Education Strategy

1
Education Strategy
School groups will be encouraged to come for a
half-day, rather than an hour-long, session. This
will enable them to see more of the museum, get
to undertake some activities in depth, and
justify the expense of the coach. A half-days
format will consist, ideally, of sessions chosen
under each of the following headings
Craft
Handling
Study an artefact in the museum/gallery
collection, and then make a replica to take away
Study authentic and replica objects in a hands-on
session, and draw conclusions about the people
who made and used them
Investigation
Theme
Work in small groups with activity sheets to
solve a problem by using the museum/gallery
collections
Study a topic through time, or do an exercise
connected with a subject specific skill,
including literacy and numeracy, by using the
museum/gallery collections
The group will be split into two, as now, and
each session will last approximately 25 minutes.
This will allow for a brief introduction and
conclusion. The investigation and themes will be
based on activity sheets, and could be
supervised by the teachers if preferred. The
activities will be carefully tailored to fit in
with the topic to be studied. If there is a
relevant exhibition in progress, then they will
be closely related to this. If a school wanted
to spend a full day, then some of these sessions
could be extended, and others (possibly
connected to the Art Gallery) added.
2
Strategy for Art Gallery Visits
Below is a scheme for how a 2-hour visit to the
gallery might work out. The group would be split
into two, and would rotate round each section,
spending half an hour on each activity.
Session 1 Small gallery Understanding art
Group A Large gallery Behind the scenes Group
B Session 2 Small gallery Drama/Literacy
Group A Large gallery Drawing -
Group B
This would provide plenty of variety, however
feel free to select any combination if you want
to spend longer on a particular topic.
Understanding Art Focusing on the
themes of portraits, landscapes or stories,
paintings will be explored through discussion,
activities, roleplay, etc. The role and work of
the artist in creating the image will also be
examined.
Drama/Literacy Children will be
encouraged to step inside the paintings and
take part in whatever is going on there. In
groups they will prepare a roleplay, poem, or
story
Drawing Finding a painting of
interest and drawing a detail from it, or
depicting the same topic but in a different way,
or changing it to alter the meaning
Behind the Scenes QCA Unit 9gen Secn.5 Looks at
what the gallery is for, what it collects, how it
stores and displays, why it is important, etc.