Standard 9: Places and Regions

Students will use spatial perspective to identify and analyze the significance of physical and cultural characteristics of place and world regions.

K-12 Performance Standards

Educational experiences in Grades K-4 will ensure that students:

define and identify natural and human characteristics of places;
explain how human and natural processes shape places;
provide reasons whey and describe how places and regions change and are connected;
observe and describe how places and regions are identified, defined and bounded;
locate places within their own and nearby communities in Connecticut; and
locate major physical and human features in the New England region and the United States.

Educational experiences in Grades 5-8 will ensure that students:

describe human and natural characteristics of places and how they shape or place identity;
describe the process and impact of regional change;
examine ways in which regions are interconnected;
identify and evaluate various perspectives associated with places and regions;
explain and assess how culture affects perception of places and regions;
use latitude and longitude to locate places and calculate differences between places;
locate natural and cultural features in their own and nearby communities, in the United States and in other regions of the world, as needed, to answer geographic questions; and
demonstrate how personal knowledge and experiences influence an individual’s perception of places.

Educational experiences in Grades 9-12 will ensure that students:

explain and describe the natural and cultural characteristics of one place to distinguish it from another;
apply the concept of region to organize the study of a complex problem;
explain that regions are interconnected and may also overlap;
explain why places and regions are important to human and cultural identity and stand as symbols for unifying society, and
analyze ways different groups in society view places and regions differently.

Using the On-Line Learning Sites to Teach About Places and Regions

The Museum’s on-line learning sites can be used to expose your students to the Village of Old Lyme, Connecticut, the location of the Lyme Art Colony as well as the importance of the surrounding landscape to stimulate their learning about places and regions.

The Lyme Art Colony was named for the region in Connecticut where the members of the colony stayed at the boardinghouse of Florence Griswold. The physical location of the art colony had a profound influence on Henry Ward Ranger’s decision to found his new American art colony on the shoreline of Connecticut. The landscape reminded him of the forested regions of the countryside outside of Paris, and it was easily accessible by train from New York City. Located on the eastern shore where the Connecticut River flows into the Long Island Sound, the village of Old Lyme is surrounded by marshes and beach to the south and rocky upland forests and small farms to the north. The wide range of differing terrains in such a relatively small area was a benefit to the artists who were interested in painting landscape. The artists also appreciated the old-fashioned qualities of the picturesque New England village. The region had once flourished with maritime activity because of its proximity to big water and its many inland rivers, but had fallen into economic decline as shipbuilding technologies changes. The on-line information and suggested activities offer terrific opportunities to learn about places and region.

Using the On-Line Learning Sites to Teach About Place and Regions

There are several sections of The Fox Chase site that can teach about Places and Regions:

Go to The Landscape of Old Lyme for information regarding the region of Lyme and Old Lyme and its natural resources.
Go to The Village of Old Lyme for information regarding the history and development of the small New England town.
Go to The Griswold House: Intro for information regarding the history of the Griswold House from family home to boardinghouse.
Go to The Griswold House: Inside the House for a virtual tour of the boardinghouse where many of the Old Lyme painters stayed.
Go to The Griswold House: Outside the House for a tour of the exterior spaces surrounding the Griswold House and important to the artists of the Lyme Art Colony.

There are several sections of the In Situ site that can Teach about Places and Regions:

Go to Winter Twilight – Grazing Sheep by Carleton Wiggins for information about a panel that resembles images from France that inspired Ranger’s desire to found a colony in Old Lyme.
Go to Laurel and Birches Beside a Lake by Frank Bicknell for information about his panel portraying a quintessential Old Lyme scene with mountain laurel and water.
Go to Landscape by William S. Robinson for information about his panel portraying a typical homestead in Old Lyme.
Go to Whippoorwill Road by Clark Voorhees for information about a panel showing a local scene in Old Lyme.
Go to Lyme in Winter by Everett Warner for information about a panel showing the less painted season of winter.

The following selections from the menu of Scholar Essays contains information regarding Places and Region:

Go to Lyme Art Colony for information regarding the development of the Lyme Art Colony in Old Lyme.
Go to CT Impressionism for information regarding the painting style that sought to capture a sense of place.
Go to New England Identity for information regarding the Colonial Revival movement in America and its impact on art, architecture, and the decorative arts.

Suggested Activities to Foster Historical Thinking

Have your students write a letter to a friend pretending to be one of the Old Lyme artist. The letter should invite the friend to Old Lyme to paint and outline how the artist should get to the village from New York City.
Go to Movie House to view all of the vintage film footage available from the Lyme Artists reels. Have your students create dialogue for the people in the film using appropriate historic voices.
Have students find Old Lyme on a larger map of Connecticut and plan a route from the school to the Museum. How many miles would they travel.
Have the students create a map of the Museum grounds and label the different areas using the voice of one of the artists. Ask them to chart out on the map their whole day (from waking up to going to bed) as part of the Lyme Art Colony.
Divide the students into small groups and have them design their own artist colony. Encourage them to place it somewhere important to them. Students should give it a name and map out where it would be, where the artists would stay, what kind of things would they make, what art style would they choose, etc. Have the various art colonies create examples of their artwork and report out to the class.