What To Do at a Museum
Most museums that cater for school groups will offer a led session. Contact the museum to see what is available. Most museums will want to tailor sessions to suit the needs of your group or, given enough notice, they may be able to prepare a new session or resource, so don't be afraid to ask.
However it may be that you wish to lead the visit on your own or to combine a museum-led session with a session led by yourself. If you wish to take the pupils around a museum yourself it is important that you:
- discuss with the museum curator or educator what you would like to do
- obtain any information which the museum can give you about their collections and facilities
- visit the museum to see where things are, plan your route and timings, devise activity sheets or trail guides if necessary.
When the pupils visit:
- report to the museum desk with details of your school, age group and numbers of pupils/adults
- make sure that the pupils are in manageable groups with sufficient adult support
- ensure that pupils have an understanding of the purpose of their visit
- ensure that you ask a range of questions of the pupils, e.g., open and closed, those which encourage thinking and problem solving as well as fact finding
- depending on the age of the pupils you might want to offer a menu of activity/choice of routes so that they have some control
- encourage the pupils to work together
- allow them enough time to explore as well as to focus on set tasks
- encourage them to record their visit in a variety of ways. Students can draw as well as write and take photographs (if appropriate check with the museum) or tape their responses
- write down any questions which can't be answered on site to be researched back at school (adult helpers can do this).