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!

View of the lunar landing module on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, DC.

There is no doubt among teachers that experience is one of the best ways to learn, and most educators would agree that a visit to a museum is a terrific learning experience. One of the most exciting museums for students to visit is Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, DC.

One of the most spectacular displays at the museum, in my opinion, is the lunar landing module. This spacecraft, frankly pretty fragile in appearance, was designed to carry astronauts David Scott and James Irwin on their Apollo 15 mission to the moon. However, NASA decided that Apollo 15 and subsequent flights would be outfitted with lunar roving vehicles, so this module was replaced with the Lunar Rover.

Also on display is a replica of a lunar space suit and a model of the Telstar satellite. Of special interest is an actual moon rock, that your students are allowed to touch! And for Star Trek fans, Paramount Studios’ filming model of the starship USS Enterprise is grandly on display.

Personally, I have always been a fan of planetariums, and this museum is host to a fine one: the Albert Einstein Planetarium. For a small fee, we enjoyed a half-hour show entitled Journey to the Stars. We were treated to extraordinary images and physics-based simulations that helped us understand our universe better. And students will love that the presentation is narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.

In addition to these space-related artifacts, the museum boasts wonderful exhibits documenting the history of air travel. Included are Charles Lindbergh’s plane The Spirit of St. Louis; Wilbur and Orville Wright’s 1903 Wright Plane; the Lockheed Vega piloted by flying ace Amelia Earhart; and a 25-foot model of the dirigible Hindenburg. I especially appreciated “Black Wings,” an exhibit about the contributions of African Americans to aviation.

You and your students would definitely find a visit to this Smithsonian museum an invaluable learning experience. However, if you are unable to travel to Washington, DC, the exhibits can be explored online at this link: Air and Space Museum.

Happy traveling!

Photographs of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, taken by the author on her recent visit to Washington, DC.

Most educators would agree that one of the most efficient methods of experiential learning is travel. One of the best destinations for travel is our nation’s capital city, Washington, DC. This city is home to a multitude of worthwhile museums and historical sites. Among these is Arlington National Cemetery.

The cemetery is located in Arlington County, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from the capital city. The hallowed grounds span 624 acres, and house the remains of our nation’s military dead and other notables from American history. Names familiar to history students are too numerous to name.

My husband and I were fortunate enough to visit this important historical site last month. We were there one day before the burial of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. He’s just one of many Supreme Court Justices buried at Arlington, including Warren E. Burger, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and William Rehnquist. 

While we were at the cemetery, we visited the somber final resting places of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the simple grave sites of his brothers Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy, and the sacred Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. President Kennedy isn’t the only president interred at Arlington. President William Taft is also buried there.

Also buried at Arlington are at least three soldiers who were former schoolteachers: General of the Armies John J. Pershing; Commander of the Flying Tigers of World War II Claire Lee Chennault; and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb. Christa McAulifee, the first Teacher in Space, is interred elsewhere, but two of the astronauts who perished with her during the 1986 Challenger disaster are.

If you or your students are unable to travel to the Washington, DC, area in person, you can still explore Arlington National Cemetery through their website. Simply click on this link: Arlington Cemetery.

The author’s husband, Hal Marzell, in Ford’s Theatre, standing before the balcony where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865

I’m sure that many teachers would agree that one of the best methods of experiential learning is travel. And one of the most rewarding destinations for travel is Washington, DC, our nation’s capital city. There are many worthwhile museums and historical sites to visit in the city, and one of the most interesting is Ford’s Theatre.

Students of history will recall that Ford’s Theatre is the scene of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Lincoln was there watching a performance of the play Our American Cousin, when the actor John Wilkes Booth slipped into the president’s box, aimed his gun, and fired. Booth was a Confederate sympathizer, and was incensed at the surrender of the Confederacy just a few days before. The assassin then leaped from the box down to the stage and escaped through a rear door. The mortally wounded president was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the following morning.

Today, both the Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site and the Petersen House are part of the National Park Service. More than 650,000 visitors visit the site each year. Located within, students can view the Presidential Box where the assassination occurred, restored to the way it was on that fateful night. Visitors can also explore museum exhibits that depict Lincoln’s presidency, Civil War milestones, the events that led up to the assassination, and the aftermath. Students can also take at look at significant historic artifacts, including the pistol used to kill the president, the clothes he was wearing on the night he was assassinated, and Lincoln’s life masks.

Students and teachers who are unable to travel to Washington, DC, could learn more about this important historical site by examining the Ford’s Theatre website. You could also examine the Ford’s Theatre virtual tour. There are also some terrific resources for teachers available on the website.

Whether you visit Ford’s Theatre in person or online, I bid you happy learning!