University
Teaching While the exhibitions offer many
opportunities for teaching and learning, Marischal Museum contributes
to teaching in a number of subject areas, including Cultural History,
History of Art, Anthropology, Women's Studies and Archaeology. This can
involve studies of exhibition theory and techniques, principles of conservation,
visitor research and approaches to interpretation as well as the ways
the objects were made and used by different people.
We
have developed object handling workshops on topics such as the Picts,
local prehistory, Georgians and Jacobites, Inuit, Ancient Egypt and
Romans. While primarily designed for school groups, they are equally
suitable for student and adult groups. Ask for the information pack
outlining these workshops and a booklet Learning with Objects, both
free from the Museum.
To enrich the learning
experiences offered by direct contact with objects and displays, the
museum is currently creating complementary digital resources. While
these are initially being designed for the University of Aberdeen, we
are working to ensure that they will also be used elsewhere. Current
projects include Gendering Violence, LEMUR
and material for 2nd year BEd (Primary) students.
Gendering
Violence
With funding from the the University of Aberdeen's Alumni Annual Fund,
Marischal Museum worked with the staff of Women's
Studies to create on-line resources for a course on Gendering Violence
(WS2001). Students on this level 2 course now have access to images
and supporting information about more than 100 images of objects in
the museum's collection. These include a shoe worn by Chinese lady with
bound feet, a set of branks (scold's bridle) from Dunnottar, a lip plug
from Tchad and the face guard from a samurai's armour. Students work
with these images during the course, learning more about the inter-relationships
of gender and violence, while at the same time developing skills of
independent learning that will be of life-long value.
LEMUR The LEMUR project
(LEarning with MUseum Resources), is based in Marischal Museum and is
a partnership between academic staff from Physics, History of Art, Cultural
History and History and Philosophy of Science with IT specialists and
museum curators. At the heart of the project is the creation of a digital
collection drawn from the University of Aberdeen's historic and scientific
collections for use in undergraduate teaching in Aberdeen and elsewhere.
Uses of the database will include a virtual version of Marischal Museum
and a range of course tools. The LEMUR project will run for three years,
from 2000 - 2003. It is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC) to contribute to the Distributed National Electronic Resource.
BEd
(Primary) 2
One of the tasks for 2nd year students on the BEd (Primary) course in
Northern College, Aberdeen involves creating activities for school pupils
studying 'The Victorians'. Students are expected to attend a workshop
in the museum to learn about the activities offered to primary school
classes. This is complemented by an exercise in which they devise a
worksheet that will direct pupils to use digital museum resources as
the stimulus for artwork or imaginative writing.
University
Teaching 
Gendering
Violence