Students should understand the concepts of natural and human resources.

Students will make notes of natural & human resources needed to create a banjo.

Students will agree on a class list of natural and/or human resources needed to make a banjo.

After developing a class list, students will agree upon a list of conclusions or inferences they can make from their exposure to the history of the banjo.

Science: 4.8

Use a Hilda Taba Concept Formation model to develop a list of things students know and would like to know about stringed musical instruments and the banjo in particular.

Ask students to make notes about the answers the exhibit provides to the questions the students developed. They should also make note of any information that is included in their list that is not accurate.

Revisit the class list. Identify and correct errors. Make additions to the list. Develop further questions stimulated by the exhibit. Individually or in groups use technology, library and personal resources to find answers to the questions. Individuals or groups should evaluate and synthesize information and report to the class the answers that were found.

English: 4.9 (Research)

Read slave narratives which contain banjo references. (See Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. Indiana University Press, 1980.)

Read the exhibit text carefully and make notes about the makers of the early banjos and banjo performers and where they lived. What was their race and their cultural background?

On a map of the counties of Virginia, note where the banjo makers, the early banjo performers, and the ex-slaves who remembered the banjo all lived. Hypothesize about the role played by cultural background in the development of the instrument. (See the exhibit gallery guide for more information on this topic.)

History: 4.1