WSU welcomes history students for research exploration

By Nella Letizia, WSU Libraries

PULLMAN, Wash. – From sewing a miniature book binding to watching a demonstration of shaping a stone tool, nearly 200 eighth-graders from Lincoln Middle School recently took a whirlwind tour of library sciences and anthropological research at Washington State University to prepare for their final history project this spring.

The teens visited the WSU Libraries and the WSU Museum of Anthropology to glean ideas for their “Night of the Notables” on March 26 and 27. Students investigate an important historical figure, write a paper and answer questions as that figure, in costume, during an evening event for parents and friends.

Activities expand experience

But more than preparation for that event, the field trip gave participants a chance to explore topics and places they might not normally see, said LMS history teachers Michael Riley and Kristen Walker.

“I believe student learning and engagement are greatly increased any time we have the opportunity to expand their experiences beyond the school walls,” Walker said. “Most students truly appreciated the hands-on activities and were a bit in awe of the buildings, especially the library (the structure itself as well as the materials).”

In addition to the academic nuggets eighth-graders came away with, Walker said she hopes they also learned what college and being on a campus is like.

“We live in a college town but, for many of our students, the university is a pretty foreign place – sort of a castle on a hill,” she said. “I think this trip made campus feel a bit more welcoming.”

Preserving recent history

WSU organizers set up eight stations between Terrell Library and the museum to present information about research and other work.

Students learned about digital scanning in the library’s Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections department. They examined some of its older artifacts – including a fragile film shot at the 1931 Rose Bowl where Washington State College faced off against Alabama’s Crimson Tide.

“This is the only copy in existence,” university archivist Mark O’English told the eighth-graders.

big-book-450Manuscripts librarian Cheryl Gunselman showed students rare and unique documents and books in the MASC reading room, such as the Space Shuttle Challenger checklist from 1983 used by American astronauts John Fabian, a 1962 WSU alum, and Sally Ride. The crew deployed two telecommunications satellites on the mission.

Learning from ancient history

At the anthropology museum, WSU graduate students Matt Marino and Aletheia Bouknight displayed bones and skeletons of birds, dogs and sheep. They talked to LMS students about how archeologists study animal remains to learn about the diet and environment of humans living at a particular time and about how animals were domesticated.

Graduate student Ryan Szymanski set up microscopes so the visitors could see pollen up close and discussed paleoethnobotany, the study of plant remains from archaeological sites. Analyzing pollen in soil layers can tell researchers what crops, vegetation or ground cover were growing when a layer was deposited.