Victorian Investigation (Spring term 2013) - Learning: National Waterfront Museum

Duration: 3 sessions throughout the day each lasting 50 minutes.

Capacity: 2 groups of up to 30 pupils in each.

Suitable for: Key Stage 2.

Purpose: The sessions will help pupils to identify changes to people's daily lives in the in the locality the in the nineteenth century; ask and answer relevant questions about the past; use a range of sources. Pupils will be given opportunities to select, record, and organise historical information and communicate ideas, opinions and conclusions. The sessions will help pupils ask if there were significant changes in people's lives at this time and, if so, why? They will also consider what was life like for rich and for poor people, for men, women and children.

Character actor session: During this facilitated session, children will meet 'Mr Rosser', a character actor, who will tell about some of the different people he met as he carried out his role as an enumerator. Children will learn about the different backgrounds and social classes he encountered around his district of Swansea on the day of the 1851 Census. Children will discover the different types of jobs that were undertaken by rich and poor, and by men, women and children in Victorian industrial Wales. They will discover the changes that were taking place in the nineteenth century and how these changes can be seen in one area of an industrial town like Swansea.

Object handling session: During this facilitated session, children break into 6 groups to investigate primary and secondary evidence. Each group will be presented with an outline of one of the people listed in the 1851 Census. From this brief, they will have to select artefacts that might have found inside the house of that person and justify their choices. They will have to consider how and why objects provide evidence of a person's life including social class, occupation and interests. They will interrogate a wide range of objects associated with the different characters and piece together what life was like in the 19th century.

Teacher led trail: During this session, children will explore the galleries to find out more about Victorian life.

Paper bag summary: During this facilitated session, children will reflect on the visit. They will be invited to choose 5 memory tags using photos, words and materials to record their learning about the Victorians to use back in the classroom.

Relevant for: history and Framework Skills.