Genealogy connects present day people to the past, adults are not the only ones interested in family history or in discovering some famous person in the family tree. Kids who have an opportunity to create a family history or family tree learn to take pride in family, and community. They can get a sense of belonging to a past or belonging to a culture or community.
Kids can discover a passion for genealogy because of a school project, from friends sharing about how fun it was to learn about an ancestor while creating a family tree or they can be assigned a school project that teaches them for the first time what genealogy means and how to apply the study of family ancestry to their particular family.
Classroom genealogy projects can be a very successful way to initiate a passion for learning about family history if teachers offer children a variety of methods for gathering information, recording it and displaying the information so they don’t get bored. Kids learn best when projects are flexible and when it involves different media, so when they are given free range to display what they learn such as using technology, traditional methods and by allowing for expression and creative expressions as long as accuracy is stressed then learning becomes fun and interesting.
Kids can learn about cultural diversity when they undertake a genealogic project. Digging into the family history may reveal different facets of information such as different types of foods, different ways of dressing, different occupations, different family names, and specific places where various family members have lived. All of these things are educational in nature and stimulate interest in events, and people outside of their local area of interest. When tracing a family tree, kids have the opportunity to learn new words and be exposed to different customs and music which can then open new doors to them.
While completing genealogy projects kids have a chance to learn how to complete precise research, how to accurately report references and sources, how to use a computer program, software and other genealogy tool to create a family tree or family history. Kids also learn how to be better organized when it comes to interviewing and recording information gathered, how to compare notes for accuracy and conflicting information, and how to make use of the information they gathered. It’s also an excellent way of sitting them down with grandparents or other elderly relatives to give them a chance to talk about their past.
Sometimes kids are given the opportunity to present information in an oral format such as to tell family stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. Kids may have been told about events that occurred, famous persons who interacted with their family members or other information that can be shared with their classmates in an oral recitation. Oral reports are useful in teaching kids how to enunciate, how to speak clearly and how to entertain others using oral language.
Kids of all ages can be assigned age-appropriate projects that deal with family history. Exploring their surname is a great place to start. Finding out if someone in their family came to the country from another country allows students to understand how America became a country of diversity.
Studying genealogy gives students an opportunity to use technologies such as the Internet, and Word PowerPoint and other software programs that further teaches them to learn new skills that can be used in other subject areas. When teachers do not limit forms of expression kids can learn how to work with many different forms and methods such as using music, painting, graphs, and family heirlooms to tell the story of their own family history.
Kids may even discover that they have a passion for genealogy that may eventually turn into a future occupation or hobby, who knows.
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