Museum field trips can be effective learning experiences for students, both in terms of connecting social studies content to museum discoveries and in equipping students to put life and academic skills into practice. At a museum, students can test their ability to think critically, use evidence to support claims, and partake in self-directed discovery. Primary source analysis promotes historical empathy, critical engagement, and connecting past and present, providing students powerful and purposeful elementary social studies curriculum and instruction. Florida's sixth grade social studies curriculum, which focuses on ancient civilizations, does not provide the same access and variety of primary sources as do American and modern world histories. Through partnerships between Pinellas County School District and the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, the authors planned a field trip to give students experience with student-centered, primary source analysis. As a result, students throughout the school district engaged in meaningful discussions with their museum docents, peers, and teachers while analyzing an array of artifacts dating from the Golden Age of Greece to the Han Dynasty of China. Students were at the pinnacle of engagement within the gallery setting, with tangible artifacts right in front of them. Their experience is presented in this article.