Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation: Retaining Staff to Deliver Educational Program During COVID-19

FAIN: AH-274828-20

Casa Dela Guerra (Santa Barbara, CA 93102-0388)
Anne Petersen (Project Director: May 2020 to July 2021)

Four full-time staff and additional part-time staff responsible for developing a virtual version of a popular interdisciplinary, place-based curriculum for junior high students.

The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation (SBTHP) will launch a digital version of our successfully piloted education program for 400+ junior high school students called Where We Are From in fall 2020. This program uses the resources at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park to meet seventh grade standards in English and History. To make it adaptable for distance learning circumstances due to COVID-19, we will increase the digital and virtual offerings of the program. Students will actively engage in interactive stations focused on autobiography, mapping, poetry, primary sources, and historical narrative. Students will create and present works highlighting their recent classroom projects and field trips. The program demonstrates that these issues can be explored safely and with complexity with a historical lens, and can improve student engagement in the learning process.