Educators Bus Tour:Attracting teachers (and schools) to local
museumsA presentation delivered at the Museums Australia National Conference May 17, 2013
Regional Remote & Community Museum Day
Janis Hanley B.Com, GCPAPrincipal Consultant, VisionDesign Pty Ltd
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 2
About this presentation
• This presentation describes ‘The Educators Bus Tour’ - an innovative approach taken, on behalf of Gold Coast City Council, to consult heritage stakeholders.
• The consultation succeeded in bringing together teachers and local museums to collaborate on how local museums can meet the needs of the new national curriculum.
• The author makes no apologies for the gratuitous use of images of Gold Coast heritage throughout this presentation!
• This project was the conceived and implemented for Gold Coast City Council by Janis Hanley, Principal Consultant. VisionDesign Pty Ltd, a consultancy company specialising in Policy, Strategy and Heritage Programs
The Beginning
Heritage awareness is extra challenging on the Gold Coast.
Most people don’t relate heritage with the city and
consider ‘Gold Coast Heritage‘ an oxymoron. Even the
contemporary heritage is disappearing rapidly before being properly recognised. Some of Gold Coast’s early’s
high-rises are already scheduled for demolition - victims of concrete cancer
(highlighted in the inset photo)
The main photo shows 1970‘s Illuka - boarded up and on
building ‘death row’. The 88 story Q1 is in the background -
a haunting reminder of the changing face of land use in the
tourist cityPhoto © Janis Hanley 2013
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 4
Nov 2011: Planning the Stakeholder Consultation on Raising Awareness of Gold Coast’s Heritage
School education about local heritage seen as key
National History curriculum was kicking off in 2013
Wanted an an innovative way to engage teachers in the conversation
Many places on the recently established Local Heritage Register had important stories to tell of Gold Coast’s (and Australia’s) history
Local museums important part of the story - and needed capacity building.
Could the consultation itself be a catalyst for change?
Kinkabool, built in 1959 in the heart of Surfers Paradise, was the first
high-rise on the Gold Coast and is the first high-rise to be listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
Photo
© Janis
Hanle
y 2
01
2
The Preparation
In the foreground is the old Cable station - built 1902 in Southport as Australia’s main communication link with the rest of the world. Touted as
‘red all the way’ back when red meant part of the British Empire. The only other
international cable line was Darwin, with then ‘suspect’
links on its path through non British countries.
The Nerang River and Surfers Paradise are in the background.
Cable station now houses the Music School for The Southport
School.
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 6
Feb 2012: The National History Curriculum for museums workshop
To prepare the museums with knowledge of what’s in the National History Curriculum
One day free workshop for local museums
Hosted by a local school - The Southport School
The program included the following speakers:
Qld Museum Museum Development Officer
Teacher, Education Qld (formerly seconded to Qld Museum re the new history curriculum)
Librarian, The Southport School
Librarian from council’s Local Studies Library.
The Southport School’s archivist was also present and handled all the logistics / catering for the day
Each museum brought along a mystery object for the participants to test out their ‘Inquiry’ skills
The Southport School memorial
room - where the curriculum
workshop was held
The Southport School boarding house
The initial stage was getting the local museums up to speed with the new national history curriculum - the themes for each year levels, and the inquiry approaches to teaching. The 12 Gold Coast museums and historic associations were invited to a one day workshop. It was open
to all museum volunteers to attend.
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012
Photo
© Janis
Hanle
y 2
01
2
The Bus Tour
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 8
Organisation for the Educators Bus Tour
Scheduled the day for a student free day
Fliers sent to 160 schools on the Gold Coast
Emailed the principal
Sent two letters: The principal and co-ordinator of Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE).
Made phone calls - got best success asking for the librarian.
Used in-house contacts and their networks (best results)
Teachers would earn 6 Professional Development hours for attending the bus tour
Scheduled in five museum visits + Local Studies Library (8.30 - 3.30)
Designed two surveys:
Individual survey to be completed at each museum
One overall survey
Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum Inc. Excellent collection of artefacts from the timber getting and pioneering days, as
well as the original Nerang Railway Station built in the 1880s.
Photo
© Janis
Hanle
y 2
01
2
32 teachers
32 teachers
registered
registered
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 9
The Educators Bus Tour Day
Literally started with a bang with flag raising ceremony and firing party. Over 150 kilometers were travelled during the day
Teachers generously filled out survey forms and gave feedback
Prizes along the way - guessing the ‘Mystery Object’ at each museum
Statement most often heard: ‘We had no idea these places were here’
Griffith Uni Education Lecturer: ‘Council should run this every year’
Flag raising and firing party, Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum Inc houses an excellent collection of Light Horse and
World War 1 artefacts, World War 2 maps and Objects of National Servicemen.
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 10
What the surveys told usBest activities to include for school excursions?
• The top three activities to include on school history excursions were:
Simulation /Historic Re-enactments
Museum visits
Archaeological digs
Additional ways for museums to engage
students:
•Online photo gallery
•Worksheets
•You-tube clips
•Interactive displays and role plays /
simulation
Other activities that rated highly were:
heritage walks and visits to natural history places,
the Local Studies Library
visits to Local Heritage Places.
Other suggestions were:
a cemetery walk,
indigenous history tour,
a four day excursions with different subjects
“Krarawarree” Former WW2 Hospital ship: Sited at the Gold Coast Restoration Society and being lovingly restored (with help from a year 9 student student
participating in a special program).
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 11
What the surveys told usBest ways to support teachers?
The three best ways to support teachers:
Excursion plans
School visits
Provide information sessions to teachers
The following ways were also suggested:
•information on ways to access resources
•a heritage bus (that visited schools)
•provision of lesson/unit plans and kits for schools
•Council appointment of an education officer
Surf World Gold Coast Inc. - Volunteer run museum open 7 days a week. Situated
opposite Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (A Qld National Trust Property)
Photo
© Janis
Hanle
y 2
01
2
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 12
In terms of cost for a museum visit, $5 seemed the most acceptable, specially given the expense of transport.
The common range for a whole day excursion was $20-$25 (including $10 for bus)
The following rated highly for activities that Council could organise for students:
Heritage week/month activities
School visits talks
Virtual reality presentations
Public archaeological digs
Other: Demonstrations, Picnic in a museum grounds and school archaeological digs
What the surveys told usExcursion Logistics
Council Archaeological dig at site of a Sugar Mill
Photo
© Janis
Hanle
y 2
01
2
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 13
Most surveyed (80%) thought that a Gold Coast History network would be a good idea.
an online forum /wiki that enabled upload for sharing resources. This could be coupled with a meeting once a term at one of the museums.
Other networks that teachers use are: the History Teachers Association and GEO NET for secondary geography teachers on the Gold Coast.
Limited interest in some sort of “Time travelers” club for students exploring Gold Coast geological and cultural history. An e-newsletter and website would be the best format.
Teachers sources for resources include:
Local Studies Library, GCCC Website, Aust. History Teachers Assoc., Gould Genealogy, museum sites, online, flyers delivered to school, ACARA site and Scootle, QSA Alliance, other staff, Learning Place (Ed Qld Portal) and local museum websites.
What the surveys told usLearning Networks
Six of the teachers who
attended were interested in
volunteering to assist in
further work on local history
education and 8 were
maybes.
Gold Coast & Hinterland Historical Society Inc. Eclectic collection includes Paula Stafford Bikinis,
Communications equipment from Cable Hut, Saw mill plant, Indigenous
artefacts
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 14
Data was collected at each museum on how well the collection relates to the curriculum themes for each year level
Survey collected suggestions for excursion activities specific to each museums
A report was given to each museum detailing comments made
What the surveys told usIndividual Museums
Graph is indicative of the type of data collected
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 15
• Overall the message is to engage the students through hands-on activities where they can directly experience things for themselves. Ideas included:
Re-enactments & demonstrations:
Hands on activities like: washing clothes, writing with pen and ink, tent pegging, working with tools, trying on uniforms & weapons
DVD of differences past and present, particularly things that cant be done on site
Personalised stories
Fictionalised narratives to show a day/week/year of life
Treasure hunts, quiz, activity sheet
Focused activities where students report back to each other.
Museum guides/audio when not enough volunteers
Student museum membership
What the surveys told usSmall Museum Curriculum Potential - A Summary
Use of historic photos as a clever piece of ‘way finding’
design along the Surfers Paradise foreshore. These
towers mark the streets and are colour coded so visitors to the beach can easily see which is
‘their’ street.
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 16
• Finally, some of the comments from the day:
• ‘The tour was great: a brief 'taste' of what is available to enhance local history curricular Inquiries. So much to follow-up, to create activities for students to do whilst at the various museums - I'm already planning! ‘
• ‘We need to keep the momentum going and expand our awareness - and inform our staff members to take full advantage of the opportunities offered here’
What the surveys told usQuotes
Not bad from a starting point of ‘we had no idea these places were here’!
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 17
What’s happened since?
Council did not continue this work further.
Museums started to pick up the ball - with limited resources.
All Saints Anglican College was approached by the author to run some pilot excursion programs with local museums.
Janis worked with the museums and the schools to develop excursion days for the museum that would align with the history curriculum.
Funding was successfully applied for through the Regional Arts Development Fund.
Larger than life sculpture in the Broadwater Parklands at
Southport. It is a popular place for tourists to snap photos - Tourism
heritage?
Photo © Janis Hanley 2013
The First Museum Excursion Programs- some snapshots
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 19
Mar 2013: Mudgeeraba - Year 2 - The Past In the Present‘William Duncan and the Timber Getting Story’
• Excursion Plan Included:
Visit to the Mudgeeraba Hinterland Heritage Museum - focusing on life and times of William Duncan and the timber story ... and Hot damper!)
Visit to Mudgeeraba Village
Welcome by the Councillor
Looking at photo kits at the Mudgeeraba Library (Former Council Chamber built in 1914)
Treasure hunt through Mudgeeraba village
Pre and post excursion resources for the school including:
William Duncan narrative
Timeline of Mudgeeraba history
Powerpoint of the historic buildings of Mudgeeraba
Students on the treasure Students on the treasure hunthunt
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 20
Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum - Year 3 - ‘Commemorations’
• Visit to the Light Horse Museum Included:
“Where’s Woody’ a search for symbols of the ANZACs”
Hands on Group Activities
How to raise the flag
Care of a war horse
World War 1 Weapons
Honouring War heroes with poppies
Flag raising ceremony with firing party
Horseback tent pegging demonstration
• Pre and post excursion resources for the school including:
Woody the Waler narrative
Light Horse hero e-book
The Cook’s Story
Symbols of the Light Horse ANZACS e-book
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 21
Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum - Year 3 - ‘Commemorations’
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 22
Recognition
National Trust Qld Governor’s Silver Award 2012: ‘Educators Bus Tour’ to Gold Coast City Council and VisionDesign Pty Ltd
Media Coverage of Light Horse Museum Pilot - two key elements:
Karen Andrews MP press release (She attended the pilot run)
It was a week before ANZAC Day
Coverage included:
Channel nine local news
Channel nine Today show Saturday (nationally)
Cover of the Sun Newspaper
Two page spread Gold Coast Bulletin Newspaper
Recognition is always helpful. The Educators Bus Tour itself was recognised by Queensland’s
National Trust, then there was excellent media coverage of the first pilot program - that’s good for
everyone!
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 23
Gold Coast Bulletin Education Section Tuesday 23rd April 2013
The Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum inc. was very grateful for the
coverage given by local media.
Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 24
And this is just the start of this work ....More projects are in the pipeline.Thank-you for listening/reading
• Further information:
web: http://visiond.com.au/australianhistory
• Janis’s contact details:
email: [email protected]
twitter: @just2write
Top Related