'Making the Museum a Classroom' presentation at the 2015 Museums & Galleries Queensland Conference.

1. 2015 Museums & Galleries Queensland Conference #2015MGQcon
Demystifying the Australian Curriculum
Lisa Jackson
Administrator, North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum
Making the Museum a Classroom

2. Making the
Museum
a Classroom
North Stradbroke Island
Historical Museum
August 2015

3. Why is it important to engage with the
National Curriculum?
• To offer programs relevant to what teachers and
students want
• To share local history, using local collections, to
spark curiosity
• To enhance the experience of young children in
the museum
• To improve the Museum bottom line!

4. 0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Number of School Children visiting NSIHM
2009 - 2014

5. Engaging Local School Children
Dunwich State School
• Under Eight’s Day
• Trialled being open after school
• Invited Principal to have a
Staff Meeting in the Museum space

6. Year One History Unit –
Present and Past Family Life
The key inquiry questions at this year level are:
How has family life changed or remained the same over time?
How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the
past?
How do we describe the sequence of time?

7. Year Two Science Unit –
Chemical Sciences
Key ideas: Different materials can be combined, including by mixing, for a particular
purpose
• exploring the local environment to observe a variety of materials, and describing ways in which
materials are used
• investigating the effects of mixing materials together
• suggesting why different parts of everyday objects such as toys and clothes are made from
different materials
• identifying materials such as paper that can be changed and remade or recycled into new products

8. Year Three History Unit –
Community and remembrance
The key inquiry questions at this year level are:
• ONE important example of change and ONE important example of continuity
over time in the local community, region or state/territory; for example, in
relation to the areas of transport, work, education, natural and built
environments, entertainment, daily life
• comparing photographs from both the past and present of a specific location to
identify the nature of change or continuity (that is key similarities and
differences)
• investigating a development in the local community from the time of European
settlement to the present day (for example through photographs, newspapers,
oral histories, diaries and letters)

9. Year Three History Unit –
Community and remembrance

10. Year Four History Unit - First Contacts
The journey(s) of AT LEAST ONE world navigator, explorer or trader up to the late
eighteenth century, including their contacts with other societies and any impacts
• identifying key individuals and groups who established contacts with Africa, the
Americas, Asia and Oceania during the age of discovery; examining the journey of
one or more of these explorers (for example Christopher Columbus, Vasco de
Gama, Ferdinand Magellan) using internet mapping tools, and examining their
impact on one society
• using navigation maps to reconstruct the journey of one or more explorers
• investigating networks of exchange between different groups of people

11. Year Four History Unit - First contacts
Primary source material for the journey of
Pamphlet, Finnegan and Parsons…and Thompson

12. Audiences from further afield –
Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre (MBEEC)
• Programs developed in response to a need
from a classroom teacher “tired of going
to the Lego Centre”
• Year Two History Curriculum –
The Past in the Present
TheYear 2 curriculum provides a study of local history. Students explore, recognise and
appreciate the history of their local area by examining remains of the past and
considering why they should be preserved.

14. Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre
• Small Town, Big History

15. Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre
• Small Town, Big History

16. Special Interest Tours
• Programs developed in response to a specific requirement
• Quandamooka history and spirituality
• Sand mining/rehabilitation history

17. Delights
• Children learning solid, relevant information and
developing an appreciation for history
• Students bringing their parents and families for a visit
• Local children knowing more about their
neighbourhood – Pamphlet, Finnegan and Parsons

18. Pitfalls
• Children in the Museum
space!
• Resource intensive
• Dependant on enthusiastic,
skilled presenters and
(perhaps) certain people

19. Some Ideas to Take Away
• The teachers and students like that we are not
teachers!
• Talk to your local school - staff meetings, teachers
• Be open to partnerships
• Think about all the opportunities in different
curriculum areas – History, Geography,
Science, Technology, English
• Don’t forget the little kids – kindy and
daycare excursions

20. Thanks to:
• Elisabeth Gondwe, Committee and
volunteers at North Stradbroke Island
Historical Museum
• Jenny Wilson and the staff and
students from Dunwich State School
• Katrina Logan and Georgina Robertson
from Moreton Bay Environmental
Education Centre
• Barbara Piscitelli
Lisa Jackson
North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum
www.stradbrokemuseum.com.au