How to: Plan a schools session

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

Getting started

Sometimes a school might approach you to ask for a session. Alternatively, you may want to create a session that you can offer to schools. Either way, there are a few things to bear in mind:

Time (yours and theirs): putting together sessions and resources takes time. It ’s not just the time needed to deliver the session but preparation time too. A good workshop or activity should involve thoughtful preparation and tailoring so make sure you factor this into your planning. In addition, teachers are busy people and you will be one of many things competing for their attention. Make your offer count and allow time for delayed responses during your planning.

Cost (yours and potentially theirs): putting together decent materials and resources will obviously incur a cost. Can you design and print things in-house or will you need to go externally? Also, school budgets are tight so bear this in mind when deciding whether or not to charge, and how much.

Curriculum: teachers have a curriculum to teach so the time available for extra-curricular topics /activities (particularly in later years when exams are in full-swing). There needs to be a good justification for diverting classroom time so the more you are able to link your offering to the curriculum, the better. Your sessions will be far more appealing to schools if you are able to hit key topics; more so if you can demonstrate that your activity is cross-curricular. Teachers will also appreciate help through difficult parts of the curriculum so make them aware that support and resources are available.

The key is to work collaboratively with teachers to design your sessions or activities. Teachers are the experts in engaging their students so they will know what works well and what doesn’t. Teachers are more than keen to work collaboratively when given the opportunity so engage with them as early as you can in the planning process.

As well as providing exciting learning opportunities for school children, you can also play a role in supporting school staff in teaching curriculum areas linked to archaeology. Teachers are experts in teaching basic skills and motivating learning but not so many have an archaeological background so they can benefit enormously from the knowledge and expertise of archaeologists in teaching National Curriculum topics such as the changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

Archaeology is a great topic for engaging with schools as it is a source of inspiration, creativity and enquiry-based learning. The multi-disciplinary nature of archaeology means that it can be tailored to fit a wide range of subjects. It also offers plenty of scope for hands-on, active engagement and schools are keen to provide enrichment opportunities like this for their pupils.

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

How to: Plan a schools session

Top Tips:

Make it as easy as possible for schools/teachers to engage and work with you. Anything you can do to save them time will be much appreciated e.g. pre-done risk assessments.

Communicate effectively. How you communicate has an impact on how successful your contact is likely to be. If you can make your communication stand out in some way, it is more likely to be noticed by a busy teacher. Be explicit—spell out exactly what you can offer and why they should engage with you. Communicate your passion and expertise because enthusiasm gets people’s attention. As with any communication, concise and clear is preferable and check before you send!

Make sure you are communicating with the right person at the school. Find out who the best person to contact is—it may be the teacher themselves or an administrator, or even the head teacher.

Think about the best time to make contact. Teachers plan their lessons a long time in advance so you will need to allow for this. Also consider the time of day you make contact as teachers are obviously teaching for most of the day. It can be better to email and ask them to phone you back.

The timing of your session is important too. Be mindful of when exam periods are and try to find out the best time to visit from the school’s perspective. As a rough guide, re-sits and coursework deadlines tend to be in January, whilst exam period is usually May/June (in particular for GCSEs and A-levels).

Collaboration is important. Your sessions will be more appropriate and effective if you can collaborate with education staff during the planning stage.

Provide support as well as delivery. Most teachers do not have the depth of knowledge about history/archaeology that you do and will appreciate support with new material and content. Think about attending INSET training days or teaching conferences to give workshops about archaeology. Resources and teaching materials are also always welcome—anything that will help teachers to continue the discussion after your activity is over. Providing pre– and post-visit activities also has the potential for greater engagement with the subject,

And remember, once you’ve created it let people know it’s available! Advertise your resources and support through relevant channels. These might include social media, teacher support networks and mailing lists, or simply telephoning your local school or education trust. As mentioned above, also consider attending teaching conferences and professional development workshops.

Useful Resources

Museums and Schools Working Together: https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/Museums%20and%20Schools%20working%20together.pdf Group for Education in Museums: http://www.gem.org.uk/index.php British Museum SEN programme: http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/access_and_sen.aspx Department for Education National Curriculum documents: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum There are examples of activities with schools in the Resources section of this Toolkit too.

Key Stage 1 Ages 5 to 7 Years 1, 2 and 3 Primary

Key Stage 2 Ages 7 to 11 Years 4, 5 and 6

Key Stage 3 Ages 11 to 14 Years 7, 8 and 9 Secondary

Key Stage 4 (GCSE) Ages 14 to 16 Years 10 and 11

Key Stage 5 (A Level) Ages 16 to 18 Years 12 and 13

Archaeology and the National Curriculum

The multi-disciplinary nature of Archaeology lends

itself to a whole range of curriculum areas. Here

are some general areas that it can be applied to:

Research skills and using evidence

Communication

Literacy and numeracy

Using ICT

Managing information

Critical thinking, problem solving and

decision making

Being creative

Working with others

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

The tactile nature of Archaeology makes it a

good subject for children with SEN. Always

collaborate with teachers/specialists in this

area when planning sessions for SEN

classes to make sure that what you are

producing and delivering is appropriate. The

British Museum has an excellent SEN

programme and is a good starting point if

you are interested in offering SEN activities.

Educational stages in England and Wales.

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

How to: Plan a schools session

Finds Liaison Officers’ suggestions for linking archaeology to the National Curriculum, produced as part of an outreach training session.

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

How to: Plan a schools session

SUBJECT SUGGESTIONS

Art and Design Art/designs from the past can inspire new artworks; changes/development of styles, changing trends; past styles/fashions; materials and techniques.

Biology Osteoarchaeology; anatomy; animal remains; archaeobotany; dendrochronology; past diets (isotope analysis); diseases/epidemiology; past environments; populations (human and animal).

Chemistry Soil chemistry (relates to preservation and also geophysics techniques); dating techniques; isotope analysis; conservation techniques; ancient metallurgy.

Computing Data analysis; computer modelling; 3D printing.

Economics Past economies; coinage

English Archaeology can stimulate speaking, listening and writing skills. Finds can inspire creative writing. Engaging questions can promote discussion, improving spoken language and comprehension skills, as well as group interaction.

Ethics Repatriation; Indigenous groups; human remains; heritage management; heritage crime; antiquities trade; who does archaeology belong to?; research versus rescue archaeology; preservation versus excavation; planning process; archaeology and identity. Lots of good debate topics!

Food and Cookery Vessels for cooking and eating; nutrition; farming practices; food and ritual.

Geography Maps; features; trade; aerial photography; human geography (populations, migration etc.); climate change (how past peoples responded to environmental change); identity/nationality.

History Archaeological remains provide the physical evidence for past events. You should be able to use finds to illustrate most history curriculum topics, as well as the general research skills and critical thinking required for historical study.

Law PPG16/NPPF and the planning process; Treasure Act; Human Remains Act; repatriation; antiquities trade; heritage crime; metal detecting; cultural resource management (purpose and impact of protective legislation).

Maths Roman numerals; coinage; weights and measures; scale drawings; taking finds measurements; buildings survey measurements; data analysis.

Photography Aerial photography; finds photography; inspiration for photographic portfolios/projects.

Physical Education Ancient sports/activities; general active engagement (activities that get participants up and moving); excavation.

Politics Heritage management; Indigenous groups; repatriation; the value of archaeology; identity politics.

Religious Education Religious iconography; ancient religions; human burial practices; religious practices.

Science (in general) Plants (crop marks, ancient diets, agriculture); animals (anatomy, past populations, domestication); materials (technological process/advances, what is it made from and why); soils (preservation conditions of different soils); scientific techniques (LIDAR, GPR, magnetometry, resistivity, x-ray, EDXRF, isotope analysis etc.)

Besides history, there is a range of specific curriculum subjects that you can link Archaeology to.

If you think creatively enough, you can probably link it to almost any subject! Below are some

examples of subjects and how Archaeology relates to them. The list it not exhaustive so add your

own ideas!

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

How to: Plan a schools session—Case Study

Purpose: Session for a primary school class (years 3 and 4)

Topic: Anglo-Saxons

Background: The Cambridgeshire FLO was invited to deliver a special Anglo -Saxon day as part of the school’s Anglo-Saxon term project. The session created involved a series of discussions and activities that led the children through the principles of archaeology to the specific artefacts of the Anglo-Saxon period, with each session building on the knowledge from the previous one.

Resources: salad items, envelopes and country images, handling collection, a wok, colouring sheets of Style 1 artefacts, blank artefact outlines, large sheets of paper and marker pens, colouring pens/pencils.

Time required: a whole day to run the session. A week to 2 weeks planning and prep, in consultation with the teacher to ensure appropriate and relevant.

The day started by discussing what archaeology is which led to the definition that it is a study of the past through the material culture of the people who lived at a particular time. The concept of culture was introduced in preparation for the first activity.

Activity 1: In groups the children opened envelopes containing a selection of images and they had to decide which country was represented by those images. Each group fed back to the rest of the class. The FLO specifically ended with the group that had China (the envelope contained pictures of a wok, Chinese writing, rice and chopsticks, and the Great Wall).

The FLO then produced a wok and told the class that it was from her kitchen at home. She asked if this meant that she was Chinese and the group answered ‘no’. She then said that in the future, if an archaeologist excavated her home and found the wok, they could easily assume that the person who lived there was Chinese and the class then discussed how archaeologists have to be careful about the interpretations they make based on material culture.

To clarify this, she asked several children what they had for breakfast that morning. All of them could remember. She then asked what they had yesterday, then last week and finally a random date several years ago. This illustrated that we can easily remember the near past but as time goes by it gets more difficult.

Prior to the session, the FLO had asked the teacher if the class had learned about different art styles. She reminded the class that even today we have many different art styles (modern art, impressionism, pop art etc.) and that it was the same in the Anglo-Saxon period. She explained that they were going to look at an art style called Tiersalat, which translates to “animal salad”.

Activity 2: The FLO got out a chopping board and some salad ingredients. She held up a tomato and asked what it was. She then cut it in half and asked again. The answer was still tomato. She then cut it into quarters and asked again. The answer was still tomato. She did the same with the other salad ingredients. The purpose was to add some fun to the lesson and show that even chopped and mixed up, a tomato was still a tomato etc. The salad was portioned up and given to the children as a healthy snack.

The class then looked at some illustrations of artefacts showing Style 1 Art (Tiersalat). The FLO explained that it was the same as the salad they’d just eaten with all the animal parts mixed up.

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

How to: Plan a schools session—Case Study

Activity 3: The children were asked to colour in animal legs, heads, wings and bodies in separate colours to make the distribution of animal parts on the artefact more visible. This part of the day allowed the teacher to get her class to revise bits of previous literacy lesson e.g. talking about bi-pedal (bicycle), tri-pedal (tricycle) and quadra-pedal beasts.

Activity 4: The class were then asked to draw their favourite animal and use patterns influenced by the Style 1 Art. The FLO then passed around some blank artefact illustrations of different Anglo-Saxon objects such as brooches, a shield boss, girdle

hanger and some wrist claps. The class were asked to ‘chop up’ their animal pictures and decorate a blank artefact to create a ‘Tiersalat’ artefact like the ones they had previously coloured in.

Activity 5: The final activity of the day was related to how these objects make it into the ground. This led to a discussion about the use of grave goods. The FLO showed an example of a skeleton record drawing from an excavation that shows which bones were present and where any grave goods were located when found. They discussed how different items were found in the graves of males and females, that the location of the goods within a grave can tell us how objects were used, and the possible indication of high and low status individuals. The children were split into teams. A child from each team lay on a big piece of white paper while someone else drew around them to create the outline of a body. The class had previously been learning about the human body so the teacher got the children to draw in the main bones of the skeleton as a revision exercise. The teams then decided where on the skeletons to place their paper artefact designs from earlier in the day, thus creating an Anglo-Saxon burial.

The day finished with a handling session of some real Early Medieval artefacts from the FLO’s handling collection. The class were amazed to be looking at real artefacts and had a better understanding of them based on all of their work in the previous activities.

Conclusion

This activity is a good example of how archaeology and small finds can be tied into the National Curriculum in a variety of different ways. As well as linking to the class’s current project on Anglo-Saxons, the session provided opportunities for pupils to practice other skills including language, verbal reasoning, drawing, creativity, and teamwork. They were also able to apply knowledge from other areas of their learning such as the information about the human skeleton.