Lindow Man: Archaeology in Education

On 14th September 2010, Byran Sitch – our Curator of Archaeology – and I delivered a workshop at the Archaeology in Education conference in Liverpool organised by the Council for British Archaeology. Our workshop was focused on the Secondary session called Lindow Man: The Verdict, which was a huge success in 2008-09 during the Lindow Man: a Bog Body Mystery exhibition. If you can’t remember it, or were unlucky enough to miss the exhibition, see the University Museums Group case study which provides a quick overview.

Image, Lindow Man: The Verdict, Teacher resource cover

During the workshop for the conference, Bryan and I actually ran the Lindow Man: The Verdict workshop for attendees, and I’m glad to say that there is still a lot of enthusiasm for the topic and especially the distinct style of the court room drama workshop. It’s been a while since the workshop was delivered, and I’d forgotten how much fun it is and how involved you can get in the mystery of Lindow Man and his death.

The reason for all this reminiscing is to highlight the brand new Teacher’s Resource which will provide any teacher with the necessary information to the run the very popular Lindow Man: The Verdict session within the classroom. For those who aren’t familiar with the session, the basic principle is that students have to argue three differing cases as to the cause of Lindow Man’s death and prove their case using evidence in a court-room: judged by their own peers. All  three teams are provided with the same evidence – the evidence uncovered during the original excavation and examination of Lindow Man – but each team must interpret and question the evidence differently in order to make their case the most logical choice for the judges!

Everything required to run the session is provided in the Teacher Resource pack, but can equally be supplemented with additional materials. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get students to think independently, use evidence based research to draw conclusions and allow them to question the way evidence is interpreted and presented. In addition they also feel ownership over the case of Lindow Man and therefore feel that they are making an impact on the exploration of historical, and local, history.

To download the Lindow Man: Teacher Resource, just click here!

Lindow Man: A Learning Legacy

I am currently in the midst of preparing a paper for a conference that the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) is holding in Manchester in September called ‘Objects – What matters? Technology, value and social change’.

A number of colleagues and I have been accepted to present a panel presentation on “Telling Objects: Lindow Man at the Manchester Museum”. Bryan Sitch, Head of Human Cultures, will be discussing our recent Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery exhibition in reference to postmodernism, while Pete Brown, our Head of Learning and Interpretation, will be exploring how the display provoked a debate among staff and public alike.

Image, Visiting the Lindow Man Exhibition

However, Neil and I will be representing The Learning Team during the presentation – looking at how the programming of events across Primary, Secondary and Post-16 learning allowed pupils to engage with the collection, gain knowledge about Lindow Man and even form an understanding of what constitutes a’ museum’.

Unfortunately, Neil got so excited about this opportunity for us to advocate our learning programmes he did not realise that the CRESC conference clashed with his own wedding (!) so Helena has kindly agreed to step in and talk about the `Museum of Me’ project on his behalf.

As for me – I’ll be inciting awe and wonder by showing how the two Lindow Man inspired programmes in the Secondary offer achieved their aims and allowed students to practically apply their skills and knowledge whilst having lots of fun! I think some of their own comments demonstrate this more than anything:

*The support and the teaching was just brilliant. I hope to come again

*By the end it was fun and quite hard but it gave us more historical knowledge

*At the beginning I had a basic understanding and at the end I had an in-depth understanding

*By the end I felt really good, I had never heard of Lindow Man and I felt I left with loads of knowledge

*By the end I was very happy and my head is filled with facts. I hope I remember them as I may need them again. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed myself!

The teachers were just as enthusiastic and complimentary in their feedback also:

*It brought the bog body debate alive and developed communication

*I was amazed to see such an organised session with obviously lots of thought put into it. No half measures at all! It was excellent – seamless, inspiring – spot on!

*I was amazed to see the resources and artefacts that the museum has and surprised that a session on a hot Friday afternoon was so successful

*Lots of information which was pitched at a simple level so the students understood. The pace of activities was well managed and there were lots of practical activities to be involved with.

*At the beginning it seemed perhaps a little above the pupils level but in fact the students grasped it well and enjoyed it

Preparing the presentation has reminded me just how overwhelmingly successful the programming for Lindow Man was, and how much we can achieve when we collaborate with colleagues and teachers well. The fact that over 1200 students participated in the Secondary and Post-16 programming for Lindow Man workshops I think demonstrates that it was a popular and worthwhile not only for students and teachers but also for us at the museum.

While Lindow Man himself has left us, I hope that the learning legacy his influence left behind can continue and that the inspiration and innovation that was so evident as a result of these programmes will find its way into everything we do in the future.

Shout it out from the rooftops!

Well, maybe not the rooftops, but don’t you sometimes think it’s good to be able to tell other people about the good stuff?

The Manchester Museum is, as you may know, a part of the University of Manchester. What you might not know (and I certainly didn’t until recently) is that there are a surprising number of museums and galleries connected to universities around the country.

And, being birds of a feather, so to speak, they tend to enjoy the chance to flock together. In fact, there is a Universities Museum Group (UMG)… This is not a case of trying to be snooty, stand-offish or otherwise separate ourselves from other museums and galleries around the country. It’s quite simply the case that university museums and galleries are (in part) differently funded because of their university collections and generally also have a particular responsibility to be involved in and support research of all kinds.

Why am I telling you all this?

Well, recently, representatives from the UMG met in Manchester to share news of their projects and developments. Amongst the grand building redesigns and virtual learning environments was yours truly flying the flag for our very own learning programmes. In particular, the wonderful TSI: Time Scene Investigation project which I co-ordinated earlier in the year.

Image, TSI: Time Scene Investigation

My presentation, whilst giving background information, focused mainly on photos, scans of drawings and writing from notebooks and even sounds snippets from the children involved.  I think it was this last aspect that really spoke to the audience – giving the children a voice in that room really brought the project back to life and brought back for me just how much fun and how amazing our work with St James’ school really was.

Image, St James' Primary School, Rusholme

Museums and glitz!

Image, Some of the Lindow Man marketing

On Wednesday13th May I was joined by my Manchester Museum colleagues Corinne and Ros from our Marketing Team at the National Museums and Heritage Awards Ceremony in London.  Held just next to Westminster Abbey it was an evening of the sequins, black ties and good humour!  We were up for two separate awards: for ‘Marketing’ and the ‘Education Initiative’, both for work we had done for the exhibition ‘Lindow Man – A Bog Body Mystery’.  Although we didn’t win we were proud to be on the shortlist and enjoyed the buzz of being on the same table as one of the winners!

It was a chance for all of us to chat to colleagues in the sector and see the amazing work being done in museums and heritage all over the country. As we all piled into the taxi back to the hotel we agreed that there was always next years awards to pitch for…

Cat, Lauren and Neil were not able to come and we really missed you, as it was such a great joint effort! Thanks too to all the children, students, teachers and parents who participated in the education projects – our evening at the awards would not have been possible without your great energy, enthusiasm and creativity.

The News is in on Lindow Man!

Image, Work from Breeze Hill pupils

Back in February I received a lovely letter from Pat Percuich, Assistant Head of Breeze Hill High School. Pat brought two groups of Yr7 students to take part in our Lindow Man: The Verdict school session earlier in the year to improve their discursive and persuasive writing talents. It also appears to have infused their imagination as Pat sent me some examples of the magazine articles which resulted from the workshop here at the museum.

These were wonderfully presented with many aspects of the Lindow Man: The Verdict session carefully revealed in several reports on the mysterious crime in a number of fictional newspapers. I could not resist showing these well-written pieces to our Head of Human Cultures, Bryan Sitch, who writes our Lindow Man blog, and he was delighted by the effort and detail that was put into them: so much so he has dedicated an entry to them!

I want to thank Pat and her wonderful cohort of students who took part in the workshop. It’s great to see the fun we had in the courtroom drama translated onto paper.

Image, Work from Breezehill pupils

Image, Work from Breezehill pupils

Image, Work from Breezehill pupils

Image, Some of the work from Breeze Hill pupils

Radcliffe Riverside Visit to The Manchester Museum

I was just sent a link to the Radcliffe Riverside School website where they have recent written a news piece on their visit to The Manchester Museum to take part in Lindow Man: The Verdict.  Cat and I had a great time with these students and its really pleasing to see that they did too.

You can read this article and see some images here and if you are interested in bringing a school group, we have very few sessions left but you can see current availability here.

Final dates for Lindow Man: The Verdict

Image, Students at a Lindow Man; The Verdict workshop

Just a quick plug for anyone thinking of bringing a school group to see our AWARD WINNING, check out the Lindow Man blog for more info, Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery before it closes on April 19th.

We have a few Lindow Man: The Verdict workshops left before the exhibition leaves us on the following dates:
Tuesday 17th March
Friday 20th March
Tuesday 31st March
Thursday 2nd April (am session)
Friday 3rd April

If you are interested in booking one of these sessions, please email or call on 0161 306 1765

Learning & Lindow Man

Image, Visitors to the Lindow Man Exhibition

Lindow Man – A Bog Body Mystery is not an easy exhibition for children, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t learn anything from it. It’s not about the Iron Age – it was never intended to be – it’s about life and death, archaeology and the meaning of evidence and above all it’s about people: what makes us human and how we relate to each other.

There is a great deal of research showing that we all learn by building on what we already know, either by merging new knowledge with our existing understanding or by modifying what we already know to fit in with new experiences. This is what Jean Piaget in the 1920s called assimilation and accommodation, and it is still relevant today. There is also a lot of evidence to suggest that emotion is a key component in the learning process.

Image, The bittern in the Lindow Man exhibition

With this in mind, I think it makes sense to start with what the children already know or recognise, and what matters to them. If the children choose the crow, for example: they may have seen one on the school roof, but here in the exhibition they can take a much closer look and add to their knowledge and understanding. They’ll probably have never seen a Bittern, but they will recognise it as a bird and may be curious about its habitat and behaviour etc.

The children can do this with any part of the exhibition, including Lindow man himself. They will all have some experience of death, even if it is just on TV or in the papers. For some, it will be immediate and personal – a pet or family member may have passed away – others may only have only have come across death in ‘shoot-em-up’ video games, but all of them will be able to engage with the exhibition in relation to their own experience and make sense of it in their own way.

In current museum learning research this approach is referred to as free choice learning and personal meaning mapping, and the outcomes are personalized and unique to each pupil rather than common to the group and consistent. In other words, we are not setting out to teach 10 facts about Lindow Man and measure whether we are successful or not. The pupils may well learn 10 facts about Lindow Man, but in the museum setting this is not nearly as valuable to the children as the free choice learning process I have described.

Related Learning Team posts:

• TSI: Time Scene Investigation
  
• TSI: Time Scene Investigation (Part 2)
  
• TSI Part 3 (or this is where things *really* took off!)
  
• TSI Part 4 – The Museum of Me
  
• Helena’s visit to the Museum of Me
• My visit to the Museum of Me
  

The Future of “Lindow Man: The Verdict” Schools Session

Since the opening of our Lindow Man: a Bog Body Mystery exhibition in April 2008 Secondary Learning have been running our connected workshop entitled `Lindow Man: The Verdict’. This has been a hugely popular session has run  almost every week of term with various schools taking part. The courtroom drama aspect of the mystery surrounding the death of Lindow Man has captured many imaginations, including the staff here at The Manchester Museum, some of whom have volunteered their time to play the part of `Head Judge’.

Sadly, Lindow Man has to leave us in April 2009. While the session is not entirely dependent on the exhibition, it does mean that we will lose the central figure of our controversial case. Because of the popularity of the session we don’t want to lose the highly informative and yet enjoyable nature surrounding the mystery surrounding this Iron Age man. We have decided to continue running the session at the Museum through the summer term, hopefully utilising Stephen Vaughn’s enigmatic photography of Lindow Moss (the crime scene) to support the workshop.

After that, who knows? We may work up the contents into a teacher’s resource pack so that the workshop can be simulated in school, or we may even offer it as an Outreach session facilitated by our subject specialists (curators) from the Museum. Watch this space to find out more!

Opportunities for Teacher CPD

Image, Work from a recent CPD day

Our first artist-led CPD for primary teachers ‘Making Art, Making Stories’ was held at The Manchester Museum on October 17th.  Primary teachers from around Greater Manchester participated in a full day to find ways of engaging with archaeology collections (we focussed on Lindow Man, A Bog Body Mystery – our current exhibition) and collections through practical activities. Artists Daksha Patel and Paul Pickford led the highly enjoyable session to develop ideas about time, degeneration, archaeology and collecting through a series of activities that included making plasticine prints and simple pop up books.

Comments ranged from:

‘Most useful introduction to the Museum, particularly the practical activities’
to ‘ a good debate and an enjoyable day’

If you want to attend a repeat session of ‘Making Stories, Making Art’ on Friday January 23^rd, places are still available, get in touch with our bookings coordinator on 0161 275 2630. Some help with supply cover may be available and the course is free.  Other opportunities for teachers can be seen here.