Photo submitted by Lake Metroparks

Fourth graders in the Painesville City School District stepped back into history and explored the environmental changes that shaped history of the chair factory in a first-time offered program developed by Lake Metroparks and the Middle Childhood Education pre-service teachers from Kent State University (Geauga Campus). Lake Metroparks staff worked with Middle Childhood Education pre-service teachers from the Kent State Geauga Campus to incorporate resources/artifacts from an old chair factory located within the Lake Metroparks to create a unit plan incorporating exploratory and multi-disciplinary learning.

“How environmental changes shaped the history of the chair factory” had students hike from the Environmental Learning Center to the area where the chair factory existed and then study historical artifacts from the chair factory in Concord Township’s Old Stone Schoolhouse.

This partnership between Lake Metroparks, Kent State University Geauga Campus (Geauga Campus), Lake Metroparks, the Painesville Local School District and Concord Township was made possible through a grant by The Cleveland Foundation Lake/Geauga Fund.

The Lake County History Center wants to thank all the entities involved in this amazing program to combine science and local history in classrooms. We love seeing the partnerships and new ways to teach our children about Lake County’s past.