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May 15, 2004Learning history by acting it outStudents become famous figuresByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - With just a push of a button, figures of the Revolutionary War came alive at Westwoods Elementary this week. In its second year, the fifth-grade "Revolutionary War Wax Museum" included live lessons given by historically-clothed students transformed into 30 characters on both sides of the American battle for independence from Britain. "We study the war as part of our curriculum, and as a culminating activity they do this research project," said fifth-grade teacher Bonnie Strand of the nearly 60 fifth-grade students who worked on the projects for a month. Students, often two to a character, were required to develop their historical figure and work on research papers for the project. Historical figures during the four-hour museum session included Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry, George and Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson, as well as British adversaries Charles Cornwallis and King George III. To listen to Sean Buttars, who along with classmate Mike Ruggles played Paul Revere, museumgoers had to ring a bell to start Buttars into a comprehensive oral account of his character, perhaps best known for his horse-driven warning that the British forces were indeed coming. But many people don't know that Revere, who lived until age 82, was also an accomplished silversmith by the age of 15, had 11 living children with two wives, and also became a dentist later in his life. "I picked him because I knew about him and thought it was cool how he warned the towns about the British," Buttars said. "And then I learned a whole lot more about him that I didn't know, like he was one of the best silversmiths." Fifth-grade teacher Carol Nerychel said the hands-on approach of the historic study offers students not only the opportunity to learn, but also to extend their knowledge to other students and the community. "It becomes a living history for the kids this way because they do take on the characteristics of the person they have studied and researched," she said. "We tried to bring in people that were not so famous they could choose from, and this year we have given almost equal time to women in history as we have to men."
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