Student Programs
The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) provides a variety of options for curriculum-aligned museum and outreach education programs.The Museum of East Tennessee History offers tours and hands-on programs. Our outreach program brings supplemental hands on programs offered at the museum straight to the classroom. For guidelines and contact information about planning a tour, click
here.
K-12 Museum Education Programs:
A standard one-and-a-half to two hour visit to the ETHS Museum of East Tennessee History includes a guided scavenger-hunt style activity for students in the signature exhibit Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee. Teachers also select a hands-on program which complements the curriculum as well as supplements the Voices activity.
Supplemental hands-on programs include:
- OBJECTS OVER TIME—Students “read” mystery objects and place them on a timeline keyed to important Tennessee and U.S. history events. (K-12)
- DISCOVERY BOXES—Students unravel the identities of frontier era characters by collecting clues from objects in the boxes. (K-4)
- BROTHER VS. BROTHER—With a fast moving script, students engage in an 1861 debate between Union and Secessionist characters, based on actual East Tennesseans and their speeches. (5-12)
- IN THEIR OWN WORDS—Students study the “hidden past” of antebellum slavery through evaluating primary sources from the Knox County archives. (5-12)
- HISTORY DETECTIVES—Students “dig” through primary and secondary sources for clues to complete biographical sketches of famous Tennesseans. (4-8)
Outreach Programs:
All the supplemental hands-on programs offered at the museum are offered in the classroom.
- EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS is a 50 minute outreach program that is only offered in the classroom. This interactive, hands-on program explores the ways in which European, African, and Cherokee cultures blended to create the food ways and clothing styles of frontier Tennesseans. Trade is also a primary focus of this program. (K-8)
To schedule a visit, contact Lisa Oakley at 865-215-8828 or oakley@easttnhistory.org.