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Culminating Activity

Creating an online exhibition on Collection X

Students have gained new insights into ancient Egypt and explored various themes related to the King Tut exhibition. In this culminating activity, students will work in groups to demonstrate their discoveries by creating an online art exhibition on Collection X focusing on one specific theme. An online exhibition will allow students to share their work with classmates, families and friends.

  • After completing several lessons on ancient Egypt, review the various themes students have studied during the course of this unit such as symbolism, power, artistic style, and mythology.
  • Whether or not students have visited the exhibition, have students reflect upon their learning by organizing their ideas using the following steps:

    • What was your favourite object related to your theme? Why?
    • Draw a sketch of your favourite object.
    • What artifact(s) would you have liked to have seen/analyzed? Explain your thinking.
    • How does analyzing primary resources compare to secondary resources?
    • What questions do you still have about ancient Egypt?
    • If you were to create an exhibition about ancient Egypt, what title would you give it? Why?
  • Divide students into small groups and allocate one theme per group. Using a graphic organizer divided in equal parts for each group member, each student is to share the most important facts they learned about ancient Egypt as it relates to their theme. Highlight any facts that have been repeated by different group members - these key ideas will form the basis of their art exhibition.
  • As students go through the process of creating an online exhibition on Collection X, guide them through the following steps:

1. Identify main research question
Groups will brainstorm the focus of their inquiry. Encourage students to consider the following:

  • What is the key concept you want your audience to learn about your theme?
  • Why is this exhibition important?
  • What will visitors experience?

2. Identify areas of research
Have students create a K-W-L chart to outline the information they already know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they have learned (L). Encourage students to consider the following:

  • What insights into this topic are you contributing?
  • What else do you want visitors to know?

3. Explore Collection X
Once groups have conducted research and collected more information, they can begin to explore Collection X. Students can take the Collection X self-tutorial to understand how to use the site. Students will find information on how to register and how to use the online resource. Provide students with some time to explore the site and visit exhibitions created by Collection X users to gain an understanding of the site's capabilities.

4. Select artworks
Now that students have completed the necessary research on their theme and main research question, they can begin selecting artworks that best illustrate their ideas. Students can select images already on Collection X as well as upload their own images of artifacts they have examined and artworks they have created related to their theme. Encourage students to consider the following:

  • Outline the purpose of each image you are including; what does each image demonstrate?
  • How will you organize/order your artworks?

5. Writing the text
Once groups have organized their research and artworks, they can write the text that will accompany each image. Encourage students to consider the following:

  • What do you want your audience to feel as they experience this exhibition? How will you accomplish this?
  • What tone of voice will you use?
  • How much background information will you include?
  • What connections to the theme and other artworks will you make?

6. Create the online exhibition
Students can put all their hard work and planning into action by creating their online exhibition on Collection X. Once completed, celebrate student learning by having each group present their exhibition to the class including their process, surprises, findings, etc.

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