Classroom activities that engage children in craftsmanship and analytical skills can stretch and expand learning beyond simple cognition into the realm of reflective thinking, or metacognition. This is especially true when an educator includes metacognition among key learning objectives.

The ideas and motivation for this Make a Box Activity came from THENCE partner Ashley Causey-Golden who proposed that a three dimensional object can be utilized to teach about how Dr. Martin Luther was a multi-faceted person. The learning objective can be singular for young learners, or more complex for elementary, upper elementary, middle, and even high school students. More on that in a moment.

First, let us acknowledge that Dr. King held many important roles, but most classrooms only explore his life’s work as it connects to the US Civil Rights Movement and his famous “I have a dream” speech. Ashley Causey-Golden created the series about Dr. King to support classrooms in exploring the many sides to Dr. Kings life. You can watch all four interactive videos here in which Ashley explains her approach.

Part of the classroom activity proposed here is the physical construction of a box, this can be achieved using our step by step origami video, to be viewed below, or printing out a simple cut and tape box-making activity, perhaps suited to younger children, that printable is available here.

We also offer a photo package that can be printed and cut out to decorate each side of the box, or teacher’s may ask children to write a word or a sentence to prompt their thinking and presentation about the many sides of Dr. King’s life, work, or one of the many roles he held.

This activity can be adapted for even very early learners and yet it may serve classrooms with children in the higher grades with some adaptations. Early learners may be presented with ready made boxes and shown photos of Dr. King with his family, enjoying a show, preaching, and in transit. Talk about the many sides of Dr. King in words and concepts they recognize, for example using the word “daddy”, “husband”, a “learner” (scholar), a “leader” and a “person with ideas”. The singular learning objective here is to demonstrate to very young children how Dr. King may be perceived as an approachable person with hopes, and a family. In other words Dr. King is portrayed as someone who is relatable.

Older children can delve into Dr. King’s scholarship, and his writings, his philosophy of “radical love” and human rights, as well as his strong community building skills and how all of these aspects of his personhood merged to create the leader and his legacy. This deeper dive can also be facilitated by the box activity with the physical sides of the box matched with student-crafted phrases, sentences, or paragraphs (perhaps using QR codes) delving deeper into these key aspects of Dr. Kings life.

How will you use this activity and prompts in your classroom? We would like to hear from you! You can join the discussion below.

Big Shout out to THENCE Team member Niki Tse, who styled directed, stared in, and filmed this origami making video below!