“It ’s got to be easy to use": co l lect ions based narrat ives in the c lassroom and how teachers use d ig i ta l resources
Kate Noble, Sarah- Jane Harknett and Naomi Chapman
Aims of the project1. To determine how museum collections are currently
used and accessed by teachers
2. To create an outline plan for a new UCM digital resource
based around teacher need
What we did• Visited 5 schools (2500
students)
• Visited classes from Nursery through to VIth Form (3-18 year olds)
• Observed 32 lessons
• Worked with 43 teachers observing how they used digital resources
• Looked at and discussed 28 images and handling objects from 3 UCM collections (MAA, Polar Museum and the Fitzwilliam)
H o w w e r e d i g i t a l t e c h n o l o g i e s b e i n g u s e d i n t h e c l a s s r o o m s w e v i s i t e d ?
Sec-ondary Schools
iPadDesktopIWBLaptop
Primary Schools
Co m p a r i s o n o f t e c h n o l o g y u s e d i n the p r i m a r y a n d s e c o n d a r y
c l a s s r o o m s w e v i s i t e d
Online resources and platforms are heavily used
Lesson plans are accessed by teachers of all key stages but are heavily adapted
Images and video clips used at all key stages
Quizzes and online tests are frequently used at KS3/KS4
W h a t b a r r i e r s d o t e a c h e r s f a c e u s i n g a n d a c c e s s i n g c o l l e c t i o n s b a s e d r e s o u r c e s i n c l a s s r o o m s ?
Q U O T E S F R O M I N T E R V I E W S I N S C H O O L C ( P R I M A RY )
T15: I find if I don't find it within ten or fifteen minutes, I stop looking...T16: Yeah I'm similarT17: I’m the sameT14: Because otherwise you end up searching all night, don't you?T15: You could do, yeahT16: There’s so much out thereT15: If it doesn't come up within the first page of Google, I don't look. I sort of think the most helpful thing would be if it was organised by learning objective, ‘cos often you have to teach a certain learning objective, if you could look on a website... [T14: Like Twinkl] like Twinkl now is and go ok that's my objective, what lessons fit that objective, I think that would be the most helpful thing.
Q U O T E S F R O M I N T E R V I E W S I N S C H O O L B ( L O W E R )
T5: Yeah and also, actually, I’m not, I don’t usually use a website that gives me a lesson. I’m not after a lesson plan. [T6: No]. I’m just after
T6: a video or a, or a…
T5: a video or something with lots of pictures. [T6: Yes]. So I want the resources to support my own lesson that I’ve got my own idea for [T6: Yeah, that’s what…] although it’s nice to have an idea. [pause]
T6: It’s nice to have an idea, if you have a video [T5: mm], what you could link it to [T5: Yes]. [5 mins] So, a suggested activity could be quite good. Cos it’s got that piece of persuasive writing [T5: yeah], that ‘could show them the above page’. Mmmmm.
Q U O T E S F R O M I N T E R V I E W S I N S C H O O L B ( L O W E R )
T1: Well I like the BBC [T2: The BBC is a really good website], the ones that are aimed for the children, the primary ones. Not that one that we just looked at [T2: no that was a grown up one] that was too much. The ones that have images that you can click on.T2: Like Bitesize?T1: Yeah. They seem more child friendly so you can use them.T3: Thing is, we know as teachers, we’ve used them, we feel comfortable going round them and we know they hit the curriculum that we have to teach. Whereas for a lot of them they’ve got interesting things on there but it’s not that…I: When you’re looking at websites, are you looking at things for you to use or mainly for the kids to use?T4: For the teacher I need something that I can show them, so for them to access, I’d say it’s quite level, quite balanced
1. Easily searchable, well organised content
2. Resources which could adapted for a variety of different uses
3. Quality, reliability and expertise
How c an we re - c re a te th e s to r i es we te l l a rou n d ob jec ts i n ou r c o l l e c t i on s i n a c l a s s room c on tex t ?
P R I M A R Y S C H O O L T E A C H E R
People worry about how to introduce artefacts, maybe
[you could have] some kind of demonstration. What you
should have is somebody model it: here's an artefact,
here's the questions you might ask to get the children's
juices flowing, how old it is? how was it used?
5 themes
High quality images
Short films
Object information
Activity ideas
Links