Wednesday, March 13, 2002
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Wednesday, March 13, 2002 |
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Scavenger hunt boosts black history knowledge What do potato chips, ice cream and traffic signals have in common? They were all created by famous African American inventors who just happened to be part of Huddleston Elementary School's Black History Month scavenger hunt. Throughout February, individual classrooms at the school spent time researching inventors, scientists, musicians and educators in order to learn about the contributions African Americans have made to society. Students showed off what they had learned by creating displays outside of their classrooms that featured information about the people they had studied. In an effort to share their knowledge with others throughout the school, students participated in Huddleston's first black history scavenger hunt, which incorporated facts from the displays. "The students were very excited about the hunt. They were reading the displays very closely all week in order to get ready for it," said media specialist Barbara Hunter. Hunter created five questions from the displays for each grade level. Classes had a specific time to travel through the school to find the answers. Students were given clues as to which hallway they could find the answer, enabling them to practice their map skills while increasing their knowledge of black history. Some examples of people the students studied included Garrett Morgan, inventor of the first traffic signal, Augustus Jackson who created the concept of ice cream in 1832 and George Crum, a chef who accidentally discovered potato chips when his customers complained that his french fries were too thin. "We have always done research during ... February for black history, but we have not had the displays before and have not shared information with the rest of the building," said Hunter. "The students really had a great time with the event. The displays were awesome and the amount of work that the students put into them was incredible." The scavenger hunt was a cooperative effort between Huddleston's media center and classroom teachers. Although students did not receive prizes for finding answers to the questions, Hunter said they did enjoy expanding their knowledge of black history.
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