Teaching on Site

Seventeenth-century Merchants' Houses

The visit of a group of six-year-old children to two seventeenth-century merchants' houses in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. Their teacher had already visited the site and planned how the children should prepare in school for their outing, what they should do during the visit, and the follow-up work they could do afterwards. Beforehand, they were encouraged to compare houses from past centuries with those they were used to themselves, and to develop skills of observation which would be useful on the day. A local museum education service provided relevant objects which they could handle and familiarize themselves with in the classroom. Their work in the medieval houses built on the comparisons the children had been making between old and new, but the historic buildings and the variety of objects displayed in them also helped them to imagine what life might have been like in the past. The class worked in three small groups on observation, artwork and creating stories - work which was shared in the whole class back at school, in discussion, writing, art and technology lessons, the class teacher showing how this was a useful progression from the visit itself. This video will be useful for teachers wishing to investigate the possibility of using the historic environment for their teaching.

This program is particularly suitable for teacher training.

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