Think Inside the Box
How does the "Think Inside the Box" activity relate to history?
The "Think Inside the Box" activity dealt with history be being a little box (or bag) of artifacts. That's precisely what artifacts are; different items from the past. So, really, the "box" part of this equivalents "life", and the objects represent events or sentimental tokens. Another way the phrase could be viewed as is in connection to archaeology, what with the discovery of things in the past.
Pick a period in history, an event, or a prominent historical figure. How could examining a person's "box" change our perspective?
Examining a person's box (or, as I suggested earlier, life) can change our perspective by revealing to us parts of their life we've never thought possible, or just didn't think would be true to their character. For example, if the quiet person in class actually loved singing songs in front of crowds, or the loud person had a book full of thoughtful statements about nature. Amelia Earhart had a .22 rifle for hunting. Along with that in her box/life, she'd have a "scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields". http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html
If you could pick anyone in history to share this activity with, who would it be? Why?
If I could pick anyone in history to share this activity with, they'd probably be my grandparents. I never knew my mom's dad, so it'd be interesting to see what he'd have, and after only knowing my mom's mother for only a few years, I think it'd be amazing to see how such a kind, intelligent, happy person would sum up their life in just a handful of possessions.