Taking the ‘Wow’ to Schools

Librarian’s view:

No two school’s library services are the same but Creative Learning Services (CLS) provides something unique to the schools of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. In addition to books and resources loan, they also offer a wide range of pupil outreach sessions which includes object based, curriculum linked, museum learning on a wide range of topics using artefacts from the Leicestershire County Council Collections. 

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Mary Sibson, Creative Learning Officer for CLS has 10 years’ experience of teaching in mainstream and special schools and 11 years working within museum learning. She is passionate about object based, hands on multi- sensory learning and access to learning for all.

Despite 90% of school teachers agreeing that every child should visit a museum on a school trip before leaving primary school, recent research (Jan – March 2025) conducted by GEM (Group for Education in Museums) and Verian (for Arts Council England) found that, although 52% of children and young people have visited museums in the last year, there are still barriers to access, including money (38%) and time (36%), as well as regional disparities, which could limit the opportunities for some children and young people to learn and develop. Arts Council concludes that a pupil’s socio-economic background and their region can have a considerable effect on their chances of visiting a museum or accessing any sort of museum learning.  

Additional research by Museums + Heritage suggests 36% of UK teachers reported fewer museum visits post-pandemic and a survey by ReWork Consulting stated that, logistically, a key obstacle is the rising cost of transport (buses, trains), making even free-entry museums inaccessible.

It is becoming apparent that these barriers to heritage and culture are hindering the development of pupil’s ‘Cultural Capital’ (Ofsted 2019) providing a rich and varied curriculum that ‘builds on children’s experiences and cultures introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’ Some pupils will have access to Cultural Capital via circumstance, upbringing, parental input etc, but many will not. 

Although nothing can replace the experience of visiting a historic site or the excitement of going on a school trip, Creative Learning Services Outreach Museum Learning Offer is going a long way to ensure that pupils are not missing out on vital access to historical artefacts and expert knowledge that support the requirements of the National Curriculum and teachers within schools. 

So why use object based learning in the classroom? Can’t we just tell them what they need to know? 

I always like to coin the phrase that we are in the business of ‘lighting lamps’ rather than ‘filling vessels’ in our approach to delivering our sessions.  

Let me take you back to your school days? Would you recall any of the dates that you diligently copied off the board for the Roman conquest of Britain, or would you remember trying on the Legionaries Segmentata armour and helmet and someone handing you a sword? Or perhaps you can recall the ‘wow’ moment when you were allowed to hold a palaeolithic axe that was 400,000 years old!

Consider for a moment, the variety of learning styles that will exist within a class cohort and the ever increasing number of these pupils that have been highlighted as having a Special Educational Need or Disability. Why is the measure of what you have learnt ultimately decided by what you can recall and write down? This is where the magic of object based learning happens! The CLS objects and artefacts provide a direct link with the past and give pupils an active learning experience through facilitated enquiry provided by an expert team of workshop leaders who deliver the sessions. 

Objects are absent people. They can tell us about themselves, about the people who used or made them and about the past and change. They can be used to develop skills such as investigation, observation, questioning, prediction, drawing conclusions based on evidence, evaluation, historical understanding, forming an opinion, speaking and listening and much more. A concrete experience that encourages pupils to learn through creative discussion and interaction with their peers and teachers and provides access to learning in a multi- sensory way.  

‘Objects can become passageways into history. They can connect a moment in time, a person’s life or a set of values and beliefs’ – GEM 

Handling something that is old really does elicit those ‘wow’ moments, but using replicas is also invaluable where the real items would not have survived or would be too rare and precious to use. For example, issues of weight, scale or texture that would be difficult to imagine from a white board image can be explored with the handling of any object, genuine or replica. 

The reaction of pupils who struggle to engage with learning in a classroom setting is a source of great satisfaction in the work that we do and their reactions are often both surprising and heart-warming. Take a minute to observe Nabil’s enthusiastic feedback above of his moment wearing a Medieval Knights gauntlet and brandishing a Victorian toasting fork! (don’t worry, we do reveal what our mystery objects are at the end!). And Alfie’s relief at getting him out of ‘doing boring learning’ and his irritation as being asked to record on paper what he had learnt!

To conclude, if this is something you could facilitate in your setting or service, consider using objects instead of words to do the talking and wait for the first ‘wow’ to happen!

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