Penn Museum

Penn Museum's Virtual Summer Workshop Series

June 5, 2024
 

Great Granite Sphinx RamsesEstablished by the University of Pennsylvania in 1887, the Penn Museum seeks to transform our understanding of our common human experience, sharing insights into human history through a collection of over 1 million artifacts representing communities around the world and spanning thousands of years. Our team of trained educators use this incredible collection to promote close looking and critical thinking with learners of all ages.

Beginning this summer, we are excited to share our techniques and strategies with educators around the world. Join us this July for the Penn Museum’s inaugural Virtual Summer Workshop Series, a weeklong virtual professional development program for educators designed to inspire passion through teaching with the Penn Museum’s collections and educational resources.

This year’s theme is “Artifact Based Thinking.” Through interactive programs with Penn Museum instructors and experts in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, conservation, and education, educators will:

  • Develop techniques for encouraging close looking and critical thinking through artifact-based learning.
  • Identify strategies to encourage learners to effectively ask questions and embrace uncertainty as a part of the learning process.
  • Learn how to pair thinking routines with artifacts to create engaging and meaningful learning experiences.
  • Bring archaeology and object-based teaching into the classroom using the Penn Museum’s vast digital collection.
  • Embrace the importance of mentorship as a key element of youth instruction, especially for students from marginalized communities.
  • Connect with fellow educators and create networks of professional peer support.

We are proud to welcome Quincy Greene as our keynote speaker. Quincy Greene (he/him) is an educator and public health professional with over two decades of experience working with diverse marginalized and underrepresented groups in Philadelphia, including communities of color and the LGBTQIA+ community. He has worked in the fields of data analysis, public health, youth development, and education for biostatistics and public health research, and he has helped create programs that provide sociocultural support, academic enrichment, and psychosocial resources.

Quincy was instrumental in the development of the Out4STEM program, a summer and after-school youth program hosted by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia that helps give LGBTQIA+ youth the tools, resources, and professional mentorship to pursue STEM related careers. He also created and co-facilitated the first of an annual symposium cosponsored by the Out4STEM program and the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)—Annual Symposium for Providers, Understanding Gender Identity & Development for Transgender Youth— which assisted providers in offering psychosocial and medical support for gender variant, gender expansive and transgender youth up to age 21 and their families. His repertoire includes implementing programs emphasizing health awareness and career development through professional mentorship.

We recommend the Virtual Summer Workshop Series for instructors focused on grades 6–12; however, we welcome all K–12 educators who are interested in bringing artifacts into their learning programs.

The series will be held over Zoom on Monday, July 8 through Friday, July 12, 2024. Each day will involve a 90-minute interactive guided session held 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Eastern. Registration is $120.00 (US), which gives access to all sessions plus recordings. A limited number of scholarships are also available for educators representing Title I schools thanks to the generous contributions of the Penn South Asia Center.

We hope you will join us the first week of July to connect with other passionate teachers and learn how to bring the treasures of the past into your classroom. For more information, including the full list of speakers and programs and information on our scholarship for Title I educators, please check out our website or contact Kevin D. Impellizeri, Assistant Director of Virtual Programs.