GEM/SMC GRASS ROOTS PROJECT

Guidance Notes -  

Developing Learning Activities

 

Contents

Introduction

What is ‘lifelong learning’?

Good and Bad Learning Experiences

Planning your activity

Examples of developing Learning Activities in your Museums

Useful Websites and Resources

 

Introduction

Grass Roots ran three training days across Scotland looking at developing learning activities in museums.  These events, designed for museum staff with limited educational expertise, examined learning in museums and the development of learning resources to boost the confidence and proficiency of museums who currently offer limited learning activities.  The intention was to demonstrate inspiring ways in which learning can be incorporated into museum programmes, encouraging learning to be put at the heart of everything which museums do.  It offered practical examples of teaching techniques and case studies from successful projects, along with practical advice on who is out there to help. 

This resource will provide background information from the training days as well as exemplar case studies from museums and organisations which contribute effectively to lifelong learning. 

 

What is ‘lifelong learning’?

It is a common misconception that learning is all about formal education, i.e. schools, colleges and universities, but in reality the potential for learning is far greater than that.  Most of us learn something new every day in our lives, whether we consciously acknowledge it or not.  Lifelong learning encompasses every stage of our lives from ‘cradle to grave’.  Museums have the potential to provide a diverse, exciting and important role in the provision of lifelong learning. 

So what is learning?  The Campaign for Learning describes learning as ‘a process of active engagement with experience’.  It is what people do when they want to make sense of the world.  It may involve increase in skills, knowledge, understanding, values or capacity to reflect.  Effective learning leads to change, development and the desire to learn more.’ 

Museums can provide a resource for learners of all ages.  They can also provide additional activities and resources for learning groups, including:

pre-school children, families, primary, secondary and tertiary education, adult learners, adult literacy and numeracy, special interest groups, ‘friends’ of the museum, community groups, youth groups, disadvantaged groups, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities, to name but a few! 

There are many others – in fact the potential is enormous!  However, if you are beginning to programme learning activities in your museum, try to focus on one or two groups to begin with.  Think about whom you want to target, to which groups are your collections most suited or which groups never attend whom you want to attract? 

 

Good and Bad Learning Experiences

At each Grass Roots training day, delegates began by discussing examples of good and bad learning experiences which they had had in their lives, both in the recent and not-so-recent past.  This game is one designed for use with Inspiring Learning for All (please see www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk  for more information).  Interestingly, each different group on the three days came up with similar conclusions as to what makes a positive or negative learning experience.  It is worth trying this exercise with your staff and volunteers and taking their points into consideration when planning your learning activities. 

 

Planning your activity

  1. Know your audience!  Do some background research into their needs.  If they have not visited previously, find out why.  Make sure that you make the activity relevant and appealing to the group you are targeting.  There are more detailed guidelines on working with particular groups in the Working with schools and Working with different groups in the community sections of the Grass Roots web pages. 
  2. Work out your aims and objectives – what do you hope to achieve from the activity?  What will the group achieve? Etc. 
  3. Think about what is required in terms of;

·         funding

·         facilitators

·         time

·         facilities and space

·         any special requirements or access issues

·         materials

·         policies to have in place (child protection, heath and safety, etc.)

  1. How will you evaluate the activity?  It is very important to build evaluation in from the very first planning stages of your event – in the long run it makes evaluating a lot easier.  A good framework to follow is Inspiring Learning for All.  It uses generic learning outcomes which help to create a common language for evaluating the learning experience of all participants from the planning stages through to the final completion of the project.  The Working with schools section of the Grass Roots website has further information on evaluation.
  2. How will you market the activity?  This will be different depending on what audience you are aiming for.  See the Grass Roots resource on planning educational events and marketing section in working with schools for simple, low-cost ideas. 

 

Examples of developing Learning Activities in your Museums

The following case studies, ideas and training materials were gathered from presentations which took place on one or more of the three training days. Use of the presentations and resources was kindly permitted by the speakers and all copyright responsibility lies with the named person.  For more information on ownership of these documents, please see each individual resource. 

CASE STUDY ONE: A Fresh Look at Teaching & Learning Sessions at the Highland Museum of Childhood

Jennifer Maxwell, Highland Museum of Childhood

This presentation outlines the steps taken to develop new teaching sessions and low-cost low-tech hands-on learning activities at the museum.

It analyses the value of this process. Supporting documents and bibliography provide ready-made help in areas such as: research; record-keeping; pitfalls & benefits; designing activity sheets.

The following downloads are available:

2 page summary of presentation                    word (48K)       pdf (44)

Designing museum activity sheets                 word (28K)       pdf (31)

Education records -Who needs to know what  word (33K)       pdf (39)

Pitfalls and benefits                                       word (29K)       pdf (30)

Bibliography                                                 word (34K)       pdf (38)

CASE STUDY TWO: Developing Resources for Schools

Excellence in Education Business Links (EEBL) programme run by Careers Scotland

The EEBL scheme offers teacher placements within businesses for between 2 and 5 days.  Monetary cover for supply teachers is provided by Careers Scotland.  The programme works across Scotland, is funded by the Scottish Executive and is managed by Careers Scotland.  It is open to nursery, primary, secondary and SEN teachers and aims to raise awareness of the public, private and voluntary sector (i.e. not school) through partnerships and sharing of Information. It helps the teachers with personal and professional development (CPD) to share good practice and to contextualize learning and curricular development.  The benefits to the host organization are recruitment and selection for their future workforce, workforce development, strengthening of community links, provision of an educational link and a chance to share knowledge. 

Placements can take 2 days or more. These days don’t need to be consecutive or spent within the same organisation.   Full supply cover is available (up to 5 days).  They have individual, themed and national placements. 

Download example from x  (to be added)

Download example from y   (to be added)

CASE STUDY THREE: Family Learning at Perth Museum

Barbara Hamilton, Perth Museum

Perth Museum runs regular family learning weekends for visitors to the museum.  On average they run six weekends a year around a variety of different subjects.  The Marvellous and Medieval family fun time was the last event in a series of 6, and was organised by the Learning and Access section.  The theme of the event was selected to tie in with medieval items on display in the Human History exhibition.  Various activities were organised:

 

Full evaluation and details of the event:             word (57K)    pdf (64K)

 

CASE STUDY FOUR: Using ICT for lifelong Learning- Learning Images  

Sandra O’Connor, Scran

Scran www.scran.ac.uk -

Scran is the award winning learning image website with access to quality images, sounds, movies and learning resources. There are over 330,000 images from museums, galleries and archives throughout Scotland. All the material on Scran is copyright cleared for educational use.

In addition, there are 3,000 learning Pathfinder Packs for your instant use; and there are tools such as Navigator, Store, Create and Albums to let you locate, keep, design and assemble your own resources.

A quick poster or worksheet requires just a couple of clicks from any image and an instant printed page or mini website is equally easy to produce from a Pathfinder Pack.

A free 1 month trial of the service is available from http://shop.scran.ac.uk/trial.php, subscription information is available from Neil Fraser   neil.fraser@scran.ac.uk

CASE STUDY FIVE: The Young Travellers Project: How working in partnership with other organisations can help you to develop learning projects.

 Rhona Hamilton, Education & Outreach Officer, The Highland Folk Museum

The Travelling People’s Project ran from October 2004 until January 2005 and involved young travellers between the ages of 9 and 12.  Rhona Hamilton worked in partnership with Karen MacMaster, Gypsy/Traveller Development Officer to gain the trust and participation of young travellers to develop a programme of events which was relevant to their needs and interests. They used the collections at the Highland Folk Museum and Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. Together, they created an exhibition which was mounted in the museum at the end of January 2005. 

The project was funded through project money for Outreach Long and Wide the Strategic Change Fund project which also finances Rhona’s post.

They discovered that working in partnership is a really positive way to develop learning projects.  It is not only an exciting, but also a very practical way for museums to reach out to new audiences.  They identified three main benefits that developing learning projects in partnership holds for the museums; reaching new audiences, skills sharing and developing sustainable projects. 

Project findings in more detail:                word (36K)    pdf (27K)

CASE STUDY SIX:

Bob Pegg, Storyteller

One method of interpreting your collections with groups is by using and telling stories.  You could do this yourself or use a storyteller.  At the Inverness event, local storyteller and musician, Bob Pegg, took delegates around the museum and using objects from the collection, demonstrated how simple stories could be constructed.  He also demonstrated some musical activities which could be used for interpretation with groups.  He has compiled some guidelines on how to do this:

Storytelling– What Is It, Why Do It, And Some Ways to Skin the Cat:

                                                            word (65K)    pdf (67K)   

Storytelling and a Sense of Place            word (38K)    pdf (25K)

CASE STUDY SEVEN: Developing a new education programme at Coats Observatory

 John McPherson

John McPherson spoke about his work in developing a new education programme from scratch, looking at the processes involved, who to consult, how to pull it all together and how to make it work.  ‘Developing an education programme sounds like quite a daunting task.   You’ve probably got a stack of questions – what should I put in, will it be relevant, where shall I run it, who should run it, will the schools be interested?’

A summary of his talk.                            word (38K)    pdf (25K)

CASE STUDY EIGHT: Cultural Co-ordinators 

Caroline Leitch

The Cultural Coordinators scheme was first introduced by the Scottish Executive in their National Cultural Strategy document Creating our Future, Minding our Past (2000).  Launched in May 2002, the scheme is administered by the Scottish Arts Council; funded by the Scottish Executive, Scottish Arts Council and the Local Authorities.  The intention of the scheme is to employ Coordinators to make the link between primary/secondary schools and all areas of the cultural and heritage sector.  Each local authority was given the opportunity to bid for up to eight posts, although the average is lower, depending on population size.  The total number of coordinators, many of whom are part-time, is 105 across Scotland.  The majority are now in post.  Coordinators' remits have been interpreted in different ways according to individual local authority priorities and internal structures.  Originally a 2 year pilot project, the scheme has since been extended to 2006.

Example - Medieval Tales:                      word (38K)    pdf (25K)

 

Useful Websites and Resources

Schools

Learning and Teaching Scotland has a wealth of curriculum related information, including links to other websites managed by LTS such as 5-14 online which details the 5-14 curriculum guidelines as well as numerous other useful resources.   www.ltscotland.org.uk

Exciting ICT practice in Scottish education and useful practical advice and ideas.  www.ltscotland.org.uk/sett/

Grid Club DfES funded, this is the UK’s most popular safe online learning community for primary schools.  www.gridclub.com  

BBC schools Scotland.  www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/

National Register of CPD Providers www.cpdregister.org.uk

Current learning theories and a summary of learning styles in the context of schools education.  www.funderstanding.com/learning_styles.cfm

Young People

Youth Scotland     office@youthscotland.org.uk www.youthscotland.org.uk

YouthLink Scotland and its member organisations support 40,000 youth workers across Scotland to deliver a wide range of quality services to over 300,000 young people.   0131 313 2488  info@youthlink.co.uk

Young Scot offers a range of information for 12-26 year olds, including leisure activities. www.youngscot.org

Youth Music  020 7902 1060 info@youthmusic.org.uk

Create Project – Arts for youth work.  For anyone working with young people in Scotland from youth workers to artists: youth clubs, voluntary organisations, local authorities, arts organisations, development staff, SIPs, links officers and many more.  www.create-scotland.co.uk

UK Youth exists to develop and promote innovative non-formal education programmes for and with young people - working with them to develop their potential.  www.youth.org.uk 

Brownies  www.guides.org.uk/members/brownies

Girlguiding UK www.girlguiding.org.uk

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts  www.scouts.org.uk

Funding for young people

Young Roots (Heritage Lottery Fund) Young Roots offers grants of between £5,000 and £25,000.  The scheme aims to involve 13-20 year-olds (up to 25 for those with special needs) in finding out about their heritage, developing skills, building confidence and promoting community involvement.  Contact Annika Joy on 0131 240 1590 or annikaj@hlf.org.uk 

Awards for All gives grants between £500 and £5,000.  Organisation must be non-profit-making.  0870 240 2391  scotland@awardsforall.org.uk   www.awardsforall.org.uk

Comic Relief awards up to £25,000 per year for up to 3 years.  020 7820 5555    red@comicrelief.org.uk   www.comicrelief.org.uk

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation  Amounts awarded: Small Grants Scheme - up to £5,000 Large Grants Scheme - over £5,000.  Largest award: £250,000.  020 7297 4700  info@esmeefairbairn.org.uk   www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk

Lloyds TSB Foundation  0870 902 1201 www.lloydstsbfoundationforscotland.org.uk

Mac Roberts Trust  Amounts awarded: £2,000 - £10,000 (mostly non-recurring).  Contact: Administrator, Balmuir, Tarland, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, AB34 4UA.  01339 881444

The Rank Foundation  Amounts awarded: £500 - £200,000 (average grant £12,000).  Funds available for the promotion of education and youth work.  Contact The Appeals Office, 4/5 North Bar, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 0TB   01295 272337

The Robertson Trust  Amounts awarded: Most grants are in the £4,000 - £10,000 bracket.  A small grant scheme is also available for smaller charities to apply for a one-off donation.  Secretary, 85 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, G3 7DX  Tel: 0141 221 3151   admin@therobertsontrust.org.uk    www.therobertsontrust.org.uk

Other Learning Organisations

engage Scotland is part of engage, the professional gallery education association promoting access to enjoyment and understanding of the visual arts in the UK and internationally.  Contact Rebecca Marr, engage Scotland Coordinator at scotland@engage.org, or visit www.engagescotland.org.uk 

Museums Libraries and Archive’s (MLA) website contains valuable information, as well as having many of their publications in downloadable PDF format www.mla.gov.uk

Voluntary Arts Scotland offers guidelines and advice on a whole range of issues, including child protection, risk assessment and effective marketing.  www.voluntaryarts.org

Campaign for Learning  is working for an inclusive society in which learning is understood, valued and accessible to everyone as of right.  It aims to stimulate learning that will sustain people for life.  Head Office Address: Campaign for Learning, 19 Buckingham St, .London WC2N 6EF  020 7930 1111  Fax: 020 7930 1551  http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/

The Scottish Adult Learning Partnership (SALP) is a voluntary organisation which promotes lifelong learning, active citizenship, equality of opportunity and social inclusion.  SALP is also closely aligned to all major educational strategies and community learning plans.  SALP coordinates six yearly events including Adult Learners Week and Family Learning Weekend.  Contact 0131 220 5567 or  salp@salp.org.uk

Facilitators and freelancers

To find a storyteller/writer or similar, contact the Scottish storytelling association www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

The Live Literature Fund offers part-payment of writer and storyteller sessions within museums.  More information can be found on the Scottish Book Trust’s website at www.scottishbooktrust.com

The GEM website has details of a variety of different funding groups and advice on writing proposals.  It also has links to the GEM Freelance network.  www.gem.org

For advice on artists and details of freelancers see www.engage.org

The Scottish Arts Council website has details and links to craft, drama, dance, music and visual arts specialist and groups.  www.scottisharts.org.uk

For more information on costumed interpretation, see IMTAL Europe’s website on www.imtal-europe.org 

Learning events

There are numerous ‘learning’ events and campaigns throughout the year which you can run an event for.  For a list of all events taking place throughout the year, look at www.countmeincalendar.com 

It has everything from National Stress Awareness Day to Red Squirrel Week!   Some big events which you might want to investigate are:

You can advertise your event with the 24hr museum, see www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

Evaluation

It is very important to build evaluation in from the very first planning stages of your event – in the long run it makes evaluating a lot easier.  A good framework to follow is Inspiring Learning for All.  It uses generic learning outcomes which help to create a common language to evaluate the learning experience of all participants from the planning stages through to the final completion of the project.  See www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk

Educational Suppliers

NES Arnold  Tel: 0845 120 4525  Fax: 0800 328 0001   enquiries@nesarnold.co.uk www.nesarnold.co.uk

The Consortium  Tel: 0845 330 7780  Fax: 0845 330 7785  enquiries@theconsortium.co.uk  www.theconsortium.co.uk

Specialist Arts and Crafts  Tel: 0116 2697711  Fax: 0116 2697722  post@speccrafts.co.uk  www.speccrafts.co.uk

History in Evidence/ TTS Group  Provides fantastic resources for object handling and resource boxes.  Tel: 0800 318686  Fax: 0800 137525  sales@tts-group.co.uk  www.tts-group.co.uk

Hope Education  08451 202055  www.hope-education.co.uk  

Baker Ross  08702411867  www.bakerross.co.uk

Lakeland plastics has a creative crafts catalogue www.lakelandlimited.com

For sewing items: www.sewandso.co.uk

Resources and Publications

Queensland Museum have a website on 'How to Make a Museum Loans Kit’ http://www.mms.eq.edu.au/How-to-Make-a-Loans-Kit/

Reading Museums have a really comprehensive loans box service. www.readingmuseum.org.uk

World Museum in Liverpool have a lot of activity boxes for use in their galleries, see www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. 

Creativity in Education Online is a useful resource and has been developed from the publication Creativity in Education (IDES Network and Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2001)  www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity

Culture and Learning  aims to help people working in the arts and heritage sectors to plan and deliver high-quality education projects.  http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/information/publication_detail.php?browse=title&id=159&page=5

Scottish Archive Network  www.scan.org.uk

‘A Curriculum for Excellence’  Scottish Executive, curriculum Review Group, 2004

‘Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The Value of Museums’  Department of Culture, Media and Sport publication evaluating the impact of DCMS/DfES strategic commissioning 2003-04: National/Regional Museum Education Partnerships.

'National Priorities in Education'  as approved by the Scottish Parliament in December 2000  www.nationalpriorities.org.uk

Lasting Impressions  (an SMC publication) aims to support teachers (primary and secondary) and heritage staff with a remit for working with schools. www.scottishmuseums.org.uk/members_services/learning_and_access/lasting_impressions.asp

Learning to Listen: Core Principles for the involvement of children and young people  Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 2003 www.culture.gov.uk

Opening Doors: Learning in the Historic Environment  an Attingham Trust Report, 2004

 

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