ITT and Museums in the East museum learning across the curriculum : Teaching Outside The Classroom

AT A GLANCE

Provision for learners:

The Fitzwilliam museum collection includes masterpieces of painting, drawings and prints, sculpture, furniture, pottery and glass, illuminated manuscripts and antiquities from Egypt, the Ancient Near East, Greece, Rome and Cyprus.

The Cambridge and County Folk Museum is the only local social history museum in Cambridge and is the most comprehensive collection representing life in the South Cambridgeshire villages. It houses a varied collection of 20,000 objects, pictures and documents, providing a fascinating insight into the history of Cambridge.

Kettles Yard Gallery is a beautiful and unique house containing a distinctive collection of modern art.

Model for working with trainees:

This project fits with the enhanced model structure, however placement activities arenot formally assessed as part of QTS.

The activities on the museum day have developed from a partnership, which has evolved over the last ten years.

ITT PROVIDER

Name of the project:
ITT and museums in the East: museum learning across the curriculum

Higher Education Institution:
The Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

ITE Course:
PGCE

No. of trainees involved:
200

Logistics:
The Early Years and Primary museum education programme took place at the end of March 2007.

Provider motivation:
For trainees to gain experience of the particular model of discursive teaching and learning that takes place in museums.

QTS Standards:
Q6,10,18,19,24,25,30

SETTING

Name of setting:
The Fitzwilliam Museum, The Cambridge and County Folk Museum and Kettles Yard Gallery.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate the discursive core of museum education and a broad range of teaching techniques employed in museums to inspire learning across the curriculum. To leave the trainees convinced of the power of teaching and learning in museums.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

There are several stages to the process:

1. An interview written task: “Describe the benefits of learning outside the classroom”

2. Pre-course offer to visit a museum sent out with reading list

3. Specialist museum officers contribute to subject teaching, for example: a visit from a Sedgwick geologist to a Science course

4. Mentors are introduced to the course through a taught session

5. Museums day with resource pack

6. Student are encouraged to locate, and consider using, their nearest museum resources when on placement through the website www.cultureandschoolseast.org.uk

7. Research possibilities are offered in final assignments.

Working in their professional studies groups (about 25 in each) trainees undertook two visits: one to the Fitzwilliam Museum and one other to either Kettles Yard or the Cambridge Folk Museum. The Folk Museum prioritised input specifically for Early Years/Key Stage 1 trainees.

Education staff from the three museums worked collaboratively with staff from the Faculty of Education to ensure the museum sessions developed themes presented in the formal lecture delivered at the Faculty at the start of the day. Following the lecture each trainee visited two of the three museums. In each museum they participated in a structured 2 hour session led by the education staff.

At the Fitzwilliam Museum the emphasis was on Key Stage 2. The trainees experienced teaching strategies and questioning techniques leading to work in the areas of creative writing, technology problem solving, Religious Education, history and art.

At the Cambridge and County Folk Museum a training session based around singing, role-play, object handling and sorting demonstrated how learning in museums can inspire and engage children at Key Stage 1.

At Kettles Yard Gallery the emphasis switched to the trainees themselves, laying important stress on how a good teacher must bring their own self, their own perceptions and reactions to all they do. The session also included activities used with pupils but the flavour was adult.

A full resource pack was produced collaboratively by the staff from the three museums. The aim of the pack was for it to act as inspiration to extend the museum experiences within classroom practice and, of course, to encourage the trainees to use museums in their future careers.

OUTCOMES

The vast majority of trainees felt that the Museums and Galleries Education day:

added greatly to the value of the course as a whole.

developed their understanding of the role of questioning. This was particularly evident amongst those trainees who took the Fitzwilliam/Folk Museum option.

added to their understanding of ways of working with objects.

added greatly to their understanding of the development of thinking skills.

had inspired them to take groups of children to museums and galleries in their NQT year. Their only reservation was whether they would be allowed to take children out so early in their career.

For mentors, sessions at the museums reminded them of their own principles for creative teaching and learning.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

The tight collaboration between staff from the museums and the Faculty of Education was vital for the success of this work.

The collaboration between the education staff of the three museums encouraged museum staff to be adventurous in the types of experiences provided for the trainees and ensured a broad span of subject areas, collections used, and teaching strategies employed.

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“It motivated me to incorporate these new ideas into my teaching. It especially helped me to use the work of artists in the classroom, with creative writing.”

“The use of artefacts – investigating them in such a way as to explore the personalities that used them. The day also inspired me to extend multi-curricular links in my topic work.”

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the artefacts day yesterday. I thought it was one of the most worthwhile sessions we've had on the whole course, and found it really interesting - plus (as everyone agreed) the lecture was brilliant.”