The Neag School of Education at UConn, in collaboration with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Connecticut Archaeology Center present, Snow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII. This temporary student exhibit will be on view in the museum’s programming space beginning May 6, 2014.
Weather and geography played an important role in military strategy, the outcome of battles, and the civilian experience during World War II. While weather and geography are difficult to control, the Allies and the Axis militaries attempted to adapt their strategy and equipment to limit the challenges of geography and weather conditions and even to take advantage of them. Weather and geography also impacted how civilians experienced the war in positive and negative ways.
Snow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII was researched and written by students in the history teacher education program at the Neag School of Education at UConn in collaboration with staff from the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. “This exhibition is the culmination of three years of effort by the students to explore WWII from multiple perspectives and to study museum education,” said Alan Marcus, an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in UConn’s Neag School of Education and the project’s faculty advisor. “The students visited WWII sites and museums in Europe, participated in workshops with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and took related coursework. This exhibit is an expression of their growth and development as historians and teachers."
The students worked with museum staff member Collin Harty, who oversees exhibit and communication design at the museum. "Collaboration with staff at the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History provided a wonderful learning experience for the students,” said Marcus. “They received hands-on training that enhanced their understanding of how museum staff create exhibitions and helped them think about how to use, and collaborate with, museums in their future roles as history teachers." The exhibit highlights cases when weather and/or geography were influential in World War II. Divided into seven display panels, each is anchored by a guiding question detailing a specific aspect of the war.
The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History is open Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, and is free to the public. For information about the Snow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII project visit http://ww2weathergeography.weebly.com. For additional Museum information please call (860) 486-4460 or visit http://www.cac.uconn.edu/mnhcurrentcalendar.html.
For more information, contact: Natural History Museum at 860.486.4460