MSHP Receives Grants

Mackinac State Historic Parks has received another $9,810 to develop an educational Web site for students and teachers. The grant from Verizon Foundation was made as part of the Verizon Connects program to provide technology to nonprofit organizations.

The site, www.mackinacparks.com , includes lesson plans, activities, and a knowledge base and virtual tour of the Straits of Mackinac region called Virtual Mackinac. The virtual tour, also financed by a grant from Verizon, has registered more than 60,000 hits since going on-line in March.

All the material included in the new educational pages will correlate with, and support, the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) and Michigan Curriculum Framework Standards.

“Our Web site functions as an educational resource, providing information about exhibits, curriculum materials, and resource links to other sites,” said Mackinac State Historic Parks Museum Educator Katie Cederholm. “It brings some of Michigan’s earliest history to classrooms throughout the state that are unable to visit the Straits of Mackinac, and it helps classes that do visit prepare for their field trips. Students enjoy touring the past and learning through an innovative and creative medium.”

Mackinac State Historic Parks’ education program includes teachers’ educational packets, a variety of multimedia and hands-on classroom resources, and a question and answer telephone hotline called “Ed Line.” Each winter, Education Outreach teams visit schools around Michigan to bring the history of Mackinac to classrooms. More than 45,000 school children visit the parks in the spring.