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archaeology
is a source of information about the past; our own past, “the here and then” so to say. Who do we want to have been? And how do we “know” that? Archaeology provides us with information about |
| the daily life of the past, of ordinary people, but as well about the very high and very low class people. It is a kind of “monkey watching” and as well: “how did people live back then without electricity, without all the comforts we now have? Were they smarter because they were more inventive with the simple means they had? Or were people back then more backward because they hadn’t invented yet all those things we now ...?” |
| “Who do we want to have been” also counts for the public. We can understand each other better if we know our own backgrounds, also those of our parents and ancestors. Of course we live in the present and not in the past. We can’t relive the past at all, but we can learn from it. Often this is even fun, both for the young and old. The public is very often quite interested, because the past is something personal, something very near. And a presentation with a low threshold is in that case an excellent means to bring the past closer by. |
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| ARTICLES: EDUCATION AT THE DUTCH OPENLUCHTMUSEUM, ARNHEM |
| Posted 14 02 2010 by Roeland Paardekooper |
VAEE is the Dutch Association for archaeological experiments and education. http://www.vaee.nl. They count about 230 members between which are most organisations working with these subjects as well as a large number of individuals.
January 10, 2010, the annual general meeting took place in the “Nederlands Openluchtmuseum”, the national Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem, http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl. It was the last week of their “Winter Fair” and everything was in snow. We had some quality time with educator Maurits van Ravestein. The special position of such a large open air museum both has its strengths and its weaknesses.
The museum has over 400,000 visitors of which less than 10% are school groups booking a programme. Another 2.5% is estimated to come by group but not booking a programme, but this used to be much more: teachers running their own thing in the museum in-between the other tourist visitors. Obviously, May & June are the most busy months, but 700 pupils on one day is not shocking for those who are used to for example Archeon. In Alphen the total visitor number is lower, but the percentage of school groups higher – actually even at the Historisch OpenluchtMuseum Eindhoven they usually have more organised school groups than at Arnhem. Schools need to offer 1 adult per every 8 pupils. Programs vary from very intensive down to a simple receiving the group, letting them do something on their own and making a conclusion. The adults from school need to guard the process.
Asked what do teachers choose instead of the Openluchtmuseum, what is the competition, there was no clear answer. Obviously, a large zoo is just around the corner, but so are many other things. The Unique Selling Points of ‘Arnhem’ are obvious. An important thing is that schools don’t travel 2 hours or so. |
| An example of a programme is the “bread programme”. It has 8 different stations and with 8 groups running it in different order it can be executed by 120 pupils in one go. By the end of it, they have to glue 8 stickers in the right order to see if they understood the whole process. The experience is “authentic”, but the materials used are not. The only programme for the age 12+ is focussed at the youngest pupils of VMBO (preparatory middle-level vocational education), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMBO. |
| The education staff counts 7 group leaders (but not 7 Full Time Equivalents), 2 developers for new programmes and about 25 people which can be called to run a programme. All these people must be flexible and independent and have problem-solving qualities. There are detailed scripts for each programme. The development of a programme takes about 2-3 years, including try out, feedback and changes. Costs for developing might be as much as about 20,000 Euro. The full education team has joint sessions about 3 times a year. |
| The education programmes are embedded in a series of lessons which can be given before and after the visit. Van Ravestein is not afraid, with only the paper lessons in hand, school groups will not come anymore: the Openluchtmuseum offers an unique experience which has a major added learning value to the lessons at school. |
| The museum spends much time in maintaining relations with regional or municipal support points for culture education and with the culture coordinators of every school. |
The education department also offers more informal education. Guided tours for tourists are being executed by the “friends of association” of the Openluchtmuseum.
One attempts to work with themed years in education, the way it is offered to tourists in weekends and school holidays. The programmes for this group last 30 minutes maximum. With the mixed character (age, sex, backgrounds) of tourists in general, it is a challenge to develop programmes where as many different visitors can take part in. One could for example give different tasks and force them to cooperate. A museum visit, also for family visits is “quality time” so one should try not to split for example children from adults. This offers serious education challenges. And then we did not even discuss the international visitors, which frequent the Openluchtmuseum... |
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