QR codes help Arkansas elementary students share history

QR codes school library smartphone barcodes

A group of classmates are now using quick response codes to bring local history to the world.

In Texarkana, Arkansas, a class of students in College Hill Elementary School are working to share the area’s rich history with the rest of the world by way of QR codes that can be scanned by smartphones.

The idea is to place the spotlight on the local historic sites that are central to the past of Texarkana.

In order to accomplish this, the class has been working on attaching QR codes to the various buildings an landmarks so they can be scanned by visitors carrying smartphones. Once the barcodes are scanned, the user’s device is directed to a mobile webpage with information about that specific location and its historical significance. Among the places that have quick response codes include the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium and the Hotel Grim. The goal is to be able to add the barcodes to around 24 different locations throughout the area.

The QR codes project is the result of a partnership between the Texarkana, Arkansas School District and the Texarcana Museums System.

QR codes school library smartphone barcodesThe quick response codes are all going to be posted in a place that is highly visible and easy to spot so that visitors and locals alike will be able to see them and use them if they’re interested in finding out more about the landmark in front of which they happen to be standing.

The project is being completed with the school’s EAST students. That program teaches environmental and spatial technology (EAST) and this effort fits quite seamlessly into that strategy. The students have already been working hard to map out the various sites that will be the focus of their efforts.

As of a few weeks ago, there were 23 different downtown locations that had been researched. The team of students intend to take on the project by breaking it down into a number of manageable phases. Now that the majority of the research for all the sites has been conducted, they will be placing their focus on the first half of them and have been looking into obtaining historical photos that can also be viewed when the QR codes are scanned.

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