Out D oor L earning at an Open Air Museum

1. Out DoorLearning at an Open Air Museum What did youlearn in ”The Old Town” today?

2. Questions • How do students’ experienceoneday of schoolactivities at ”The Old Town Open Air Museum? • How aretheirexperiences to bequalifiedintoHistory Learning on location or in the classroom? • How to asses the teachers’competences in thisprocess? • From an out-doorperspective, what is specificaboutteaching in ”The Old Town Open Air Museum”?

3. Background • Via University College – Centre for Didactics – Program of Out Door Learning – Out Door Learning at ”The Old Town”. • Out Door School Project, Ministry of Education, consultancy and research • Out DoorLearning in History at the Teacher Education and as an interdisciplinarycourse • The Old Town and The Teacher Education • ”Learning Museum” a national project 2011 -2013 • Manyyears of practice • The school reform in Denmark 2014: ”The open school”andeventuallyrequirements of educationaltraining of the teachers and the teachereducation?

4. ”Old Town Open Air Museum” in Aarhus • The National Open Air Museum of Urban History and Culture, 1864, 1927, 1974 http://www.dengamleby.dk/the-old-town/ • Living Museum: Inhabitans, players – not actors • The apps • The Education Department • ”A day as children in 1864”, a 5 hour’swork-shop • The ideal of Aesthetic Learning and drama as a way to insight

5. Drama as a way to insight

9. Method of thislittlestudy • (Participant) Observation of schoolclasses 4. -8. grade • Semi-structured interviews with museum teachers/players • Exercises from 3 classes (4th grade)

10. The observations of the schoolclasses • The preparation at home: Whyarethey in ”The Old Town”? The preparation by the player: preparation for the play or for the society and people in 1864? • The transformation to children 1864: The clothes, the behavior, the status as a child, girl and boy • The work at the Merchant’sEstate: What is at stake for the students? Part of the play in 1864, part of the class, part of the museum, part of the visitors and the othervisitingschoolclasses. Hard work, no breaks, boyscomefirstect. ”Seen not heard” • The schoollesson: Disciplin, doinghymns by heart, punishment, injustice, to belateect. • The reflectionhour: What is different, what is alike, whatwasgood and bad in 1864 and today? Comparison. • The teachers’role: In the back ground or in the front?

14. Why Out Door Learning optics at a museum as ” The Old Town”? • Conceptsdeveloped by Dr. Arne Nikolaisen Jordet, The Danish researches ie. Erik Mygind, Niels Eibye Ernst, Karin Barfod and others. • ”The Learning Loop”, Home – out - home • Authenticity and historicalconsciousness, ”learningby doing”, loosening up the groups in the class, learning in teamwork, performance and confidence • Connectingknowledge to action as a variation of the textbasedlearningconnectingknowledge to reading and talking. • Out Door Learning in History: To do History in action in the localenvironments • Detextualisation as a disciplin in History?

15. Concepts of museum didactics • Prof. Olga Dysthe: the Dialoguebasedlearning at Museums of Arts • Dr. Helene Illeris and Dr. Lise Sattrup: Situationalcompetence and situationalproduction. • Is it possible to achieve an aestheticexperience and to learnhistory/ stimulate the historicalconsciousness at the same time? • Prof. Cornelius Holtorph: The time travellers at ”The Land of Legends” in Lejre at ”Asterix Time”

17. What did youlearn in The Old Town today? Differentperspectives • The teachers: Backing up or obstructing the students’ learning? An integrated part of the dailyteaching? • The players/teachers at the museum: The timetravellingand historylearning, the preparation of the classes. Priorities. • The Open Air Museum as the authentic reality or trivialisedbackdrop for learning/”Tivoli”? • The students: Openminded and curious! Ready for the experiment and action.

18. The students’ experiences • Hard work – but fun, workinglike slaves • The playerswerescolding/yelling and makingcontradictiveorders • Unfair punishment, wecould not do anything right – everythingwaswrong. • The clothes: heavy, funny, beautiful. • Hard not to talk and not to beheard • Have learntthat it washard to be a child in 1864 • More disciplin in 1864 • The worst: To clean up in the yard at the Merchant’sEstate • The best: workingtogether

19. The players/museum teachers • The schoolclassesare not alwaysprepared for the work-shop or ”The Old Town” at all, but manyareprepared. The students are generally very open for the activities and veryinterested. • The students whoarephysicallystrong have theirgreat moments in the activities. A variation of verydifferentskillsare visible and in action for many students. • The teachersare not alwaysprepared or have not used the educationalmaterial for preparing. • The teacherssome times simplyobstruct the pupils’ experience by interfering the work-shop.

20. The teachers • The teachers did not say or write so much. • Someteachers have been in ”The Old Town” before as part of the annual camp or as an integrated part of the curriculum • Teachers in the background • Teachers in the front • Teachers as obstruction • Teachers as support • Consideration: Teachers as ambassadeurs for collaboration with the local museums and the localenvironments in an out-doorschoolperspective.

21. QualifyingHistoricalConscousness? • The concept of Historicalconsciousness from Bernard Eric Jensen with inspirations from Erik Lund and Andreas Körber. • Comparisonbetween the past and the present? Yes. • 1864, ”Asterix Time” or just ”The old Days”? Whatdoes it matter? • Is it relevant for the pupils? Yes, they find it very relevant for theireverydaylife • The use of the expertknowledge of the playersaboutlife in 1864? • Historicalconsciouesness as competence in questioning? Yes • Methodicalcompetence? Connectingknowledge to action. • Competence in Orientating? Reflections of lifeconditions in the past and present. • Qualifyingprocess on location or in the classroom? Bothplaces, with the players in reflectionhour, with the teacher in the classroom. Qualifying processes on location must betrained as well as the processes in the classroom. • Motivation for more Historylearning/Historyexperience

22. The Teacher Education • Research and integration of museum didactics and out doorlearning • Collaboration with the cultural institutions and the localenvironmentaboutdidactical research and education of new teachers. Collaboration with ”The Old Town” • Research and teaching in interdisciplinarylearning! and good ”oldfashion” studying by working in projects!

23. What did youlearn? Considerations • The drama concept of Old Town • The out-doorconcepts: Teamwork, the social and practical competences. • Home – Out –Home. All 3 phases! • Aestheticexperience and –learning, situationalcompetences and –production • The time travelling. The transformation. Authenticity? • Stimulatinghistoricalconsciousness? Qualifyingconcepts of 1864? • The teachercompetences in the 3 phases: recognizingdifferentskills, recognizingdifferent routes to historicalknowledgeand decontextualising a part of the teaching • Historyteachingincluding out-doorlearning and integratingschoolactivities in an Open Air Museum as ”The Old Town” meansfocusedhistoricalknowledge, goals for the Historyeducation and the ability to changeroles as a teacher. • Don’t bring the classroom out of it? • Let the students have theirexperienceson location, but qualifythem in the class