VALDOSTA – The topic of history takes on a more modern approach with Valdosta State University education professor Rebecca Storey’s social science methods in elementary course.

With the ubiquitous advent of internet classrooms and interactive instruction, Storey looks to teach future educators how to keep students engaged, particularly where social studies is concerned.

“Growing up for many of us, social studies was boring and oftentimes an afterthought in K-5th grade classes,” Storey said. “I want these future teachers to be equipped with the resources and knowledge to make the Social Studies Georgia Standards of Excellence relevant and interesting to the children in their class. We ask ourselves why history, geography, economics and government/civics are important in education.

“Mayor Scott James Matheson was gracious enough to come speak to my class about how community members like himself are available to be guest speakers and resources to local teachers who want to teach government,” she said.

“And so with that in mind, I try to make it fun and we talk about how to integrate you know, field trips and guest speakers to make it relevant. and how to give the students help them relate it to the real world. … They don’t understand how to be a good citizen. You know, all those who don’t know geography. and these are all geography, economics, government, civics and history are all what Georgia focuses on with our standards.”

Storey recently took her class to the Copeland African American Museum to understand how the Georgia standard can benefit from field trips and is partnering with the museum to create activities that K-5th grade teachers can incorporate into their social studies lessons prior to, during or after the museum visit.

“This museum is a hidden gem that all local teachers are encouraged to use and plan a field trip for their classes. It’s not just about them learning history but it’s about how they can utilize the museum as a teaching tool for their future careers,” she said.

Dr. Amy Watson, interim director of CAAM, said in an interview with The Valdosta Daily Times that museum staff wants teachers to see the museum as a partner, and a $15,000 grant from the city has helped expand and present more educational resources to the community.

The project more than tripled the size of the museum space. The museum now has two full rooms of artifacts, space for traveling exhibits and items on loan from other museums, a photo area and the Children’s emPOWERment Zone for teaching.

“Now, students at every grade level will be able to gather comfortably in the museum to complete the activities we have designed to help teachers meet the Georgia Standards of Excellence for Social Studies. We have had local teachers use the artifacts from our collection as the basis for lessons and projects. It is such an enriching experience for the students to then visit the museum where they can actually see the artifact in person and share their presentation about the person and their contribution with the rest of the class,” she said.

The Copeland African American Museum is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday. Group tours may be scheduled by sending an email to caammuseum@valdosta.edu or by calling (229) 245-2448. Parking passes may be obtained via email with advance notification. Admission is free of charge.

Thaxton Hall is located on VSU’s Rea and Lillian Steele North Campus, at the intersection of Patterson Street and Pendleton Drive across from South Georgia Medical Center.