Review by Polly Conway, Common Sense Education | Updated July 2013
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Museum Box

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Curate a bit of history in a box with this unique creation site

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Social Studies
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
3–12
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (4 Reviews)
Price:  Free, Paid To access the full-featured version, including the Creator tool, teachers must register on behalf of their school.
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

4 images
Museumbox's home page: like an attic, a little dusty but filled with great stuff.
Thomas Clarkson's original box; he inspired the site.
All submitted boxes are posted online.
A simple student project organized by cube.

Pros: It's easy to create a box that fits your project perfectly; layers allow for real depth of learning.

Cons: It can be a little clunky interface-wise, and there's more guidance for teachers than students.

Bottom Line: The perfect place to show off a collection or put together a history project using multimedia.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Museum Box is pretty versatile. It's a great place for kids to start learning how to use digital media in presentations, especially in history or humanities classes. Assign kids a historical figure or time period and let them figure out how to bring the subject to life within a box. The process of "opening" the box to uncover information lends itself to sharing in front of the class or in small groups, and discussions can stem from its contents. It's also a fun way to visualize text; students could write poems within the box layers for an experimental writing project. Kids can even create boxes as study aids -- the possibilities are endless!

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Standards:

Museum Box is a website that allows users to curate a collection of multimedia on any subject by virtually placing and organizing items in a "museum box." It can be used for anything from history projects to family albums, and while all kid-created boxes are posted online for anyone to view, each box is approved by a moderator before publication.

Kids begin creating a museum box by choosing a topic (family, the Civil War, 1950s toy robots, etc.), then gathering multimedia that can be virtually kept in the box. The site supports text, photos, audio, and video. Once kids open the interface, they can make some decisions about their box. Each box contains a number of cubes (you can choose how many), and each side of a cube can hold a piece of media, which is uploaded, placed in My Drawer, then dragged-and-dropped into the appropriate spot. Organization and a bit of strategy comes into play here, but the layers of information that a box can hold are nearly infinite.

Museum Box is really well-designed, and kids who like categorizing and cataloguing things will love to play around with it. There are so many options; for example, you could create a simple, single-cube box called "Chicken," featuring changes in the bird's development on each side; or a three-layered box with 24 cubes encompassing highlights of 1800s British Literature by region. The drag-and-drop interface is easy to use, and while it sometimes takes the finished boxes a little time to load, the end result is pretty cool.

Kids can learn about how to research a project, and with this kind of technology, it doesn't mean miserably thumbing through an encyclopedia. They'll explore multimedia and figure out how pieces of history fit together, whether they're photos, videos, sounds, or text. Looking at other museum boxes, there's potential for enhanced cultural understanding, as users from all over the world share historical and biographical data. Museum Box is an engaging, super-detailed place to organize information in a new, exciting way.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

The multitude of media options and detailed interface demand engagement and provide tons of potential for fun. A cleanly designed drag-and-drop system is easy to nagivate. 

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

While putting together boxes, and the blocks within them, kids will simultaneously absorb info while learning how to organize it in a clear way. This creates a deeper understanding of the material.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Pop-ups offer technical help within the Creator tool, but most pertinent info lies in the Teachers' FAQ. All boxes are saved, evaluated for content, and then posted in the Museum Box archive.

Common Sense Reviewer
Polly Conway Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.3.7

    Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

  • RI.4.7

    Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

  • RI.5.7

    Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

  • RI.6.7

    Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

  • RI.7.7

    Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium’s portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the words).

  • RI.8.7

    Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

  • RI.9-10.7

    Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

  • RI.11-12.7

    Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Writing

  • W.3.8

    Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

  • W.4.8

    Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

  • W.5.8

    Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

  • W.6.8

    Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.

  • W.7.8

    Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

  • W.8.8

    Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

  • W.9-10.8

    Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

  • W.11-12.8

    Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 4 reviews) (4 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Eric W. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
West Ottawa High School Campus
Holland, United States
A Different Way to Create a Digital Portfolio or Presentation
** I have changed my review after using it in class.** This tool is a good organizational device for visual learners. It helps them think about where their evidence fits into the larger whole. It's also a different way to present information, and student appreciate variety. Boxes can be somewhat customized by users, but they are all pretty similar. It's not a tool I would overuse because the boxes end up all looking pretty similar. The homepage allows users to view boxes created by others, but I wish there was an all-star page or something. I'd like to show my students excellent examples, but they are all sorted alphabetically or by school instead of by quality. There are copious tutorials and help screens for teachers. Ultimately, I can't recommend Museum Box because it is too expensive. Teachers can create a class account for around $100. Some U.K. schools have access to the site already. Users can try Museum Box, but they must pay for an account if they want to save their trial. I wish it gave users limited access for free.
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