Who's Who? Session Plan

Session Plan
A 1½ hour programme for up to two classes led by a facilitator followed by free time in the museum.
Suitable for KS2 children
1:10 adult:pupil ratio requested

Information about the organisation of the visit
The visit is split up into two parts. One is the Who's Who? session which is a 1 ½ hour long session led by a museum facilitator. The other part is free time in the museum which is led by the school. Between one session and the next you will have the use of our lunchroom.

Who's Who? (facilitated by museum staff)
1½ hour long session for one class at a time

Session Objectives

• To give pupils the opportunity to use a range of resources - objects, photographs, sounds, smells - to explore clues and deduce which character in Milestones they relate to.
• To encourage pupils to consider the differences in people's lives from across the Victorian social spectrum.
• For pupils to have the opportunity to handle objects from the Victorian period.

Introduction
Pupils are introduced to types of evidence and what they can tell us. What clues are there that historians can use to find out about the past? We will be thinking about clues related directly to people so we will look at some examples of images of people, discussing what the images tell us, or what we think they tell us. Looking at photos of models of people (mannequins) in Milestones, pupils will discuss the use of mannequins and what they tell visitors.

Activities
The class then divides into three groups and rotates around three boxes, completing an evidence sheet as a group for each box. The facilitator moves between the three groups, overseeing the session. The boxes relate to different people (mannequins) in the museum.

Each box contains at least one real Victorian object, possibly some replica objects or documents, as well as images, smells and sounds. They also have a fictitious diary page.

Having looked at the evidence in each box and recorded their findings, the groups try and choose which mannequin in Milestones owns each box and share their ideas of how they came to that conclusion.

When the class comes back together, they discuss their findings and what the most useful clues were. Were they able to come to a conclusion about which mannequin the boxes belonged to? How did they use the clues to help them decide? Did they all agree? Place an emphasis on how the clues can be interpreted in different ways so everybody's ideas are important.

If time permits, as an extension activity the pupils will return to In their groups for a final activity. They will choose another mannequin in the museum and plan an evidence box for that mannequin trying to include smells, sounds, an item of clothing, a photo, a diary extract and an object. These pieces of evidence must allow others to try and guess which mannequin the group has been working on.

Free time (led by school)
As part of your visit you will have some free time to explore the museum. For this you will need to split the children up into groups, each with an adult helper. You will need to decide how you wish to spend this free time but we have some resources on offer here at the museum which you may wish to use.

Museum trail packs
We can provide you with museum trail packs which consist of a map of Milestones, a series of photos of different parts of the museum and accompanying questions. Each adult helper can have their own pack of these cards. The aim is for the children to select a photo card and use the map to help them find the location of the image on the photo in the museum. Once they have done this, on the back of the photo card is a series of questions which the adult helper can then ask their group about that particular part of the museum. This should help to focus the groups on exploring the museum successfully. If you wish to use these packs, they will be available on arrival.

Dressing up
On the agricultural showground we have a tent containing replica infant, junior and adult sized costumes for pupils and adults to try on over their everyday clothes.

The Viaduct game
We have a large model viaduct for the children to build, promoting team work and cooperation.

Activity sheets
We have a range of activity sheets on our website to view and download which you may wish to use during your free time. We can provide you with clipboards and pencils for use during your visit.

Who's Who? - Notes for Teachers & Adult Helpers

You will be visiting Milestones - Hampshire's living history museum to support a class of pupils participating in Who's Who?, a 1½-hour programme about Victorian Britain.

Milestones is a large, modern building which houses recreated streets and buildings from the Victorian period and the 1930s. You will be visiting the Victorian area.

The teacher organising the visit will give you a timetable for the day, as well a copy of the museum's Guidelines for Education Groups.

A facilitator will meet you on arrival and you will be able to leave your coats and bags somewhere convenient and use the toilets before you begin.

The facilitator will introduce the programme to the whole class together by talking about museums, collections and historic evidence. They will explain that the pupils will be looking at clues and trying to link them to people - characters based on mannequins found in Milestones. After this introduction, the class will divide into three groups, each with an adult, and rotate around three boxes. At each box they will complete an Investigation Sheet as a group, having used the contents of the boxes to work out who the box belongs to. The facilitator will still be there, moving from group to group to support the class.

The three boxes contain a mixture of real Victorian objects, sound effects, replica smells and documents. There is a Group Leader's sheet of notes in each box to help the adults and the facilitator will be there supporting all activities.

You will be given a time at which you need to finish one activity and swap over to try the next activity.

When all three groups have explored all three boxes, the class will come back together and the facilitator will lead a discussion on what they have found out.