Driving Question: “What happens when a language is lost, and what can it teach us about identity, culture, and voice?”
Silent Voices: Lost and Endangered Languages is an immersive middle school Project Based Learning experience that explores the powerful connection between language, identity, culture, and history. Guided by the driving question, “What happens when a language is lost, and what can it teach us about identity, culture, and voice?” students research endangered and indigenous languages from across the Americas while examining the traditions, stories, and perspectives carried through those voices.
Throughout the project, students become creators and storytellers by designing exhibition-quality artifacts using a wide range of makerspace tools, including 3D printers, laser engravers, Cricut machines, fabric printing, and large-scale cardboard construction.
Student work includes giant symbolic megaphones, layered shadowbox art, engraved puzzles, infographics, and interactive displays that help amplify cultures and languages at risk of disappearing.
The project culminates in a public Exhibition of Learning where students share their research, creative work, and personal reflections with families and community members, demonstrating how preserving language also helps preserve human history, identity, and connection.
Throughout the project, students become creators and storytellers by designing exhibition-quality artifacts using a wide range of makerspace tools, including 3D printers, laser engravers, Cricut machines, fabric printing, and large-scale cardboard construction.
Student work includes giant symbolic megaphones, layered shadowbox art, engraved puzzles, infographics, and interactive displays that help amplify cultures and languages at risk of disappearing.
The project culminates in a public Exhibition of Learning where students share their research, creative work, and personal reflections with families and community members, demonstrating how preserving language also helps preserve human history, identity, and connection.
