During April, I collaborated with an American History 2 teacher, Ms. Turner, to develop an inquiry-based museum project building on her students' knowledge of the Great Depression. This culminating activity asked students to draw on their study of the Great Depression and consider perceptions of the American Dream from the viewpoints of different demographic groups during this period of struggle. Each pair of students chose a group to focus on and conducted additional research via a pathfinder I created on the KHSCD Learning Commons website. This pathfinder led students to artwork and poetry from the time period, a Crash Course on the Great Depression, and additional primary and secondary sources. Students drew on their findings to develop a museum display expressing the American Dream from the perspective of the chosen group. They created details plans for their display and wrote a label to attract and inform visitors of their choices.

This project supported several American History 2 standards, especially:

• AH2.H.1.3 Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to: 2. Consider multiple perspectives of various peoples of the past.

• AH2.H.8.4 Analyze multiple perceptions of the “American Dream” in times of prosperity and crisis since Reconstruction (e.g., Great Depression, Dust Bowl, New Deal, oil crisis, savings and loan crisis, dot.com bubble, mortgage foreclosure crisis, etc.).

Additionally, it addressed a range of standards from the American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, such as:

• 1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.

• 2.1.1 Continue an inquiry-based research process by applying critical thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge.

• 3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.

Through this project, students created new knowledge and deepened their understanding of both the Great Depression and the American Dream as well as racial inequalities. They worked collaboratively, in pairs and as a whole class, to develop the museum and their displays within it. Additionally, they used their organizational and writing skills to express their thoughts in a clear, engaging manner.