Early in the Spring 2020 semester, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in my Ancient to Modern Latin American Visual Culture Art History course embarked upon an intensive first-hand visual analysis and research project that involved working directly with original artifacts from Ancient Latin America housed within the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library’s Special Collections. This unique opportunity and the publication of their findings were made possible thanks to the generous support and assistance of Special Collections Director Carolyn Runyon and her dedicated staff.

By examining the wide array of Pre-Columbian objects in the George and Louise Patten Salem Hyde Papers and Cultural Artifacts Collection, these upper division students formed small research groups dedicated to specific artifact types, such as human figurines, animal figurines, tools and lithics, vessels, anthropomorphic ceramics, replicas, and sherds. They carefully recorded their original observations of their selected objects of study in written field notes, photographs, and drawings. Later, they compared their initial observations with preliminary collection data developed independently by Archaeology students of Dr. Andrew Workinger, leading to further questions and insights surrounding these extraordinary pieces predominantly from pre-contact indigenous cultures of the Central and Intermediate regions of Latin America that today comprise Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia. Building upon their analysis, the Art History student research groups then re-examined their selected artifacts through analytical frameworks focused on Gender and the Body, Color, Pattern and Materiality, Spirituality and the Object, Form and Function, and Identity and Representation. In presenting their findings to their peers, students received feedback that allowed them to refine their analysis and develop the original individual and group catalog essays that comprise this exhibition publication. Their research sheds further light on the extraordinary value and diversity of the ancient artifacts of Latin America that uniquely form part of UTC’s Special Collections, as well as the innovative power of interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

The Art Appreciation course explores the world’s visual arts, focusing on the development of visual awareness, assessment, and appreciation by examining a variety of styles from various periods and cultures while emphasizing the development of a common visual language. The materials are meant to foster a broader understanding of the role of visual art in human culture and experience from the prehistoric through the contemporary.

This is an Open Educational Resource (OER), an openly licensed educational material designed to replace a traditional textbook. The course materials consist of 24 lessons each with a presentation, reading list, and/or sample assignment. For ease of adapting, materials are available as PDFs and Microsoft PowerPoint or Word documents.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

Students will examine federal documents and local artifacts to determine the effects of federal policies on Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee. The purpose of the lesson is to build upon students’ prior knowledge of analyzing primary sources, Native American History, and Chattanooga history.

This is a textbook for an Argument and Rhetorical Modes composition class at the community college level.

These lesson plans and materials are designed for high school students, especially 9th and 10th graders. The goals of these lessons are for students to review and learn more about figurative language devices, to compare and contrast poetry from different authors, and understand point of view in order to see that authors have different perspectives in their works. This lesson plan unit covers six different poems from local Emma Bell Miles and famous Henry Thoreau. Each poem has a video, presentation, and handout to accompany it. The lesson plan has been divided into two 50 minute class periods. The first class period is designed to introduce the students to the poems and authors using the various materials. The second class period is designed to cover point of view according to Miles and Thoreau and ask the students to compare and contrast the authors’ perspectives and experiences.

The Principles of Digital Animation course provides students with an awareness of animation and other 3D industries, as well as preliminary hands-on experience in animation production. This is a collection of openly licensed videos created by Gregory Marlow for the Principles of Digital Animation course taught during the Fall 2019 semester. For ease of adopting and adapting, the streaming version is embedded for each video and the original video and subtitle files are available to download.

Students will learn about the process of making pre-Columbian ceramics and the history surrounding the collection that this lesson plan is based on. Students will also create their ceramics which will bridge the gap between basic understanding while incorporating a hands-on activity. The purpose of this lesson is to teach the students about a different culture that they would have otherwise not been exposed to at a young age. By examining pre-Columbian ceramics and creating their own ceramics, students will develop skills on how to appreciate and better understand the traditions of cultures besides their own while learning about fields of study that may be of interest to them in the future.

The Teacher’s Guide to Using Literature to Promote Inclusion of People with Disabilities has been designed to assist teachers who wish to use literature to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of life. The Guide consists of two parts. Part 1 is a rubric for evaluating how short stories, books, poems, TV programs, movies, digital media, and other forms of literature portray characters with disabilities. Part 2 of the Teacher’s Guide to Using Literature to Promote Inclusion of People with Disabilities is a curriculum guide with learning objectives, lesson activities, and strategies for outcome evaluation. The curriculum guide is a resource for teachers who wish to design lessons using literature to teach about disabilities.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

This is part one of a two-day lesson plan which covers the impact of the major inventors and innovators of the Industrial Revolution. The purpose of this lesson is to build upon students’ prior knowledge of analyzing primary sources, the Industrial Revolution, and Chattanooga history. Using primary sources, students will identify major figures of the Industrial Revolution and describe their impact on Chattanooga and United States history.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

This is part two of a two-day lesson plan which covers the impact of the major inventors and innovators of the Industrial Revolution. The purpose of this lesson is to build upon students’ prior knowledge of analyzing primary sources, the Industrial Revolution, and Chattanooga history. Using primary sources, students will identify major figures of the Industrial Revolution and describe their impact on Chattanooga and United States history.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

The purpose of this lesson is to build upon students’ prior knowledge of analyzing primary sources, the Industrial Revolution, and Chattanooga history. Students will learn to identify major industrial centers in America and use primary sources to determine causes of rural to urban migration during the industrial revolution, using Chattanooga as a case study. By the end of the case study, students should be able to describe how industrialization influenced the movement of people from rural to urban areas. This lesson will also serve to encourage critical literacy and engagement with the community.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

This lesson plan examines school desegregation in Chattanooga after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The purpose of this lesson is for students to gain an understanding of Chattanooga’s complex and prolonged process of school desegregation through reading critically and analyzing primary sources. Students will develop the skills necessary to analyze primary sources and synthesize different perspectives as well as link them to other course materials.

Instructional materials on local history topics developed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for use in secondary education classrooms.

This is a one-day 60-minute lesson plan that covers the impact of integration at a local level by focusing on the decision and responses to desegregate the University of Chattanooga. The purpose of this lesson is to expand students’ knowledge of Chattanooga’s history through analysis of primary sources. Students will identify major milestones of post-secondary institutional desegregation and describe the impact it had on Chattanooga and its university community in the 100 years following the ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Ninth grade students will work together to examine the primary source excerpts in order to understand desegregation of the University of Chattanooga as a process. This understanding will allow students to more fully grasp the necessity of action to attain implementation. Students will develop an understanding of how cooperation on varied levels and involvement from individuals
and groups with diverse interests result in the attainment of a desired goal. Additionally, having access to primary sources will help students learn to deconstruct different arguments in favor of and opposed to integration. This primary source analysis will also illustrate how multi-faceted a source can be. Students will learn how to mine information, while also appreciating that primary sources can be ambiguous.

Material created for an exhibition curated by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Special Collections.

Series of five posters describing various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in Chattanooga Tennessee, including reproductions of primary source materials.
Chattanooga Divided: The Fight for School Desegregation
“Protest for Dignity”: Black Power in Chattanooga
Recovering Perspectives: Desegregation of the University of Chattanooga
White Opposition to a Changing Chattanooga
Chattanooga Youth Activism: How Howard Students Impacted the Civil Rights Movement

Material created for an exhibition curated by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Special Collections.

Since 1886, there has been a library serving the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus and metropolitan area. As the campus has grown and changed over the years, so too has the library, responding to the needs of the university. Although many of the library resources available to current students, faculty, staff, and community members look different than those of years past, this exhibition celebrates the library’s commitment to supporting information discovery and providing infrastructure for learning that have been a part of its mission from day one.