Interactive tour of Washington DC’s FBI building: Great experience for students

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During an interactive tour of FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, the author’s husband, Hal Marzell, examines the desk of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Many teachers would agree that interactive museums offer wonderful opportunities for experiential learning. One of the most unique interactive museums is the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), located in Washington, DC.

Access to FBI Headquarters is strictly protected, but your students can arrange a visit through the office of their US Congressman. The tours can be scheduled for business days 9 am – 3 pm. The building is closed on federal holidays. Allow at least one month before visiting Washington, DC, for confirmation of your visit. Admission is free. To learn more about taking a tour of the FBI building, consult this link: FBI Experience.

If students can gain admission, they can learn about the Bureau’s history, their work, and internal operations. Tours are led by FBI agents, retired FBI agents, or employees and are very knowledgeable. Many of the exhibits are interactive, and include a wealth of multi-media content and numerous artifacts. I enjoyed searching for the location of the hidden surveillance camera, sitting in the front seat of a genuine New York police vehicle, examining the desk of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and viewing the display of artifacts recovered from Ground Zero. The museum even offers some kid-friendly exhibits!

Best of all, I think, is the emphasis placed throughout the tour on potential employment opportunities offered by the FBI. This is especially great for students who might be giving thought to future careers.

A tour of the US Library of Congress offers a great experiential learning opportunity

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The author standing in front of the Jefferson building of the US Library of Congress located in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Undoubtedly most educators would agree that experiential learning is one of the best ways for students to learn. And one of the best ways to create meaningful  experiential learning experiences is travel. An especially great place to travel to is our nation’s capital city, Washington, DC. In a city chock full of historical sites and fascinating museums, one of the most interesting is the US Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress was founded by Congress in 1800. At that time, Congressmen felt the need for access to a reference library which would contain “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress — and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein…”

The Library of Congress was established with a $5,000 grant approved by Congress. The library’s collection was housed in the new Capitol building until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the the structure, burning and pillaging the contents of the small library. Within a month of this devastating loss, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, “putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science.” His library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States in his day.

Today, the Library of Congress houses more than 38 million books and other printed materials; 3.6 million recordings; 14 million photographs; 5.5 million maps; 8.1 million pieces of sheet music; 70 million manuscripts; 5,711 incunabala;, and 122,810,430 items in the nonclassified (special) collections. That’s a total of more than 167 million items!

A tour of the institution makes an invaluable experiential learning oportunity. Like nearly all museums and government buildings open to the public, admission to the facility is free.

You can access the website of the Library of Congress at this link: LOC. You can also view a five-minute You Tube video which here.

Visit the US Holocaust Museum as part of Holocaust curriculum

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The author’s husband, Hal Marzell, at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Many teachers include Holocaust education is a part of their educational curriculum. There are many ways to incorporate lessons about the Holocaust into a lesson plan, but one of the best would be a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, DC.

My husband and I recently spent an entire day exploring this extensive museum. The institution holds a collection of more than 12,750 artifacts; 49 million pages of archival documents; 85,000 historical photographs; a list of over 200,000 registered survivors and their families; 1,000 hours of archival footage; 93,000 library items; and 9,000 oral history testimonies.

When your students enter the permanent exhibit, they will be given an identification card which tells the story of a random victim or survivor of the Holocaust. When they exit the elevators on the fourth floor, they will walk through a chronological depiction of the history of the Holocaust. The depiction starts with the Nazi rise to power led by Adolf Hitler, and additional exhibits explore the topics of Aryan ideology, Kristallnacht, Anti-Semitism, and the American response to Nazi Germany. More exhibits explore Jewish ghettos, the Final Solution, and the liberation of the concentration camps, among other topics. The exhibits conclude with videotaped survivor testimony.

One of the most moving places in the museum,in my opinion, is the Hall of Remembrance. This hall is the USHMM’s official memorial to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Here visitors can memorialize the event by lighting a candle, visiting an eternal flame, and reflecting in silence in the brightly lit hexagon-shaped space.

To regulate the number of visitors occupying the space at one time, it is recommended that visitors obtain admission tickets in advance. Tickets are distributed outside the museum beginning at 9:45 am for visits at specified times throughout the day. The museum is open every day except Yom Kippur and Christmas Day. Admission is free.

To learn more about this museum, you and you students can click on the link USHMM.

 

Tour of US Capitol makes excellent experiential learning experience

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Author and retired teacher Terry Lee Marzell stands in front of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.

Most teachers would agree that travel is one of the best methods of experiential learning for our students. And one of the most educational destinations for travel is Washington, DC, our nation’s capital city. There are many great museums and historical sites to visit in the city, but one of the best is the US Capitol.

This iconic structure serves as a symbol for American government, a system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The Capitol building has housed the meeting chambers of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for over two hundred years.

The design of the building is an excellent example of 19th-century neoclassical architecture. Design principals embodied in the structure stem from ancient Greece and Rome. The crowning architectural achievement of the building is its dome, constructed from nearly 9,000,000 pounds of ironwork bolted to together. The Capitol Dome just may be the most famous man-made landmark in America.

In addition to its use by Congress, the Capitol serves as a museum of American art and history. Statuary Hall is a chamber of the building devoted to statues of famous Americans. Some of the most interesting include Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, Thomas Edison, Sacagawea, Will Rogers, Helen Keller, and King Kamehameha I of Hawaii.

Terry Lee Marzell enjoys a tour of the US Capitol conducted by an intern from the office of her Congressman, Gil Cisneros.

The best way for teachers and students to enjoy a public tour of the US Capitol is by making a reservation in advance. Although a limited number of same-day tickets are available, expect the lines to be long, especially in spring and summer. A tour can also be arranged through the office of your Congressman or state senator. The guided tour doesn’t include the Senate and House galleries. However, your Congressman can arrange a pass to these view these chambers when Congress is not in session. Best of all, tours of the US Capitol are free!

To learn more about the Capitol building, consult this link: About the US Capitol. To explore a virtual tour of the building, click on this link: US Capitol Virtual Tour.

Happy traveling!