Australian+National+Museum

Click Here for Kathleen, Becky and Malika's visit to the National Museum of Australia

__**Temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Australia**__

__ Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route __

This exhibition tells the story of Canning Stock Route’s impact on Aboriginal people and the importance of the Country that surrounds it. The exhibition is a series of multi media works by artists from the surrounding country. The exhibition states it is a story of contact, conflict and survival, of exodus and return, seen through Aboriginal eyes, and interpreted through their voices, art and new media. The National Museum of Australia is currently showing this exhibition from the 29 July till 26 January 2011. Although this exhibition may not be showing when you are teaching it can give you an idea on how to navigate through a an exhibition and the opportunities that are available to schools through temporary exhibitions at the National Museum of Australia. We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, the stories and paintings were informative and interesting. Our favourite part of the exhibition was the interactive computer which showed the Canning Stock Route and had interactive links to videos and stories.

__ School excursion information __

The National Museum of Australia is offering a number of school programs, two being directly linked with the exhibition, which are facilitated by education staff, and include exploration of the exhibition and opportunities to handle and investigate objects. The programs link with and support history, SOSE, Indigenous studies, visual arts, literacy, civics and citizenship and science learning experiences and curricula. The two programs with this exhibition are: ** Yiwarra Kuju – A Living Culture ** Students will explore the impact of the Canning Stock Route on the Indigenous people and their culture. ** Year levels: ** 4-10 ** Group size: ** 30 students (can run two programs concurrently) ** Availability: ** 2 August to 17 December 2010 ** Duration: ** 2 hours ** Cost: ** $5 per student

** Yiwarra Kuju – Painting our Stories ** Students will explore stories of the Canning Stock Route and respond by creating their own paintings. ** Year levels: ** 3-6 ** Group size: ** 30 students (can run two programs concurrently) ** Availability: ** Mondays in August, Fridays in November 2010 ** Duration: ** 2 hours (or for two concurrent groups, 2.5 hours) ** Cost: $ ** 5 per student

**__ Education resource __** The National Museum of Australia offers an education kit on its website to compliment the exhibition. The education kit includes an introduction aimed principally at teachers and older students, a map, enquiry activities and artist sheets. **[] **
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The focus for our visit to the museum was European Settlement in Australia. We met up with an Education Officer from the museum, who very kindly showed us around two galleries that focused on Indigenous Australians lives before and after settlement. The main objective for these galleries and the excursion is to draw parrallels between Indigenous culture and European culture at the time of settlement, as well as in present day society. These parrellels are primarily drawn through comparisons that students can understand, such as the similiar use of material culture such as bags, tools and hunting, by using available resources.
 * Early Contact: Visit to the museum by Anna-May and Nerilee.**
 * Years 3-6.**
 * Maximum group size: 30**
 * Duration: 75 minutes.**
 * $4 per student.**

Angela Casey (the education officer that showed us around) also explained the value of having a guided tour for students rather than taking them around yourself.With these tours, opportunities for what students can experience is increased. On school tours, students have the opportunity to do a lot of learning by touching, which is not available to such an extent for the general public.

Another aspect of the gallery that we found was ideal for primary aged students was the "video freeze" section. This section of the gallery allows students to sit and watch a video and identify the things they have just learnt about. This is ideal because students have the opportunity to reflect on their learning, and it assists them to retain the information.

We found the galleries to be very interesting and insightful, as well as being interactive. The Museum is an ideal venue for a variety of SoSE excursions.

Jess Pincott, Christina Farrugia and Julie Freak We also went to the National Mueseum, and focused on the Canning Stock Route exhibition. Whilst we were there 3 preschool classes were being shown around the exhibit by a Museum Education Officer. We joined their tour for a while and found it to be highly relevent to Preschool aged children. Focus was placed on hands on exploration and children were asked to interpret works. Most of the children seemed thouroughly engaged and were asking lots of questions. It was obvious that the children had learnt about Indigenous culture prior to attending and we feel that this was integral to their understanding and engagement.

We also investigated other Education Programs and found that the Museum has Education Programs revolving around the topics of Civics and Citizinship P - Yr 4 Then and now K- Yr 4 Icons, Symbols and Legends Yr 5 - Yr 12 Australia's Migration Stories, Exploring Australian History, Creating a Nation, Exploring Australian Identities and Meet the People

Indigenous Australia P - Yr 2 Aboriginal Australia Yr 3 - Yr 4 Tools of the Land Yr 3 - Yr 6 Early Contact Yr 5 - Yr 12 A Living Culture

Australian Environment Yr 5 - Yr 12 Sustaining our Environment, EnviroQuiz

Understanding the Museum <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">K - Yr 4 Transport at the Museum <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yr 3 - Yr 8 Canberra's History Site Study <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yr 7 - Yr 12 Investigating Sources <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yr 9 - Yr 12 Interpreting the Museum <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All year levels - Talking points and teacher guided

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All of the programs are available at a cost of $5 or less per student, and many include appropriate resources and follow up classroom activities. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Further information on all of these programs can be found in the 'Education Programs for School Students' brochure or on the website. ||

**Michaela Dalgleish**
====I just wanted to add to this page. I too went to the NMA and found the trip to be very worthwhile. Since the groups above have detailed the educational options I thought I would focus on the links to SOSE and The Arts.====

====The National Museum provides a plethora of educational ideas activities. The exhibition I focused on was the Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route. This exhibition, among many things, is a celebration of Indigenous peoples who called the Canning Stock Route home and lived through the times where by the route was used to drove cattle from Western Australia up to the Northern Territory and back.====

====My favourite quote is found on the first webpage of the National Museum Website and it reads “// We wanna tell you fellas 'bout things been happening in the past that hasn't been recorded, what old people had in their head. No pencil and paper. The white man history has been told and it's today in the book. But our history is not there properly. We've got to tell 'em through our paintings.” // Clifford Brooks, Wiluna, 2007. This quote highlights to me the need to acknowledge the Indigenous past and to allow their stories to be told. This exhibition is the first step in doing so and I would be more than willing to incorporate its teachings into my future curriculum. ====

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I found this exhibition to be extremely informative and interesting. I was overwhelmed by the potential activities that could stem from such an exhibition and how these could provide students with quality learning experiences. I made many connections to The Arts and SOSE essential learning areas and have included examples below of possible resources to use in the classroom. I would love to explore these paintings with students and use them to encourage students to create their own story using the techniques employed below. =====

The highlight for me was the interactive, virtual table where by visitors are encouraged to access information, play games, manipulate objects and learn about Indigenous Australians. The creation of this table was mind blowing and I hope that the creators can turn make the information available to be used on the web so that those who have access to a smartboard can take full advantage of the education possibiliti es.

I encourage you all to get out and have a look at this exhibition. It will be worth your while I promise. :-)

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<span style="line-height: 21.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">**__<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">National Museum of Australia __** <span style="line-height: 21.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Age Group: **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4, 5, 6. I would take this age group so that there was more of an appreciation for the artwork itself. This way I can aim to achieve both SOSE and The Arts outcomes in my unit of work.

**<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">SOSE Outcomes: SOSE ELA 21: Understands about Australia and Australians. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Other ELAS/Outcomes: **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">//**English ELA 11:**// Critically interprets and creates text. //**Languages ELA 15:**// Communicates with intercultural understanding. //**The Arts ELA 7:**// Creates, presents and appreciates art works.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Justification: **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I think it could fit within any part of the SOSE inquiry process however I would use it as the Finding Out stage. I would immerse the students in the experience and allow them to become active agents in their learning. Te amount of opportunities presented by an exhibition like this is amazing. I would love to see how students could really take the content, process and products from this exhibition, internalize it and then work at demonstrating this new learning to the class.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Strategies: **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I would use the quality teaching approach that encourages students to think independently and use higher order thinking skills. I believe this exhibition lends itself to the quality teaching model by addressing Intellectual Quality, Quality Learning Environment and Significance.

I would focus the attention on questioning for answers.
 * **Application questions** that start with: demonstrate, use, give example, how would and consider.
 * **Analysis questions** that start with: categorise, classify, explain and identify.
 * **Evaluation questions** that start with: conclude, argue, evaluate, support, defend and debate.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Useful information ****<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">for teachers: **<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There are many indoor and outdoor areas for meal breaks. Ample bathrooms within close proximity and easy location for transport to and from schools. The trip would easily take an entire school day and I would recommend booking a guide and taking some helpers as there are many areas that students could wander if unattended.