Heather Latter
The First World War may have ended 97 years ago but Grade 8 students at Robert Moore School here were reliving those years thanks for artifacts on loan from the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Teacher Dana Kosowick said she heard about “Supply Line”—a travelling, hands-on education tool available for free to schools across Canada—online and went about booking the “discovery box” for her class.
These “discovery boxes,” developed by the experts at the Canadian War Museum, were created to help teachers provide a unique, informative, and engaging experience for students learning about WWI.
“I put my name in and we got it,” noted Kosowick, saying she requested to borrow the box in January since she assumed many schools would want it closer to Remembrance Day.
“WWI is part of the Grade 8 curriculum,” she added.
Kosowick said the “discovery box” includes 22 objects and lesson plans related to the Canadian experience overseas during WWI.
The authentic and reproduction artifacts, which were able to be handled by students, included a small box respirator, small arms ammunition brass cartridge cases, a gas alarm rattle, a trench periscope, semaphore flags, barbed wire, and shrapnel bullets.
There also was some clothing—an aviator’s scarf, a service dress cap, a service dress jacket, and a nursing apron—as well as maps, photos, posters, and other war art.
“The students really enjoyed having it,” Kosowick said, adding the box was on loan for two weeks.
“Some haven’t gone to a museum to see these kinds of things.”
She noted the class was divided into small groups and each had a couple of artifacts to focus on.
“They became experts on their topics, doing additional research,” she said.
The students then hosted their own “museum day” in the school gym yesterday, presenting to other students and staff.
“It’s was just too neat to share,” Kosowick reasoned.
And since the Canadian War Museum wants the “discovery boxes” to reach as many schools as possible, it limits one box per school per semester.
“We encourage teachers to share the discovery box between classes while it is at their school,” the website notes.
And that’s exactly what Kosowick’s class did with its “museum day.” They even created a WWI passport to provide curriculum relevance.
Students were invited to the gym and visited each booth—learning about communications, such as Morse code and the semaphore flag, uniforms, ammunition, trench life, and trench food.
Kosowick said they added the station about trench food and a video to provide some background.
“I think they learned a lot and really got to experience WWI,” she remarked.
“It was fun having such hands-on learning,” enthused Jamie Spencer, one of Kosowick’s students.
“I don’t think any of us had seen stuff like this before,” she added, noting she also enjoyed sharing what she learned with the rest of the school.
“I just love when the kids show leadership,” Kosowick said.
“This was a really great project.”
