Applications

Teachers frequently ask how a collection of cameras, civil war artifacts, or crime & justice objects can be used in the classroom. They are pleasantly surprised to discover that these collections relate to many subjects including history, biology, math, chemistry, government, science, and art.

Sounds too academic? Be assured that as a skilled communicator, Don adapts his presentations to the developmental level and age of the children and youth at your school. While Don has taught extensively on the university level, he also has teaching experience in high schools, middle and elementary schools also.
 

His enthusiasm for education is easily seen in his presentations. Don is equally comfortable with gifted, rural, or urban students. He frequently shares with special needs youth with great success.

Emphasizing discussion is one of Don’s presentation values. He creates an environment of interaction and empowers children through role playing , stimulating their imagination. Although some artifacts are over 250 years old, Don connects the items to the real world of the youth. Unlike a museum visit, the collection comes to them in a form they can see up close and touch.  Any subject can become alive to a student if the teacher is a good communicator and thousands of teachers and students across America have witnessed this man’s special gifts.  Don Smarto will take your students on a journey into the past without leaving the classroom.



 

Sociology

 Although sometimes incorporated into civics, or psychology, interesting discussions come from these artifacts.

  • Does environment create some crimes?
  • What is the origin of a serial killer?
  • Why do gangs attract youth?
  • What is the “broken window” theory?
  • Can all people change?
  • Will violent video games, television, and films make people violent?
  • All 37 youth who have shot guns in schools share a common fact.  What is it?


Civil War

  • Actual photos of Lee, Grant, Custer, and Lincoln are shown.
  • What is the origin of the phrase “Bite the Bullet”?  Students will see first hand.
  • A 50mm cannonball can be held.
  • A large fragment of a cannonball is shown.
  • How many Civil War soldiers were boys? (350,000 boys, some 12yrs and 13 yrs old, fought and died).
  • How did family photos save a soldier’s life?  The students will see the answer.
  • Why were bayonets in different sizes?
  • Students will see a bullet mold, primer, and more.
  • Demonstration of loading a replica colt using sand.
     


History

Unique cameras related to important events in American history are shown including World Wars, the Civil War, the Cold War, and the President Kennedy Assassination.

The materials of the camera demonstrate the development of the materials including solid wood, Bakelite, art deco plastic, leather, brass, aluminum, steel, and more.

One camera was made by Russian prisoners, another was produced by Third Reich party members after the Jewish owners of the company were deported or killed.  Some cameras were “fakes”, duplicated from the original Leica, and others represent great lawsuits, such as the Kodak Instant camera, the patent stolen from Polaroid.

 

Role Play

Students may role play by wearing an actual ball and chain from 1850, or wear a prison uniform from 1980 with a restraint belt, a police uniform from 1990, and an electronic ankle bracelet from 2000.  Youth may bang a judge’s gavel or try on brass knuckles used in 1952 by a New York City gang. 
 


Art

  • Youth are amazed by the church built with 2000 wooden matches by a prisoner from San Quentin Prison in California.  The detail is incredible.  It includes a pulpit, pews, and windows.
  • An oil painting done by a prisoner executed in the electric chair a year after completion shows a landscape not seen by the prisoner during 18 years of confinement.
  • A steeple is so intricate; few guess what it is made of.  Clue: he smoked what came in the packages.
  • The symbolism of some inmate art is impressive, such as a fish held out of water and a child’s belt being a chain.
     


Government

  • What the Quakers intended as an experiment became a failure called the penitentiary.

  • The Texas Rangers invented a painful device to get criminals to follow them.

  • After Wanted Posters, a sheriff sent Wanted Post Cards.

  • Laws created crimes we no longer have today in America.  Which laws?

  • Wardens were ordained ministers a century ago.  Why?


Literature

  • Famous authors like O Henry (William Porter) and Oscar Wilde wrote in prison.  Also, Pilgrim’s Progress, Crime and Punishment, and most of the New Testament were written in prison.
  • Poems from prisoners are shared with the students.
     


Science

Physics and Biology are related to photography and easily adapt to basic understanding of light, the nature of vision and the structures of the human eye.  Persistence of vision is an anatomical defect that allows us to enjoy motion pictures, and can be demonstrated in the classroom.

  •  The student will see and learn about 3-D photography beginning in 1860.

  •  A panoramic camera from 1903 will show how photographers captured an image of a locomotive without a wide angle lens.

  • Students can make their own camera with a shoe box.

  • Children and youth can draw their own simple animation.

  • Classic cameras used in World War II bombers, spy cameras used during the Cold War, 70mm fashion photographers camera’s used to shoot magazine covers, and deep sea underwater cameras are a part of the presentation.

     Questions Explored in Discussion

  •  The first photo was taken in 1827.  How long did it take?

  • The first photo of a human was in 1839, but was an accident.  Why?

  • Why are there no photos of civil war battles, only bodies?

  • Why do people in the 1860’s and 1870’s look so serious?

  • Why did a photograph of Abraham Lincoln confirm an illness?

  • Early photographs of people always reversed the image of their face.  Why?

  • What role did chemistry play in photography?

  • The first camera was discovered in 1580 by a defect in the wall of a room.  How was that possible?

  • When watching a motion picture in a theater, the screen is fully dark one third of the time.  How can that be?

  • An IMAX projector is so bright; it could be seen on the moon.  What is unusual about how the film runs through the projector?

  • Why does the human eye see everything upside down?

  • Why do all cameras take photos upside down?

  • How is a 3-D camera made?

  • Why would a camera have four lenses?

  • How does a digital camera work?

  • What event did the first spy camera capture in 1907?

 

Students will see civil war cameras, civil war artifacts, and original photos of famous generals, a civil war photo album and more.

All the above questions relate to a camera or artifact the students will see in the classroom including miniature cameras, wooden cameras, secret cameras, magic lanterns, and stereo cameras.  The photographic part of the collection include a Coke can camera, a lighter, a hand carved bottle stopper, and miniatures in crystal, silver, and pewter.


Math

 The way light enters into a camera conform to the principals of geometry.  As an example, the endpoint of a ray, measurement of angles, and refraction are all measurable through math.  Light changes speed going through glass (lens) and water (dividing an image at a predictable angle).

 Students can hold a 1930 British Parma camera and discover that the angle they hold the camera, will change the shutter speed.
 


Chemistry

 

Photography came from copper, mercury, and silver chloride.  Plates became thin paper with a chemical emulsion.  George Eastman invented cellulose that made cameras inexpensive and common.  But the nitrate used for film of early motion pictures exploded, caught fire, or turned to sludge.  Many early films were lost because of this fact.  Students can produce their own film and make an image without a camera.