Teaching and Learning

Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) engaged Turnstile Studio to provide technical and training support for the pre-existing virtual field trip Slavery in the Colonial North and for the roll out of a new virtual field trip called Invisible Women, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities, respectively. While the scope and size of each project was distinct, our team worked concurrently on both projects between February 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 to support program development, evaluation, and offer training workshops and resources to build HHV’s in-house training capacity. Highlights included:

• Outcomes-Based Logic Models that we created with staff to identify and clarify target audiences, program goals, outcomes, and impact in support of program development and evaluation.
• Baseline Assessment to chart out strategies that were informed by staff members’ expressed needs and by digital learning experts whom we interviewed about student engagement methods online.
• A resource guide on facilitating engaging virtual field trip for students that can be used internally by HHV and/or distributed to the museum field with credits to contributors.
• Lesson plan support to assist HHV in effectively translating substantive humanities content into an interactive online environment appropriate for students. 
• Training workshops to equip staff with practical skills and knowledge to help them gain comfort in leading student-centered virtual field trips.
• Train-the-trainer lesson plans to ensure HHV’s ability to train educators in effective practices, as well as resources that focus on practical application of knowledge, skills, and techniques, including handouts, video tutorials, and activities to complement the delivery of future in-house workshops. 

The Brooklyn Navy Yard engaged Turnstile Tours & Studio in two separate consulting projects in 2022 and 2023 to develop, pilot, and evaluate two school programs for local elementary-aged students. In collaboration with Brooklyn Navy Yard staff, our team delivered the following:

• Outcomes-based logic models to clarify target audience, outcomes, and resources needed for both programs.
• Lesson plans and prototypes of activity materials for two school programs for K-5 classes that use the indoor and outdoor exhibits at Building 92 to engage students with themes that relate to sustainability and to designing and making things.
• Pilot programs, update materials and activities, and recommend revisions. This iterative process involved leading programs for 40 local K-5 schools and updating lesson plans, materials and activities based on educator and teacher feedback.

Turnstile collaborated with Brooklyn Connections of the Brooklyn Public Library to develop and host a day-long professional development workshop for history and social studies teachers. The program included lectures and tours on the history of the Brooklyn Army Terminal and its transformation from a military base to a nonprofit industrial park. Brooklyn Connections provided participants with take-home primary sources and lesson ideas to help students create connections between major historical themes and local history through the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

Turnstile Studio was contracted by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to work with Education and Interpretation to conduct a series of training workshops, develop training tools and materials, and provide recommendations to further enhance accessibility and visitor engagement for both children and adults. This project involved two separate accessibility training workshops with staff, including K–12 instructors, Discovery Docents, and Garden Guides, and the development of training resources to support the institution’s continuing efforts to provide welcoming experiences to visitors with disabilities. Turnstile staff conducted on-site observations of guided tours, school programs, and the Discovery Garden, created tailor-made training resources and evaluation tools for general public tours and the Discovery Garden, developed a train-the-trainers lesson plan with supplementary training materials and resources, and supported the inaugural pilot early morning opening of the Discovery Garden for families with children with disabilities. This project resulted in a final report with assessments and recommendations that set up Brooklyn Botanic Garden to raise funding for a larger scale project to support professional development for all frontline staff that Turnstile Studio supported from 2019-2022.

Turnstile Studio was selected by the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy to conduct supporting research for an educational program focusing on the history of social welfare in New York City. Using the landscape visible from the park, located on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in the East River, we identified a series of structures that typified different modes of housing to trace the history of housing for New Yorkers in need from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. Research included examining primary and secondary source materials from local archives, including the New-York Historical Society, the New York City Municipal Archives, the New York Public Library, and the La Guardia and Wagner Archives at La Guardia Community College.