About 180 students have worked with sundials, rotary phones, Morse Code and more through a hands-on social studies program at six Chattanooga Youth and Family Development centers this summer.
The Chattanooga Landmarks program localizes national social studies standards by connecting them to Chattanooga landmarks and historic events with hands-on learning.
The program, created and run by historian and author Jennifer Crutchfield, engages children ages 6-12 at six YFD centers in Chattanooga neighborhoods including Avondale, Brainerd and Westside.
Crutchfield wrote a book on Chattanooga history called “Chattanooga Landmarks,” from which the program gets its name, and partnered with local nonprofit Mark Making to create and fund it. She said people, places and events in Chattanooga enable national lessons to be taught through the local lens.
“There is no reason that a child should learn about the Trail of Tears, and be in Chattanooga, and not also gain an understanding of the role that our city played in that or how that connects to our city,” Crutchfield said. “It’s just all these national things, and kids would do better on their tests about them if they connected them to their city, because that makes the learning more fun. It’s like Andy Griffith, when you put more jam on the bread and the kids learn.”