School Programs

One of our primary functions at Shiloh Museum of Ozark History is to serve as an educational resource for teachers and children. All our school programs are free of charge and designed to meet grade-appropriate curriculum frameworks for grades K–12. We offer field trips and visits to the classroom, discovery boxes and artifact boxes for loan, and professional development workshops for teachers. Join the fun as we bring the past to the present!

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Hello teachers!

We appreciate the work of our area educators. We support your efforts to teach and bring meaningful experiences to students of all ages, and we want to help through our program offerings. We have virtual, in person, or hybrid programs to choose from.

Some of the ways we can collaborate with you include:

  • The museum can host your classes or groups for a tour of the exhibit hall and grounds or for a customized program based on your curriculum needs. Our on-site programs are interactive, and we can divide classes into smaller groups to create a safe and meaningful experience for your students.
  • We can come to your classroom for a presentation and lead activities designed to meet curriculum standards in many topic areas.
  • You can host a virtual field trip via Zoom in which our staff are the guest speakers. By hosting, you ensure you are following your school’s security protocols. Typically these virtual field trips are 30 to 45 minutes, but we are happy to work with you to design the appropriate length program for your needs.
  • We partner with you to develop a hybrid program that has both virtual and in-person components.
  • Shiloh Museum offers field trip reimbursement stipends to qualifying schools. Learn more by clicking here.

Our program topics cover many areas related to the Arkansas Ozarks, specifically Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton, and Washington counties. We are happy to work with you to develop the programming appropriate for your curriculum and grade level.

2024 Education Events
Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl), April 26, 2024

Students explore the creation of fabrics from fibers and the various uses of fabrics while highlighting economics with consumers and producers. The event takes place in numerous locations across the Shiloh Museum grounds, and participants have opportunities to experience the work of crafts people and educators in a marketplace atmosphere so that elementary-age students can experience the ambiance of life in the past as it compares to today. Multiple stations help students visualize ways that fibers are gathered and processed; fabrics are created; and ways that fabrics can be used. This event fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades 1 – 3 but is open to all grades. Fibers to Fabric is free but pre-registration is required as limited tour slots are available. Please visit Fibers to Fabric School Program to register and learn more.

  • This event meets the following Arkansas curriculum standards:
    • Economics, Content Standard 5: Exchange and Market – students will analyze the exchange of goods and services and the role of producers, consumers, and government in the marketplace.
      • E.5.2.1: Discuss skills and education that human resources need for jobs (e.g., human capital) D2.Eco.3, 6.K-2
      • E.5.2.2: Describe goods and services that people in the local community produce and those that are produced in other communities D2.Eco.3, 4.K-2
      • E.5.3.1: Examine the relationship between human capital and productivity (e.g., division of labor, specialization) D2.Eco.6.3-5
    • Economics, Content Standard 7: Global Economy –  students will analyze economic interdependence within a global economy.
      • E.7.1.1: Identify goods and services that are traded D2.Eco.14.K-2
    • Geography, Content Standard 10: Spatial Patterns and Movement – students will interpret the spatial characteristics and patterns of human settlement.
      • G.10.2.1: Examine ways that natural resources influence where people settle D2.Geo.8.K-2 G.10.2.2 Examine reasons and ways that people, goods, and ideas move from place to place D2.Geo.7.K-2
    • History, Content Standard 12: Chronology, Change Over Time, and Contextualization – students will analyze chronology, patterns of continuity and change over time, and contextualization on historical events.
      • H.12.1.1: Explain ways family and school have changed using chronological terms (e.g., yesterday/past, today/present, tomorrow/future) D2.His.1.K-2
      • H.12.1.3: Compare present day families, objects, and events with those in the past using visual representations, news stories, and artifacts (e.g. daily life tasks, food, clothing, transportation, communication, recreation) D2.His.2.K-2
      • H.12.2.3: Compare life in your community past and present using maps, photographs, news stories, artifacts, or interviews (e.g. transportation, communication, recreation, jobs, housing) D2.His.2.K-2
      • H.12.3.3: Compare specific regions of Arkansas in the past with those regions today noting changes over time (e.g., transportation, jobs, urban growth, population density, natural resources, communication) D2.His.2.3-5
      • G.10.2.1: Examine ways that natural resources influence where people settle D2.Geo.8.K-2 G.10.2.2 Examine reasons and ways that people, goods, and ideas move from place to place D2.Geo.7.K-2
      • Shiloh Museum offers field trip reimbursement stipends to qualifying schools. Learn more by clicking here.

      Arkansas Symbols Day, October 11, 2024

      Arkansas Symbols Day showcases the history of our state through exploration of the official Arkansas state symbols. For this event, 25 stations are placed throughout the museum’s campus, each highlighting an individual Arkansas state symbol. Symbol-related activities and/or take-home items for local students are available at each station. Arkansas Symbols Day fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades K – 3 but is open to all grades. This event is free for local schools to attend but registration for a 90-minute time slot is required. Register here.

      • Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.
      • Shiloh Museum offers field trip reimbursement stipends to qualifying schools. Learn more by clicking here.

      Native American Days, November 14-15, 2024

      Join Shiloh Museum in partnership with the Arkansas Archeological Survey and approximately 20 different presenters for the 4th annual Native American Days virtual event. We will host a variety of virtual sessions highlighting the history and culture of Native Americans in Arkansas, with live sessions for registered attendees taking place over a span of two days. Session recordings will be available following the event. Native American Days fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades 5 – 7 but is open to all grades. Registration for this event opens October 1. Go to Native American Days for more detailed information and to register your classroom.

      • Social Studies: geography; spatial patterns and movement, change over time, environment and society; economics; exchange and markets; history; expansion and reform.
2024 School Program Topics

We offer a variety of field trips and program opportunities. All field trips and school programs meet Arkansas Social Studies and Common Core State Standards curriculum frameworks. Optional writing assignments are available for most programs. Program activities vary based on grade.

Shiloh Museum offers field trip reimbursement stipends to qualifying schools. Learn more by clicking here.

PROGRAMS AVAILABLE in the 2024 School Year

Buffalo River Country

Created in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Buffalo River’s designation as the country’s first National River, this program introduces students to the rich, natural life of the Buffalo River. We delve into the geology, beauty, history, and culture of the area with a hands-on exploration of the museum’s collections. Teachers can either bring students to the museum or we will bring the river to you on your school campus. You choose!

Social Studies: history; changes over time; perspective; historical evidence and causation; civics and government; processes, rules, and laws.

Civil War Home Fronts and Haversacks

Learn about life on the home front through living history performances; discover hands-on replicas of daily items used by Civil War soldiers; and explore the museum’s exhibit hall with a focus on the Civil War in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Social Studies: evidence; expansion and reform; Civil War and Reconstruction.

Covered Wagons and Log Cabins

Take a “journey” to 1830s  – 1850s Arkansas and learn about life in the Arkansas Ozarks. Experience Ozark homesteads by visiting the museum’s 1850s log home, the Settlers of the 1800s exhibit, and explore hands-on chores of the time period.

Social Studies: production and consumption; resources and movement; change over time.

First Peoples of the Ozarks

Through hands-on exploration of the museum’s historic grounds, exhibit hall, and education collections, students discover ways the First Peoples of the Ozarks interacted with their environment and used natural resources in their daily lives, including making tools, preparing and processing food, and more.

Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement; chronology; change over time; evidence; perspective.

Science: life sciences; ecology.

Mr. Cooper’s Barn and the Steele General Store

Students experience what life was like on a 1930s farm in the Ozarks through hands-on exploration and take a visit to the museum’s general store (built in 1879) to learn about the Great Depression and trade and barter for needed supplies. Explore the museum’s exhibit hall with a focus on the arrival of electricity to the Arkansas Ozarks and the “alphabet agencies” of the 1930s.

Social Studies: economics; place, region, and culture; resources and movement; change over time; evidence.

Sheep to Shawl in your Classroom

Learn how fibers like wool and cotton are processed and turned into clothing through demonstrations and hands-on activities. See also Education Events 2023 – 2024 for our annual Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl) event.

Social Studies: scarcity; cost and benefits; change over time.

Then and Now

Through hands-on exploration and an overview visit to the museum’s exhibit hall and historic grounds, discover changes over time in the Ozarks, including transportation, clothing, and technology. Educators may select a focus area to be highlighted during one section of the program, including geology, fossils, Native America stone tools, early settlers, architecture, and ecology (season-dependent).

Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement; changing spatial patterns, change over time, evidence.

Winter in the Ozarks

In this field trip, students learn how people experienced winter in the Ozarks through the eras before modern times. Stay warm inside the museum’s 1854 log cabin and see a Dutch oven cooking demonstration. Explore museum collections such as our nineteenth-century magic lantern projector and hand-painted slides depicting winter scenes of the past. Finally, take a “journey” through time in the museum’s exhibit hall.

Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.

Scheduling a Field Trip

We’re ready to meet your field trip needs! All of our field trips meet Arkansas Social Studies and Common Core State Standards curriculum frameworks. In addition, we can include optional writing assignments for most programs. Program activities vary based on grade level.

Cost: Free, but donations are welcome.

Shiloh Museum offers field trip reimbursement stipends to qualifying schools. Learn more by clicking here.

For more information, email Education Manager Judy Costello or call 479-750-8165.

Click on this link to request a field trip.

Discovery Boxes

Our Discovery Boxes are filled with artifacts, documents, photographs, and teaching materials for check-out and use in the classroom. (Items from our “Great Depression” Discovery Box are pictured above.)

Discovery Boxes are free of charge and related to the history of the Arkansas Ozarks, specifically Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton, and Washington counties. All Discovery boxes include a teacher’s manual with an artifact guide and teaching materials.

  • Boxes must be reserved in advance.
  • A box request may not be available at the exact time requested. A museum staff member will contact you to confirm availability and work with you on pick up and drop off times.
  • Boxes must be picked up from and returned to Shiloh Museum.
  • Box requests may take up to 48 hours to process.
  • All boxes may be kept for up to one week.
  • Boxes are limited to up to three at one school in one week.
  • Boxes may be shared among teachers and classrooms, but we ask that one person be responsible for returning boxes in good condition.

Use this link to reserve Discovery or Artifact boxes: Loan Box Reservations


DISCOVERY BOX TOPICS

Click on the links to see a short overview of the contents of each box.

Arkansas Symbols

Arkansas Traveler

Cherokee Peoples in the Ozarks – available Fall 2024

The Civil War

First Peoples of the Ozarks

Fossils in Northwest Arkansas

The Great Depression

Osage Peoples in the Ozarks available Fall 2024

Pioneer Life

The Roaring Twenties

Toys and Games

Transportation

World War I

World War II

Weaving Looms

Artifact Boxes

Our Artifact Boxes contain artifacts, identification guides with color photos, labels, and checklists to help you identify the contents. The artifacts are grouped thematically per box and labels are provided so teachers can make their own classroom displays. Unlike our Discovery Boxes, we do not provide lesson plans and resources inside these boxes. The purpose of the Artifact Boxes is to share the many artifacts we have in our education collections. What’s more, we hope teachers use them to enliven any topic studied in the classroom, not just social studies or history.


ARTIFACT BOXES
  • Boxes must be reserved in advance.
  • Boxes are subject to availability. A museum staff member will contact you to confirm availability and schedule pick up and drop off times for your box.
  • Boxes are picked up from and returned to Shiloh Museum.
  • Box requests can take up to 48 hours to process.
  • All boxes are loaned for up to one week.
  • Boxes are limited to up to three at one school in one week.
  • Teachers and classrooms can share boxes, but we ask that one person is responsible for returning boxes in good condition.

Use this link to reserve Discovery or Artifact boxes: Loan Box Reservations


ARTIFACT BOX TOPICS

Cameras

Diversity

Dolls

General Store

Geology

Medicine

Native Americans

Printing

Quilting

Toys and Games

Professional Development

Professional Development Workshop at Shiloh Museum

We offer Arkansas Department of Education-approved professional development opportunities, free of charge, to educators at any level. Workshops are taught at the museum or brought to schools. To schedule a workshop, email education manager Judy Costello or call 479-750-8165.


WORKSHOP TOPICS

Overview of Shiloh Museum Resources for Schools – 60 minutes
In this quick workshop, teachers learn about our field trip and in-school children’s programs and how these programs support the Common Core curriculum. We introduce our Discovery and Artifact Boxes available for loan. We also include a tour of our historic buildings and grounds and time to explore the exhibit hall.

Field Trip Immersion – 60 to 90 minutes
We adapt any of our field trips to demonstrate to teachers in this workshop. This format includes a short introduction to the program and how it supports curriculum frameworks; teachers experience a pared-down version of the field trip program and participate in the activities their students would do. Teachers participate in a final session brainstorming pre- and post-visit resources they would use relating to curriculum frameworks and ways to improve or enhance the activities.

Weaving in the Classroom – up to 6 hours
Weaving on a loom is an engaging, collaborative way to teach a variety of subjects, including economics, history, and math. This hands-on workshop is a collaboration between the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History and weavers from the Northwest Arkansas Handweavers Guild and covers the tools and strategies teachers need to bring weaving into their classroom. The workshop covers the history of weaving in Arkansas and the world, how to weave on a loom, how weaving fits curriculum frameworks, and extensions that allow students to create multiple products. Educators who attend the workshop will be able to check out looms from the Shiloh Museum to use in their classrooms.