Create a Museum in Your School with Introduction
1 Create a Museum in Your School with Medwyn the Historical Mole Detective Introduction Creating a museum in your school allows your pupils to discover, first hand, how events from the past have influenced their lives today. The theme that we explore in this booklet is that of the flow of people into the city of Swansea and how people from all over the world have received a welcome here - from nineteenth century “Copperopolis” to present day “City of Sanctuary.” This proactive activity allows the children to travel back in time with Medwyn the Historical Mole Detective to explore how the many different cultures have enriched the life of Swansea, so promoting a sense of identity and pride in their heritage, as well as an appreciation of other cultures. Creating a School museum also provides a wonderful opportunity to develop Cross Curricular Study as well as Personal and Social Development. (See Learning Outcomes on page 24) The purpose of this booklet is to create a museum, based on the history of immigration to Swansea from nineteenth century Copperopolis to present day City of Sanctuary. Please note that the guidelines outlined here can be adapted to any other theme you should wish to study – with Medwyn’s help of course! 2 “Hello, my name is Medwyn and I’m a Mole Detective but, more interestingly, I’m a Mole Detective that can travel through time by burrowing down through the ground in my subterrain. One of the first things you learn about being a time traveller is that you don’t just go back in time without doing your homework first. I once went back to Roman times without doing my research, and ended up being chased around the Coliseum in front of 2,000 Romans! As you can see, it’s vital that you know as much as you can about the time you’re travelling to, before you get there. I do most of my research in my four museums:City & County of Swansea Museum, Carmarthenshire County Museum, Ceredigion Museum and Scolton Manor Museum & Country Park in Pembrokeshire. You can also visit my website at www.medwynsmuseums.co.uk which is full of interesting ideas to help you with your time travelling needs. If you look at my picture you will see that I wear very special goggles. Not only do they help me see in the dark, but they also let me surf the net for any information or clues that I need to tell me when and where I am. I recently went back to nineteenth century Swansea and recorded many people’s stories while I was there. If you are lucky enough to go on a trip on Swansea’s Community Boat up the River Tawe, you’ll be able to hear what they all had to say. I’ve included some of the information from my Goggles in this booklet called Goggle Facts - just to help you on your way. I’ve also set you some tasks to help you Dig Deeper to find out more information and tips on how to share your research with everyone else.” 3 My 3 steps to create a museum in your school about the people who have made Swansea their home. Step 1 – Research 1. 2. 3. 4. Why do people come to Swansea to live? The Census. What is a museum and how does it work? Visiting Swansea Museum for a Behind the Scenes Tour. Step 2 - Designing and creating Putting all your hard work together to create a museum in your school. Step 3 – The Event Open Evening – for everyone to see your fantastic work. 4 Step 1 Research In order to create a museum about the people who have made Swansea their new home, we first need to research the people themselves. An interesting class exercise would be to list the surnames of the children in the class. Do they know where in the world their names originated? Using a map of the world - stickers or flags can be placed to show from where the names of families originated. If they wish, the children can research their family tree. There is a colourful Worksheet in the Resources section to help with this. Question Think of some reasons why people live in Swansea today. Some answers They were born here. Looking for work. People have always come to Swansea looking for work. The busiest time was during the nineteenth century when metals especially copper, were refined in the areas around Landore and the Hafod. Swansea was so famous for copper refining (extracting it from the rocks or ore) that it was called Copperopolis. To retire near the sea. To be closer to their families. To be safe. In May 2010, Swansea became a City of Sanctuary. City of Sanctuary is a national movement of local people, community groups, businesses and institutions who work together to turn their city into a welcoming place for people seeking sanctuary who have lost their homes and families because of war or persecution (The word persecution means to destroy or make life extremely difficult and miserable for certain people because of their way of life, race, or religion.) 5 Question What was the population (the amount of people) of the City and County of Swansea in 2011? Answer A sum up of Swansea's population in 2011, together with how it compares with the rest of Britain, is shown in the table below. Population statistics for Swansea The latest estimate of the population of the City and County of Swansea stands at 238,700. Swansea now has the second highest population of the 22 Welsh Unitary Authorities, representing almost 8% of the total population of Wales (3,063,800). Aged Males Females Total % of total 0-4 5-15 16-24 25-44 45-64 65-74 75+ Total 6,300 13,700 16,000 29,600 31,000 11,900 12,400 120,700 13,100 28,200 33,700 60,300 60,300 22,300 20,800 238,700 5.5 11.8 14.1 25.3 25.3 9.3 8.7 100 6,800 14,600 17,700 30,800 29,400 10,400 8,400 118,000 Wales Average % 5.8 12.3 12.2 24.6 26.6 9.9 8.6 100 England&Wales Average % 6.2 12.6 11.8 27.3 25.4 8.7 7.8 100 Source: 2011 Mid Year Estimates, Office for National Statistics (ONS), © Crown copyright 2012. These figures were taken from the 2011 Census. This table tells us how many people lived in Swansea at that time, but it doesn’t tell us much about them. For that we need to look at the Census itself. 6 Medwyn’s Goggle Facts A census is a ‘count’ of all the people in the United Kingdom taken on one particular day. This process is repeated every ten years. The first government census in Britain was taken in 1801 because the population was growing so quickly that the government needed to find out how many people it would have to feed. Between 1801 and 1831 the census contained only general information about numbers of people. The 1841 census was the first to list the names of every individual in a household. After 1851 it recorded the age of each person, their relationship within the family (such as wife, son or daughter) occupation (job) and where they were born. There has been a census every ten years since 1801, apart from 1941 because of the Second World War. “If you want to know more about the census in the United Kingdom, there are some very good Teachers’ Resources to be found at www.censusatschool.org.uk” Medwyn has included 3 examples of a Swansea census taken in 1841, 1881 and 1911 in the Resources section of this booklet. These were taken in the same area of Swansea so you can see how people moved about, not only within Britain but also from abroad. Medwyn would like to thank West Glamorgan Archive Service in Swansea for allowing us to use this information. If you want to see more or do more research, log on to: www.swansea.gov.uk/archiveseducation If, when you are reading the pages from a census them and the writing is too small, why not use a magnifying glass to help? 7 Dig Deeper Invite the children to each bring in a few items or objects from home that means something to them or their families. It could be anything from an old magazine to a broken toy. Using the worksheet as a guide (see Resources), ask the children to write an account of how the object came to be owned by the family member. Encourage the children to do any additional research, as necessary, on their objects. For example, if the object a child brings in is a shawl that belongs to a grandparent, perhaps the child could interview the grandparent to find out more about that shawl. If there are children who aren’t allowed to bring objects in then suggest ‘making artefacts’ in the classroom e.g. dress up dolls in national costume / collection of food wrappers / newspaper articles / print-outs from the web or even a shoe box diorama. Here is an example of the type of diorama you could create. Outcome This is an opportunity for the children to learn that the amount an object costs isn’t the only gauge of its importance as it is impossible to put a price on emotional, historical or scientific value. 8 Medwyn’s Goggle Fact for Teachers “It is important to stress that if the children are bringing objects from home, it is imperative that a note explaining the project to parents is carefully written as it will also be important to establish whether the objects are given or lent and for how long. A simple signed Parental permission form is always advisable. A look at the school’s insurance policy is also highly recommended as, realistically, you can't guarantee the objects' safety.” Question What should we do with everything we’ve collected? Sneaky Activity for Teachers In order to introduce the idea and purpose of museums, encourage the children to pack away and store these objects in boxes so that no-one can see or immediately find a particular object. After doing this, you can ask the children why packing objects away and without a reference catalogue is not a good idea. no-one is able to see what they’ve collected or learn from what they’ve researched. no-one knows where anything is without unpacking everything - so they need to be labelled and catalogued. By this simple ruse, the children now understand exactly why artefacts are displayed and catalogued. 9 Why not create your own school museum…. However, before we can do that we need to know exactly what a museum is. Suggested answers A museum is a place where people work to look after lots of old things that have been collected by many people over a long period of time. By looking after and studying these things it helps us to understand and learn how people used to live many years ago and makes us compare how we live today with how people used to live. They explain what the things are and help us understand what they were used for. Museums also make sure that we never forget the people who came before us, like our grandparents and their grandparents and their grandparents before them. Museums are there so that we can enjoy ourselves looking at and studying what’s on display. Question Where do museums get their artefacts (things made by man e.g. pottery, clothes and coins) and objects to display? Answers Sometimes people give their collection of objects to museums where they are professionally cared for and made accessible to everyone. Some museums buy things at auctions, antique shops, junk shops or even car boot sales. Archaeologists dig things up and some of them are displayed in museums. Sometimes museums use film and sound recordings to display memories, stories or accents of people remembering events in the past and a way of life. These are called Oral Histories. 10 Not everything that you see displayed in a museum is the real thing. Sometimes they are very good replicas. The reason for this could be that the original is too delicate or valuable to show. There are replicas (copies) of objects in Swansea Museum such as the clothes of the Celtic Warrior and skeletal bones of the ‘Lady of Paviland.’ Some museums are not even buildings but websites. The People's Collection is an example of an online museum. It’s not just a website for the museums in Wales to show what they have but it is also there for ordinary people like you and me to upload personal stories, photographs and pictures for the whole world to share. Question Museums have hundreds if not thousands of objects stored safely away for people to study. How do they find them? Answer A museum used to store information on record cards however most now have a database on a computer which allows the museums to keep a lot of information. The type of information can be: a reference number the story of the object when and how it arrived at the museum a digital photograph types of objects that can be grouped together 11 Every museum object is given its own number, known as an object number. The people who work in the museum call this an accession number. These object numbers have four parts: 1. The code Every museum uses the same coding system. You can base your code on the school or class name e.g. the code for Swansea Museum School would be SMS. 2. The year Next we would record the year the object arrived in the museum e.g. If the object was given in 2012, the code would be SMS:2012 3. The running number Each child in the class can have their own number, so if Osian was number 6 and he brought in a hat, then this object would be labeled SMS:2012.6 4. The group number Each object has an individual group number. So if Osian brought in two objects, a hat and a jug for the class museum and his running number is 6, the object number for Osian’s hat would be SMS:2012.6.1 and the number for his jug would be SMS:2012.6.2 Once an object has been given an object number it needs to be labelled with that number. If you look in the Resources section, you will find some labels/tags that you can use in the classroom to tie on to each object. 12 Object registers All the object numbers are recorded in an object register and database. These registers are extremely important because they contain details of every single object in the museum. Object files Object files contain more details about the objects and each object file is labelled with the same number as the object. These files contain all of the research done on the object. This can include information from the person who has lent or donated it as well as pictures, photographs or newspaper articles to do with the object. These files are very helpful and can be used by museum staff to help them write the exhibition material and help people in their own research or fact finding. 13 There’s lots to do in a museum. Here are some of the people who work there. Curator This person is responsible for the care, labelling and recording objects on a database as well as researching the museum's collections. This is so that he or she can then share information about the objects with visitors through exhibitions, putting objects on the internet, or talks. Education Officer This person gives talks to visitors and school groups and arranges for visitors and school groups to come to the museum. Exhibition Officer This person designs and puts up exhibitions and displays in the museum. He or she also helps to decide what and how to exhibit the objects. Museum Administrator This person carries out the office duties such as making appointments, answering the telephone, ordering stationery, and opening the post. 14 Collections Care Officer This person photographs and looks after the objects in the museum. He or she also keeps them clean and sometimes repairs any objects that are damaged. Museum Assistants There are many duties carried out by museum assistants. They can: Welcome visitors and issue tickets. Work in the museum shop. Walk around the museum when it is open to visitors, making sure that objects aren’t broken or stolen. Point out where things are in museum. Give information about the objects to visitors and answer any questions. Check that there aren’t too many people in the museum all at the same time. Help everyone have such a good visit that they’ll want to come back again. 15 If you are going to create a museum in your school then you must visit a museum to see how it’s done! A visit to Swansea Museum would be a good starting point because the staff are there to help you with any problems you may have or any questions that you need answered. Remember that what you see in Swansea Museum is only the tip of the iceberg because there are thousands of objects kept safely in storage in the Collections Centre in Landore. This is also where the museum staff design and create new exhibitions and repair any old objects before they are displayed. Suggested Visit Why not visit the Collections Centre in the morning to meet some of the staff who work behind the scenes, have lunch sitting next to the Williams Gammon lifeboat and 1950s buses and lorries, then spend the afternoon on a factfinding tour around the exhibitions of Swansea Museum? There are even worksheets in the Resources section of this booklet to help the children with their research. Once you have created your museum in your school, why don’t you bring some of the objects down to the schoolroom in Swansea Museum and create a display in one of our extra large display cases to create A Museum in a Museum for all visiting schools to see! If you would like to arrange any of this just call Barry Hughes on 01792 477180 ([email protected]). 16 It’s time now to chat about what we’ve learnt. Circle Time By studying the worksheets filled in during the visit the children can share and talk about the information and opinions they had gathered during their visit, such as:- How do museums display what they have? Are there themes? What were the themes at Swansea Museum? How were the objects arranged in their displays? Was the information on display and in brochures and guidebooks easy to read? 17 Step 2 Designing and creating your school museum It’s time now to start putting this information to good use and start to plan your museum about the people who made their home in Swansea. Medwyn’s Goggle Facts “Your school museum can go back as far as you like in time or just be about the last 50 years or so – it’s up to you! Here are some suggestions of the people who have settled in Swansea over the years. You can research:1. English and Irish people in nineteenth century Copperopolis. 2. Italian people e.g. Joe’s ice cream at the beginning of the 20 th century. 3. The Chinese people came to Swansea to set up home here at the beginning of the 20th century. Interestingly, the Swansea Chinese Community Co-operative are now undertaking a project that will research and record first generation Chinese immigration in Swansea - which will be translated into digital stories. 4. European Jewish people fled here from Nazi Germany during World War 2. 5. People from India came here to work after India and Pakistan were separated in 1947. 6. When President Idi Amin came to power in 1971, people from Uganda came here to escape persecution. 7. The European Union and how it affects Swansea. People of the member states can work freely in each other’s countries. 8. Swansea City of Sanctuary – people from many countries from all over the world seek refuge here. 18 It’s now time to vote on a final plan and think of a name for your museum. Suggested Names Give your museum a name that can help the visitor understand what your museum is all about. A good start is to list the words that are important when describing your museum. The theme of the museum described in this booklet is to do with:- Medwyn came up with these suggestions, but you can think of your own if you like. 1) Skipping Stones to Swansea This title makes you think of the different stages people took to get to Swansea, just like skipping stones over water. 2) Waving Hello to Swansea This title plays on the ideas of waving goodbye to your old home and saying hello to Swansea. 19 Most museums have a logo so why not design your own. Here are some you might have seen already…… you. 20 Dig Deeper It’s now time to get down to the serious work of setting out the different exhibitions in your museum. Sneaky Activity for Teachers Place the objects brought in by the children from home, and display them in a random fashion on a table. The more higgledy-piggledy the better! - Suggest that this would be a good way to present the objects for the whole school to see! - Ask the children if this is a good idea. Why not? - Suggest that they need to label, catalogue, group and display the objects so that visitors can learn and enjoy what they see. In their groups they must: Create a database on the school computer to record information about their objects. It’s also a good idea to use a digital camera to record each object they have brought in. ALSO: Decide on a theme for the museum. Assess the space available and decide where would be the best place for it. How will they exhibit their objects? Think of timelines, similarities etc. The groups then present their ideas to the rest of the class and after discussion a vote can be taken on which direction to take. 21 Dig Deeper It’s a good idea now to allow the children to devise a list of who’s doing what, as teamwork is an essential learning outcome of this project. Questions What do we need to do? Who does what? Suggested Tasks Catalogue the objects in your museum using the codes outlined in this booklet (See Resources section.) Design the overall plan for the exhibition, either drawing by hand or on the computer. Decide on colour themes and fonts. Study how to store and look after the objects (see Resources section) Research online how other museums, as well as Swansea, set out their displays and collect brochures from other museums/attractions. Create information labels for the objects (see Resources section.) It’s always good to add a little story about the artefact for the visitor to read e.g. this coin was kept in my grandmother’s pocket as a good luck token. Create copies of historical objects, such as clothing, labels for tin cans, old paper/maps, etc. Write and design a visitor’s guide. Point out any particular objects that the viewer should pay attention to and explain why they are interesting. Think of different ways of presenting information such as film and access to information already on the computer. Record people’s memories as oral histories – This is an excellent activity as it can be a vehicle to bridge the gap between generations. There are many websites that can help. (See Helpful Addresses at the end of this booklet.) Decide on jobs for everyone. Decide on suitable display equipment. Work as a team to put your museum together. 22 Step 3 The Event Once you have finished your museum, it’s a good idea to invite visitors to see your exhibitions. Question What do we need to do? Suggested Tasks Planning the Event Decide who does what e.g. showing people around/handing out information/greeting visitors at the door. Decide on a date and time for the event. Plan what’s going to happen in the event e.g. guest speakers/recording visitors’ memories, or even asking people to jot down some memories on post-it notes to place on a memory board. Refreshments. Paperwork Invitations to speakers. Invitations to public. Signing in sheets (see Resources section.) Feedback forms (see Resources section.) Name badges. Thank you letters. Publicity Write and design promotional material such as press releases, posters and pamphlets. Make a list of who to invite, such as family, friends and people who have helped you to create your museum. You might even want to invite journalists from your local papers. 23 Always remember to take plenty of pictures to remind you how the museum was created, from start to finish. Perhaps one of you can put all the photographs together to create a really interesting digital diary. REMEMBER! Always make sure that you have people’s permission to take or use their photograph/s. 24 Learning Outcomes A museum exhibition in your school can help promote Personal and Social Education by developing: Thinking - through planning, developing and reflecting, the pupils engage in decision-making, deciding on personal responses, developing understanding and reflecting upon outcomes for themselves and others. Communication - through the skills of oracy, reading, writing and wider communication the pupils research, listen to others and discuss in small and large groups. They also share information and ideas about a wide variety of personal, social and community issues. ICT - by finding, developing, creating and presenting information and ideas using a wide range of equipment and software, they develop purposeful application of ICT skills. Number - by gathering, selecting and analysing numerical information to develop evidence to support their understanding of issues, they are using mathematical information, calculation and interpretation to present their findings. It can also offer Cross Curricular study which would include: History - Pupils develop historical skills through: Learning about a range of historical contexts based primarily on the local area within the wider historical context of Wales, but including examples from Britain and other countries. Engaging in stimulating and focused historical enquiry using a wide range of sources. Organising and communicating their skills, knowledge and understanding in an increasing variety of ways. Making history enjoyable, interesting and significant. English and Welsh as first languages by: Discussion and articulating their responses. Listening to talks. Descriptive and factual writing. Learning new vocabulary. How to use various resources such as indexes, writing labels, catalogues and other material. 25 Welsh as a second language by: Incorporating simple Welsh phrases into planning and interpretation of the displays. Science by: Identifying different materials, finding out about their origins, properties, uses and how certain objects change over time. The effect of pollution on the environment. D&T and IT by: Evaluating different kinds of materials and their uses. Making objects for display. Solving simple conservation problems. Compiling databases and designing graphics for displays. Art by: Introducing pupils to past and present genres and styles from different cultures. Encouraging understanding and investigating. Geography by: Using maps and atlases to locate the source of artefacts and also for comparing the locality then and now. Curriculum Cymreig by: Helping pupils to understand the factors that have shaped Wales and other countries today. 26 Helpful Addresses Swansea Museum - Victoria Terrace, Swansea, W Glam SA1 4LS 01792 653763 http://www.swanseamuseum.co.uk Swansea Library will have many well-illustrated books to help them with identification – Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, West Glamorgan SA1 3SN 01792 637193 http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10956 West Glamorgan Archive Service hold collections of original documents including maps, plans, letters, drawings, census returns, deeds, inventories and photographs. Many have education services, some with handling collections – Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, West Glamorgan SA1 3SN 01792 636589 http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=406/ South West Wales Museums - SWM (Swansea Museum, Carmarthenshire Museum, Scolton Manor Museum in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion Museum) This website contains educational information and help for schools. Medwyn the Historical Mole Detective helps children to enjoy investigating history. www.medwynsmuseums.co.uk Helpful websites People’s Collection Wales - www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales http://www.rcahmw.gov.uk Dyfed Archaeological Trust - http://www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust - www.ggat.org.uk Swansea Chinese Community Co-op Centre - www.swanseachinese.org.uk Swansea Community Boat Trust – www.scbt.org.uk 27 Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html Oral History Society - http://www.ohs.org.uk/advice/index.php ELC Museum s Education http://edubuzz.org/museums/making-a-classroom-museum Show me - http://www.show.me.uk Culture 24 - http://www.culture24.org.uk/teachers
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