Hauppauge 7th grade students recently had the opportunity to participate in the Middle School’s annual Exploration Day. Their adventure kicked off with a lively debate/town meeting on the pros and cons of exploration by High School students who acted the roles of monarchs, a Native American, an explorer and an American settler.
The High School’s History Club members and Social Studies teachers escorted the groups of 15-17 Middle School students to visit discovery station, including: the Star Lab from the Cradle of Aviation; the Aquatic Touch Tank from the Waterfront Center; farm animals and orienteering from Cornell Cooperative; shipbuilding, scrimshaw, etc., from the Whaling Museum; and much more. The students particularly enjoyed the hands-on activities such as visiting the farm animals, building ships and exploring the virtual world. They also were quite surprised to learn about the large number of Native Americans who died and Europeans who perished while traveling on ships. Following their final discovery station rotation, the 7th graders wrote their individual assessments with assistance from the teachers and the High School students who helped them to find supporting evidence for their pro or con stance for the final debate on exploration.
Administrative Assistant Michelle Aversano finds interesting new presenters for each year for the Middle School’s annual Exploration Day. Social Studies Teachers Mike Florence, Lauren Kurrass, Jeff Parrett and Ellen Robbins – along with Director of Social Studies Doreen Gordon – additionally collaborated to help students learn about exploration in the 15th century and beyond as well as why exploration continues today.
