This guide contains information to help teachers and students prepare for an excursion to the Australian Museum. We hope that this information will help to make your visit a more effective learning experience and also more enjoyable. If you need further assistance please contact the Museum's Learning Services team on (+612) 9320 6163.
Education groups that make a booking to visit the Museum receive an information pack in the post. The pack contains a booking confirmation form, a teacher's pass to the Museum, any teaching materials that have been requested, and an excursion survival guide.
Please check the details on this form and advise the Australian Museum Learning Services Booking Officer if any of the details are incorrect or if you wish to modify your booking. The Booking Officer can be contacted by phone on (+612) 9320 6163 or by fax on (+612) 9320 6072.
The teacher's pass enables you to gain free entry to the Museum. You are encouraged to use this pass before your excursion so that you can familiarise yourself with the Museum's facilities and the exhibitions that the students will visit. This will help you to identify any skills and concepts that need pre-teaching before the excursion.
Note: Before using your teacher's pass, we recommend that you contact the Booking Officer to check that the exhibition(s) you wish to preview are open (and not closed for maintenance). Also, if you wish to speak with a Museum Education Officer, preview a hands-on room or other staffed activity, we suggest that you make prior arrangements to ensure availability.
Teaching materials, such as Teachers' Resource Packs and student Activity Sheets, support many of the Museum's exhibitions. These teaching materials have been developed by qualified and experienced Museum staff and are highly recommended. Teachers may photocopy these materials in order to obtain class sets.
Some of the Teaching materials provide things to do before, during and after your visit to the Museum.
The teacher's pass can also be used to trial the Museum's teaching materials within the Museum setting. They can then be modified as necessary or you may wish to develop your own teaching resources to suit your students.
Integrating the Museum visit with a topic or unit of work provides students with a more effective learning experience because it provides them with a context. It is also important to determine the students' baseline knowledge of the topic by exploring their pre-existing concepts and knowledge. The students can then build on this baseline as the unit progresses.
Many of the Museum's Teachers' Resource Packs include a section containing activities for students to complete before their excursion to the Museum. These activities are designed to set the context, share topic knowledge that students already have, and pre-teach any relevant concepts that students will need when they visit the Museum. If you receive teaching materials, check to see if they contain activities that should be completed prior to the excursion.
Research has shown that it is extremely important for students to understand the objectives and intended outcomes of a visit to the Museum. Objectives make the purpose of the excursion clear and assist the students to be more focused and co-operative during their visit. The objectives may relate to knowledge, skills and/or attitudes and they may have a specific focus or contribute to a more complex outcome.
It is very important to organise the students into groups before they visit the Museum. Student groups are a useful teaching strategy to:
We recommend five students or less per group. Each student can then be given responsibility for one or more of the following roles:
Research has shown that students who are unaccustomed to visiting museums spend less time on task because they are unfamiliar with the setting. For younger students, or those who have never been to a museum, it is important to consider the following issues in preparation for their visit.
The Australian Museum is Australia's oldest museum. It was established in 1827 to preserve and display 'rare and curious specimens' of Australia's natural history. The oldest part of the museum was built in 1846 and now houses the Skeletons exhibition.
The Museum has changed a lot. Many new buildings have been added and now there is a closer focus on visitor needs, interests and learning. Now, the Museum also provides:
Before the students visit the Museum, it is important that they are familiar with the Museum's layout and facilities. Research has shown that knowing the nature and exact location of facilities ensures that students will have a more informed and relaxed day. To ensure that everyone on the excursion is familiar with the Museum's layout, provide students and accompanying adults with a copy of the Museum guide map. You could also ask the students to:
Research has shown that when students know their excursion timetable, they feel more comfortable in the Museum's unfamiliar setting and spend more time on task. Therefore, before your excursion, you should discuss with the students exactly what they will be doing, including:
We recommend that an excursion timetable be drawn up as an activity before you visit. The timetable below is provided as an example only. Ensure that all students and accompanying adults have a copy of the timetable.
Name(s):
|
Time |
What we'll be doing |
Where |
|---|---|---|
|
leave school (by bus/train) |
||
|
arrive at the Museum |
College Street, Sydney |
|
|
cloak bags, use toilets |
Museum's Atrium and/or Education Centre on Level G |
|
|
see Skeletons exhibition |
Level G |
|
|
see Biodiversity exhibition |
Level 2 |
|
|
lunch break |
Hyde Park or inside the Museum if raining |
|
|
see |
Level ... |
|
|
gather to return to school |
Museum's Atrium on Level G |
|
|
arrive back at school |
When you arrive, a Museum staff member will be on hand to welcome you. They will:
Please ask a Museum staff member if there is anything else that you would like assistance with.
Aim to arrive approximately 10 minutes early so that you and the students have time for these preliminaries and to use the toilets if necessary, before commencing your booked Museum activities.
Teachers and accompanying adults are asked to stay with their groups at all times. It is the responsibility of these adults to monitor their students while at the Museum. To encourage adequate student supervision, the Museum allows supervising adults free entry as follows:
One adult supervisor is admitted free for every:
Additional adults: $8 each
Some special exhibitions and programs have a higher entry charge for additional adults and/or an entry charge payable by all adults.
School groups are asked to use the stairs when moving from one level to the next, as the lifts are quite small. Please remember there are other visitors in the Museum, such as other schools, families and tourists and we ask that students please keep noise levels down and consider the impact of their behaviour on other Museum visitors.
We recommend that students eat their lunch in Hyde Park (just across the road). Re-entry to the Museum is free. During wet weather, special lunch areas within the Museum can be arranged - just check with the Museum staff member who greets you when you first arrive.
The Museum Diner is located near the College Street entrance on Level G and serves hot and cold food.
When your group first enters an exhibition allow time for an initial orientation period by allowing students a preliminary exploration of the whole exhibition. Later, when it is time to complete their set tasks, the students will be less distracted if they have already seen the displays.
While the students are completing their investigations or activities, teachers are encouraged to:
When you return to the classroom, you could:
It is important that students reflect on and use the knowledge and understandings they have gained during their Museum visit and relate them to the unit of work they have been studying. Some options for consolidating student learning are to have students:
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