Trailblazers to Freedom: A Traveling Trunk Educational Experience

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) will join forces with Comcast to provide students in the School District of Philadelphia with a ground-breaking new classroom learning tool.

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The African American Museum In Philadelphia partners with Comcast to present a dynamic and innovative new educational tool.

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) will join forces with Comcast to provide students in the School District of Philadelphia with a ground-breaking new classroom learning tool.  Trailblazers to Freedom is the first ever integration of Digital Interactive Educational Media in a traveling trunk educational program. Through this dynamic partnership, Comcast and the AAMP bring history to life with an innovative teaching tool that allows students to interact with notable history-makers and events that helped shape visions and dreams of freedom and equality in early America. The traveling trunk and its supplementary curriculum utilize information and multi-media technology to provide unprecedented access to the past.

Geared to 8th grade students, Trailblazers to Freedom supplements the delivery of the standardized Social Studies curriculum with multi-sensory tools that enhance students’ understanding of complex themes.  The trunk will include a 32” video screen with touch screen technology and the ability to also project images onto a larger screen.  An on-screen video host/narrator will introduce educational subjects, illustrating compelling historical themes through character-driven narratives and presenting those themes and narratives as essential components of American history while locating Philadelphia and Philadelphians at the center.  Historical figures featured in AAMP’s outstanding core exhibition, Audacious Freedom, will give on-screen testimonials on their lives and experiences in early Philadelphia.  Other components of the trunk include reproductions of artifacts; copies of primary documents – letters, publications, illustrations and maps; handouts for students; teacher guides and evaluation forms.  Additionally, students will have the opportunity to build upon the classroom experience with a visit to the Museum where they will be introduced to additional characters and themes.

The Trailblazers to Freedom traveling trunk educational program was developed in collaboration with Comcast, AAMP and the School District of Philadelphia by Interpret Green.  Interpret Green is a team of educators, artists, media developers and exhibition professionals that provide interactive multimedia for many of the region’s leading museums and LEED projects.