Podcast Analysis: The Cigar Box Project - Remixing History

In this particular podcast, a project done by a school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was explained to those viewers who were interested to see how this project went, as well as those intrigued as to how the school allows students to learn using inquiry based work. The professional development coordinator at the school explained how this process began and his goals for showing to podcast. The goals he stated were to exemplify the power of remixing in the classroom and how it can affect student learning and also that student work should be designed with strong inquiry based learning as a foundation. His ideas stated that teachers should place more emphasis on boundaries on work instead of the chaos that occurs when students decide what to work on.

This project was designed with the cooperation of the museum and curator around their area and originated when the museum displayed cigar boxes with various historical figures and events. Each panel on the cigar box told a particular story and the students at the school were told to do something similar. With the help of the Galileo education tools that the school works in cooperation with, an inquiry based rubric was formulated that helped the teacher (Neil) to design and create inquiry based work that helps students develop a deeper understanding of material.

The students were broken up into groups, each group receiving four to five topics. With each topic, a question was posed to which the students must find the answer using their "digital access to history." They must then create their own cigar box that tells the story of their figure using historical images and documents that represent Canadian history.

They first were to analyze the examples from the museum because every detail is important in telling a part of the story. They were then visited by a graphic designer from one of the community colleges in the area who helped to explain the technology and symbolism used in graphic design. They were then to design their own sketches in a sketch book so that they may revisit their progress at any point in time to see how they have formulated their sketches and ideas. After all of the necessary steps were done, they were then able to create their graphic designs. They worked collaboratively with the curator of the museum to get ideas as they were creating their projects and were even granted access to the archives so that they may take pictures of important documents that could help them.

All in all, this podcast demonstrated the step by step process in creating a great project that allows students to learn information on their own but still within boundaries. It also allowed these students to use a deeper understanding of the knowledge they encountered in order to formulate a creation that they could be proud and helped develop important skills that they will continue to use throughout their school careers.