SquirreLee College Field School

A  Children’s  History  project  for  Stratford Hall

Project Goals Goal 1: Have kids and families doing historical research and enjoying their time at Stratford Hall. Goal 2: Give Stratford Hall a memorable character and storyline to use as they reach out to the community. Use this as a base for future events like scavenger hunts, community days and gatherings. Goal 3: Introduce kid-friendly tools for historical research and a way for schools to plug into this process.

Welcome Field Research Interns! Thank you for your interest in the SquirreLee Field School program.

(you are now viewing this project as a player!)

We will need you to do historical research in the house as interns for the SquirreLee Field School, which works in association with the University of X.

When you visit Stratford, you will be given a  “researchers  kit”.  Go  ahead!  Open  the  app  on  the  tab  that  says  “FOR  KIDS”

“Hello  interns  and  welcome  to  your  first  day  of  field  work!  My  name  is  Professor David Scharf and as Director of the University of X* Historic Preservation Field School and adjunct professor of the

SquirreLee College Field School, we appreciate your help with this important research project.

* We would like University of X to be the University of Mary Washington if we can get their

permission

“As  you  may  have  heard,  there  is  talk  of  a  number  of  “rats’  nests”  inside  the  Great House site of the Stratford Plantation. Little is known about these nests. But we do know that they are of great archeological importance and they need to  be  carefully  documented,  which  is  why  we’ve  asked  you  here.  To  explain  the  project  more,  I’ll  introduce  my  colleague,  Professor  Skiorous SquirreLee, lead on this project and in fact, a direct descendent of the SquirreLees of Stratford

Hall.  He’ll  be  speaking  through  a  translator.”    

“Thank  you  Professor  Scharff and welcome, interns. As Prof, Scharff noted, I am this  project  lead  and  will  be  your  advisor.  If  you’d  like  to  hear  more  about  your  

assignment and the history of SquirreLee College,  tap  HISTORY,  if  you’d  like  to  skip  that  and  get  directly  to  your  research  project,  tap  RESEARCH”

HISTORY RESEARCH

Ah!  You’d  like  to  hear  about  the  history  first.  It’s  wise  to  have  the  whole  story.  The  SquirreLees have a long and important history with the Stratford Plantation. In the 1800's, the SquirreLee family and the Lees of Stratford were very close. The Lees

even included the SquirreLees on their family crest.

HOME NEXT

“The  SquirreLees lived side by side with the Lees for four generations but when the house was sold in the late 1800's, the oldest son, Thomas SquirreLee

bequeathed the SquirreLee portion of the estate to found SquirreLee College, which educates over 2500 squirrels in different trees and branches of higher

education. ”

HOME NEXT

“Today,  the University of X works in collaboration with SquirreLee college Field School for their field work and excavation at Stratford Hall. Many of the most interesting archaeological discoveries of Stratford were uncovered by squirrel

researchers.  Tap  HOME  to  get  to  your  assignment.”

HOME

“Excellent,  welcome  back.  Now  that    you  understand  the  history  of  our  school,  you’re  ready  to  begin  your  research.  Recently,  a  visitor  discovered  a  “rats’  nest”  inside the Great House. University of X and SCFS are very interested and these

artifacts need to be documented but the University of X team is stretched thin and the  SCFS  team  cannot  go  inside.  (It  would  be  rude.  They’re  squirrels  after  all.)  This  

is why they would like to recruit children field researchers to help them. This is where  you  come  in.  Tap  RESEARCH  to  begin.”

RESEARCH

LET’S  GO!

“We  ask  that  you  abide  by  our  SquirreLee Field School code of conduct. We are a well-respected  organization  and  you  represent  us!”

LET’S  GO!

“For  your  first  assignment,  go  directly  to  the  Great  Hall.  A visitor reported seeing paint missing in two places on the wall! Could this be the work of rats? Please take your notebook and find where this paint is missing. Draw it, sketch it, take notes.

Where in the room is the paint missing? Does it look like a place where a rat could have  chewed?  Ask  the  guide  if  you’re  not  sure,  sometimes  humans  know  things  

that  we’ve  missed  in  our  own  research.”  

Assignment 1

NEXT

“Excellent!  Next,  in  the  upper  stair  passage,  we’ve  heard  that  there  may  be  a  rats’  nest hidden in a corner. Go there and take a look, it should be an unmarked box with a brown lid. When you find it, tap NEXT. We need to see what the contents

are”

Assignment 2

“Alright,  now  carefully  open  the  box.  We’re  archeologists  so  we  need  to  be  really  careful with the contents. There should be a pair of gloves there, put them on so

you  don’t  get  your  fingerprints  and  oil  on  the  artifacts.  First,  we  need  a  log.  Just  list  what you see, take out each item and write it down. Watch this instructional video

on  how  to  log  your  artifacts!”

Assignment 2

NEXT

“Great.  On  one  page  of  your  notebook,  choose  one  artifact  from  the  nest  and  draw  it.  Then  answer these three questions:

1. What is one true thing about this artifact? 2. Who do you think the rats might have stolen this artifact from? 3. Do you see any years written anywhere? Are there any hints to what year this artifact was stolen?

Once  you’re  finished,  carefully  close  the  box  and  put  it  back.  Then  tap  NEXT  and  we’ll  get  to  the  next  artifact”

NEXT

Assignment 2

“Head  to  the  lower-stair passage where we believe there is a nest with items from the  children’s  rooms.  Tap  NEXT  once  you’ve  found  it.”

NEXT

Assignment 3

“We  were  told  that  this  nest  may  have  childrens’  toys.  First,  document  carefully  everything    that  you  see.  ”

NEXT

Assignment 3

“Squirrels  really  don’t  know  much  about  the  toys  of  human  children  so  this  is  extremely important research for us. Could you choose one of these toys and

possibly decipher how one could play with it? Find one toy, play with it and in your notebook,  please  write  the  instructions  for  how  it  is  used.”

NEXT

Assignment 3

Outreach • We  recommend  you  market  the  game  as  “Field  

Research for the SquirreLee College Field School for  Historic  Preservation”   and send call-outs for interns  between  6  and  12  rather  than  “a  Stratford  game  for  kids”.  This  will  make  it  unique  and  intriguing – an immersive game rather than tasks adults make them do.

• Use  the  “Squirrel”  stories  as  much  as  you  can-

youtube videos, items in the giftshop, a SquirreLee twitter account, a SquireLee blog, all sorts of small and goofy content to support your game.

TESTING! • We’re  not  sure  how  long  each  challenge  will  take,  usually  you  

can engage people for 60-90 minutes before they lose interest.  I  suspect  that  will  be  an  introduction  plus  5  “research  sites”.  

• We’ll  want  to  test  to  see  what  the  proper  length/story/pathways are. Testing is also a great way to spread the word so you want to test in organized social groups like 4H, Scouts, Church groups, mommy bloggers rather  than  people  who  don’t  know  one-another.

• TEST, TEST and TEST! The process will be part of the product and we can document our testing and use it as part of marketing. What we find people respond to might be very different from what we have in mind right now!

We look forward to working with you on an excellent project!!