Live Virtual Lessons and Programs Come to Seminary Ridge!

“Become A Soldier” at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center

Throughout the school year, thousands of students visit Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center (SRMEC) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to engage in lessons and activities that deepen their understanding of the Civil War era and American History. 

All activities are designed by historian-educators and teachers who have ensured the highest standards of curriculum alignment with national social studies standards and range from touring the museum with a scavenger hunt, to educator-led interactive programs.  By 2019, we realized that we could no longer restrict our educational offerings to just those who could visit Gettysburg in person.  That year, SRMEC obtained funding to transform a room in the museum into a classroom with the capability to engage with students all over the world via videoconferencing software.  As we were constructing this space, we never realized how important distance learning would become as schools went remote during the time of COVID-19!

Ways to Visit the Museum “Live”

Much of our effort over the past year has been developing digital resources, including lessons and videos for teachers, like you, to download and in their classes.  These lessons have been presented at the National Council of the Social Studies Annual Meeting and the American Battlefield Trust’s Teacher Institute.

Education Coordinator Kaleb Kusmiercyzk presents a virtual lesson

This month, we’re launching our first series of six live virtual face-to-face lessons and tours.  Using the power of Zoom and Nearpod, our historian-educators will act as your tour guide to “visit” with your students and bring the museum right into your classroom. 

Now, students in California can learn how young men would “Become A Soldier,” while classes in Iowa can learn the procedures doctors would follow to set up a field hospital, and a summer camp in New York can get a guided tour of the museum’s exhibits on African American history.  While we will continue offering our popular programs on site at the museum, these new “live virtual” offerings promise to become effective teaching tools for those who cannot make it to south-central Pennsylvania.

As always, I invite you to share your thoughts on these new offerings and others you would like to see.  We are here to help you further your students’ understanding of the Civil War and its impact on today’s world. We look forward to working with you and your students!