Grade 10 Students Explore History Through Objects!

Sharing academic work with a wider audience helps students become more confident in their knowledge and gain skills such as public speaking, confidence, and leadership. This week, our grade 10 history students put these skills to the test and showcased their projects in a gallery walk-style exhibit inspired by the book A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, which explores past civilizations through the objects that defined them. This project allowed students to reflect on the information that different artifacts and objects tell us about the cultures and traditions they come from. In addition to this, students were able to reflect on everyday objects from the modern day: how the past has shaped them and what they tell us about society now.

The grade 10 history students were tasked with choosing an object with which they have a personal connection. They were then asked to place this object in a broader social or historical context. What does a basketball have to do with social justice? How does a car help tell the story of the Japanese economic miracle? Which industries benefitted from the development of hair dryers? These, and many more questions, helped guide a discussion and encourage students to see the history around them and how this history is shaped through culture. 

Here at LAS, we love learning about and sharing cultural knowledge. Having over 50 nationalities represented on campus means that our students are exposed to many different languages and cultures on a daily basis, and we strive to further this sense of multiculturalism through our curriculums. A project like this with our grade 10 history students allowed the exhibition attendees to learn about the world around them and gave our students the opportunity to research further into a specific culture or historical event. Through this, our students and community are able to reflect on their knowledge and develop further into well-informed citizens of the world! 

Students learned from this project that objects have the ability to paint a mosaic of the past. Through objects, we can learn more about the interconnected and often surprising nature of different cultures and the ways in which modern societies have benefited from objects created throughout history. In addition, our students will use research and presenting skills in the future, so this project was an excellent opportunity for students to gain confidence in these areas! We were delighted to showcase our students’ achievements and findings to a wide audience, and we would like to thank everyone who attended this exhibit–we hope you all learned a lot about history through the interesting objects that our students chose to research further into!