FREE student webinar about WWII production

The Museum is rolling out its first installment of FREE webinars for students and teachers for the 2014-2015 school year, focusing on the amazing feats of production on the Home Front. Explore how defense workers and industry leaders from  cities and towns across the United States were ready to “Back the Attack” on the battlefronts abroad. For the first time, the Museum is co-presenting this program with another historic institution, The Yankee Air Museum in Belleville, Michigan, to profile their work to save a piece of the iconic Willow Run Bomber Plant, and their future home. With a focus on innovation and production, as well as the changing face of labor during WWII, students will uncover how places like Willow Run and Higgins Industries in New Orleans were hubs of social and economic change, and how they became critical part of the overall Allied victory with a “We Can Do It!” attitude.  Here are the details to tune in:

The Post Industrial Revolution and WWII: A Cross-Country Webinar about Mass Production and Problem Solving on the US Home Front
Featuring The National WWII Museum and The Yankee Air Museum
Friday, November 21, 2014
10:00AM – 11:00AM CST

Discover how industry leaders and defense workers alike met and surpassed the challenge of war by designing and producing materials critical to the Allied war effort. The interactive, virtual trip will start at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, where students will explore how the designers and defense workers at Higgins Industries helped transform a boat intended for the Louisiana bayous into a critical landing craft for the US military.

The next stop is the Yankee Air Museum, outside of Detroit, where students learn about their quest to save the Willow Run Bomber Plant. At this historic and massive plant, workers achieved the seemingly impossible feat of rolling out one huge B-24 bomber plane per hour on the giant assembly line. Innovations in both of these cities exemplify the important war work occurring all across the Home Front in a time of tremendous need. Join these two amazing Museums to uncover how US industries exceeded all production goals and contributed to the Allied victory through teamwork, innovation, and problem solving.

It’s the perfect fun and interactive program right before the Thanksgiving holiday! No special technology in your classroom required. All you need is a computer with a fast internet connection, external speakers, and a digital projector or smartboard. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions of the presenters and answer poll questions throughout the program. Teachers will receive curriculum materials related to the program after registering and a recording of the program if they can’t watch live.

Post by Chrissy Gregg, Virtual Classroom Coordinator