LISBON – In an age when information is instantaneous and at their fingertips, students often miss out on the history of their local communities.
Yet, a Sugg Middle School teacher has found a way to build a bridge from the past to the present, by merging tradition and technology.
Richard Moore’s seventh- and eighth-grade gifted and talented class has been using laptops, digital cameras and scanners to put Lisbon’s rich historical heritage on the World Wide Web.
They worked Friday with members of the Lisbon Historical Society and the Maine Historical Society’s Maine Memory Network, to prepare documents for the network’s Web site.
As a result, anyone with an Internet connection can now view some of the rich history of Lisbon’s mills, war heroes and baseball teams.
When Moore began planning the project for his students, he sought out local resources.
“Knowing the town had a rich history concerning the mills, I thought that I might be able to find resources in the community that I could use and tie it in with my regular instruction,” Moore said.
He divided the students into three groups, assigning each to a subject area from Lisbon’s past – the history of the mills, war heroes from the town or the various town baseball teams.
“I knew the fire of 1901 was a major event in the town’s history. When I saw the photos of the actual fire, I knew it would interest my students,” said Moore.
He was surprised, however, by how excited the students also got about the mills, baseball teams and the war heroes.
Moore hopes the project will spark a greater interest in history in his students.
“I also hope it will promote the work being done by the Lisbon Historical Society to the community at large,” he said.
The Maine Historical Society’s Maine Memory Network serves as a statewide database, providing a technology-based, centralized location for the state’s historical and cultural documents.
To view the work of Sugg Middle School students, visit the Maine Memory Network’s Web site: http://www.mainememory.net/home.shtml.
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