

Sorry man, I'm just offering vague answers, I don't have much experience making young people care about something. Just remember you're not going to bring in teenagers who flat-out have no interest in a museum. If they're not into it, the only thing that'll get them there is free shit, and that doesn't foster commitment to learning. Aim at the teens who WANT to be there, but are worried it's going to be dry, slow and boring. Make a spectacle and a lot of teenagers interested in the subject will attend, and it'll be because you've convinced them it's more fun and interesting than Wikipedia.

I wholeheartedly agree about not talking down to them. I already have that in my report. Did you like lectures about the violence or did you prefer hands on stuff?

Well one issue is kids at 12 and 17 aren't really into the same stuff.

But yes, it would probably help very much to know what kind of museum it is and maybe if there's specific exhibitions.

The only exhibition it has is the school house building itself; not exactly stellar material. Do you have any recommendations about what kinds of exhibitions kids in that age range might like to see?

 

[Quaxar]

It's a small former school house that a tiny historical society was gifted in a small town in the mountains east of Denver, Colorado (where I live). They don't have money or anything and their museum (at least how they see it; it wont actually end up this way) is dedicated to the town's history, geography, and culture.

What kind of museum is it? For a general museum focusing on history, I remember when I was around fourteen the main thing that tempted me into a museum was the promise of recounting horrendous acts of violence. Sorry, I'm not much help.

Just don't condescend to them and put forward things as if you're speaking to an equal.Nothing repelled me from something more than all of that "LEARNING IS COOL" schtick, being talked to like an adult was refreshing. Make sure they keep that in mind, it's too easy to think of young teenagers as seven year olds. Maybe a focus group at local schools could help?

Sorry man, I'm just offering vague answers, I don't have much experience making young people care about something. Just remember you're not going to bring in teenagers who flat-out have no interest in a museum. If they're not into it, the only thing that'll get them there is free shit, and that doesn't foster commitment to learning. Aim at the teens who WANT to be there, but are worried it's going to be dry, slow and boring. Make a spectacle and a lot of teenagers interested in the subject will attend, and it'll be because you've convinced them it's more fun and interesting than Wikipedia.

I wholeheartedly agree about not talking down to them. I already have that in my report. Did you like lectures about the violence or did you prefer hands on stuff?

Well one issue is kids at 12 and 17 aren't really into the same stuff.

But yes, it would probably help very much to know what kind of museum it is and maybe if there's specific exhibitions.

The only exhibition it has is the school house building itself; not exactly stellar material. Do you have any recommendations about what kinds of exhibitions kids in that age range might like to see?

I was so frank as to do a little snooping around on your profile and reading up on your area history. It appears there was the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1858 right in your area.
No idea of your localality but if you've got any kind of budget and running water nearby I'd suggest thinking about doing a focus on that era, getting a few cheap <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_panning>bateas and doing a "search for your own gold" attraction. Don't know about the older ones but the younger kids are probably going to love that, I remember we did that once when I was a kid and it was great.

 

[triggrhappy94]

A mock-stock market could be fun.
If you have access to computers Capitalism 2 is pretty good. (I'm an Econ major, stuff like that is all I know).

I take it historic reenactment would be inappropriate? It'd be like laser tag, but everyone's wearing 1800s garb.
Think about what kids of those ages like, or would talk about with their friends.

I think one of the keys would be to keep kids interested. Most of them aren't going in to this with high expectations. Try keeping them involved. I have no idea what history you're suppose to be focussing on so I'm not sure what you have to work with. From my own experience, muesums tend to be more interesting when you have some background on the pieces and you researched it on your own accord (no one forced you to read X number of pages from X book). So try to keep it from sounding forced.
I don't know how much of that makes sense or will actually work, but it's something to think about.

 

[mattttherman3]

Anything with violence or sex appeal for the boys. Let's be real, that is all I wanted to see when I was that age. Some explosions. As they say, put a Micheal Bay film on display, and they will come.

 

[Labyrinth]

If you had an unlimited budget my suggestion would be that you get a video game developed which explores the area in the period. Hell, you could use a Google Earth/google street view style thing to be able to move around the town in a virtual space, see historical events.

In terms of getting people of that age bracket in the door, scandal and 'orrible murder are a pretty good way to go. If your idea is to increase historical knowledge about the area you could frame these in a whodunnit sort of way, where the people have to do actual investigation around the museum to find what they need to know. Of course, to do that you have to very carefully frame what you have in there.

Unfortunately, my experience with 12-17 year olds is they'll rarely step foot inside something like a museum unless dragged there by schools, so whatever you present is likely to come across as condescending and contrived to their cynical, bitter, resentful perspectives. Not talking down to them in what you present helps. If you wanted to do a whodunnit, don't make the answers easy, require a bit of deduction or creative thinking. Let people help each other, but you don't have to make it so easy that everyone is guaranteed to get it right first time.

If you can describe some of the history of the area, or the content of the museum, we'll be better able to help.

 

[Jacco]

If you wanted to do a whodunnit, don't make the answers easy, require a bit of deduction or creative thinking. Let people help each other, but you don't have to make it so easy that everyone is guaranteed to get it right first time.

If you can describe some of the history of the area, or the content of the museum, we'll be better able to help.

OHHH. I REALLY like that idea. It would get them involved in a very interactive way.


The museum is a small little former one room school house in Conifer, Colorado, US that was gifted to the historical society by the county when the school house was put out of commission. What the Conifer Historical Society wants to do is turn it into a museum that showcases the history and culture of Conifer to outside visitors. They want to do this by appealing to the widest range of people possible.
My job in this case is to recommend ways they can appeal to the 12-17 kids.

 

[Labyrinth]

OHHH. I REALLY like that idea. It would get them involved in a very interactive way.


The museum is a small little former one room school house in Conifer, Colorado, US that was gifted to the historical society by the county when the school house was put out of commission. What the Conifer Historical Society wants to do is turn it into a museum that showcases the history and culture of Conifer to outside visitors. They want to do this by appealing to the widest range of people possible.
My job in this case is to recommend ways they can appeal to the 12-17 kids.

But what is the history and culture of Conifer, Colorado, US?

Is this a small town founded on logging? Maybe farming, or mining. Or did it spring up around a railroad station? Was there a significant murder in the 70s related to far-away crime syndicates? Is there a local indigenous population with traditions and stories that you could represent as part of your narative? Was there a particular involvement from the community with war efforts in the 40s?

 

[madwarper]

There's always fire and explosions. Fill balloons with flammable gas, then expose it to flame.

Or, break stuff. Submerge objects in liquid nitrogen and drop them on the floor to shatter them.

Or, lightning! Make a Zeusaphone from a Tesla coil.


Captcha: lose face. Ummm... I think Captcha is suggesting you do a report on the guy who received a face-transplant.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I, without any evidence or experience, recommend some kind of interactive clue search, but not just "Go here and read this" like most museums manage to have, something that will test the actual brain. That way teenagers who are actually interested will have something to do that keeps them interested. Ones that aren't you can't do anything about, not everyone cares about museums in general, let alone (if I may be blunt) ones who have nothing to do with the military. Also, demonstrations and artifacts from the time are good, some that you can touch in particular.

 

[Evil Smurf]

There is only one answer: Typing of the Dead. It's probably on GOG.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Not much experience with teens but the younger kids around twelve are still pretty curious so if you can engage that curiosity then you're set. I also find that kids like to relate things to their current situation, so it might be interesting for them to learn how kids in the past did things compared to them. Also someone mentioned that you shouldn't talk down to them; kids in general want to be seen as more grown up than they are, so if you treat them with respect and don't talk down to them then they're more likely to respond positively. Having said that be wary of asking anything too deep because no kid wants to be put on the spot and look stupid in front of their friends, and if they can't answer your question they might get disheartened and lose interest. So put simply don't come across as treating them like idiots but secretly be waring of asking them anything too challenging.