In the changing environment of the 21st century, it
is sometimes easy to forget what it was like years ago. In the course of
conversations with acquaintances, I am often struck by the fact that many
people have only had direct experience with some things that I grew up with,
in the context of a museum visit. In the spirit of those conversations about
experiences long gone, I thought I would share that some of these "historical"
items still exist and thrive. One of those things is the rural, country store.
Perhaps small by comparison to the large, urban offerings, they still provide
an extremely valuable service for the towns where they are located.
Life for the rural storekeeper is neither easy nor simple. They juggle
the same variables as large corporations. They need to respond to customer
demands, increased commodity and shipping costs, greater information technology
complexity, marketing and purchasing issues, and all without the large staffs
of administrative assistants that can be assigned to handle the duties. Everyone
in a rural store has an important role to play and the load is shared in
many creative ways.
With the recognition that not everyone can visit a rural store, I have
provided links to vrs that were taken at Wilson's Hardware and Supermarket
in Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, Canada. These represent only one small section
of the store and as soon as I locate the rest of the photos, I'll post more.
The vr's in this collection were taken while the store was closed one evening
after the hoiday shopping season. You'll notice that items are a bit depleted
in places. In other cases, items have been put away in larger cooler during
the longer period of time that the store will be closed during the holidays.
- Top of the second
aisle looking towards the back of the store
- At the end of the second
aisle looking towards the front of the store
- Top
of the third aisle looking towards the back of the store
- Middle of the third
aisle
- End of the third aisle
looking towards the front of the store.
- In
the South Addition of the store looking towards the front.
- In the
South Addition of the store on the other side.
- At the front of the store as
you first enter, looking down the 1st aisle
- At the back of the store, at
the end of the 1st aisle, looking towards the front
For teachers:
Consider teaming with other classes in rural areas from around the world
and share vrs from the stores in their areas. Compare and contrast the contents
of the stores. Look at the proximity of the stores to large urban areas and
the sort of transportation system linking the region.
Have students try to identify common items in each case and those things
that might be unique to a region or country. For example, in the vr taken
in the middle of the 3rd aisle mentioned above, you'll see large cans of
yeast on a shelf. Why would a store sell such large amounts of yeast? If what
stores stock corresponds to what people want, then that information should
tell students something about one aspect of the way of life there. What is
yeast used for? Do they use yeast at home at all? Does it imply that the
store is located in an area where people still do a lot of things for themselves
rather than relying on commercial production?
There are hundreds of items in every store that can yield some interesting
exercises in data analysis. Students could visit their local store and count
the number of brands of cereal and compare that to different areas of the
world. They'll discover that some places won't have any!
What about comparing variety with population density?
Use GIS software (see the link at the left) to create maps to track the
points of comparison.
Using eZediaMX as a multimedia authoring environment, have students in
various groups report on what their data analysis has shown. For example,
in comparing nutritional yield versus cost for something as simple as breakfast
cereal, are all cereals equally cost effective? You could even have your
students go further with examining the costs associated with breakfast for
different countries.
The vrs I provide, or the ones you create with your students of your local
store, could be used within the multimedia authoring environment as a stimulus
for the questions the students will investigate, especially when you consider
the many ways the discussion could go.
Weblinks:
The International Food Museum
The following information is provided as a quote from
their website: "For
the past five years we have been building online exhibits about the world's
foods. You can search for a particular food by name, by hemisphere, and by
type."
http://www.foodmuseum.com/
National Geographic Expeditions for K-2
At this site, they're using the concept of the grocery store and the "regions"
in which it is organized to help young students relate to the concept of
regions in geography.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/04/gk2/grocery.html
Geographic Groceries - also from National Geographic Expeditions
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/04/groceries.html
This site provides more details on using the concept of regions in the
grocery store with young students. At the same time, you could also use
the grocery store to help locate items that come from all over the world.
So after the students grasp the concept of the world's regions, they could
go on an expedition to their local store and see if they could find products
from as many regions as possible. Students will need to be a little older
for this activity or they could be assigned a region and when they next
accompany their parents to the store, they could involve their family in
helping them.
Satellites Have Senses, Too!
Here's something a little different. This site provides a lesson for students
to understand what remote sensing satellites do by having them locate cold
and hot spots in a local grocery store. The good part is that students can't
touch anything to do this because remote sensing satellites can't touch things!
http://wwwedu.ssc.nasa.gov/ltp/LessonPlans/satellites_have_sense_too.htm
Comparison study of stores in the past versus stores in the present
This site focuses on Harper's Ferry National Historic Park, but it could
apply to any activity where students have to contrast the way early settlers
obtained their supplies and what stores might have been like at that time
versus today. The site also makes suggestions for incorporating multimedia
and concept mapping using Inspiration.
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/FT/Harpers_Ferry_Act.html
The relationship of the country store and the mail service in American
history
http://www.agriculturalmuseum.org/rfd.htm
Ads Galore!
What's a business without advertising! At this site, you'll find a wealth
of graphics depicting ads that have been used in different periods of modern
history since 1911. Ads are categorized by topic, as well.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/browse.html
More sites coming!
