On Saturday, May 11, Kellenberg Junior students visited Old Bethpage Village Restoration for a STEM/History Nineteenth Century Scavenger Hunt. This unique opportunity allowed the Kellenberg History and Science Departments to partner with the staff at Old Bethpage Village to develop this program. During the trip, students were able to identify both STEM and History in various descriptions and demonstrations from the OBVR staff. This also included many student questions, and observations as well.
The program began with a brief description of the life of Peter Cooper (the founder of Cooper Union) a great technical and industrial innovator of the nineteenth century. Cooper alone would hold close to 30 patents and briefly lived in Hempstead, Long Island. In addition to learning about Peter Cooper, students investigated the properties of naturally dying wool/cloth, hearth cooking, food preservation, hat making, blacksmithing, and other daily nineteenth century activities that involved Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. You’d be surprised how much STEM is present in our lives, and the lives of the past. As an added feature, OBVR made writing ink from walnuts and allowed the students to write letters with quill pens.
Overall, the day was marked with beautiful weather and a great opportunity for the students to draw interdisciplinary connections at one of Long Island’s great museum settings.
[See image gallery at www.kellenberg.org]