History Skills: Interpreting the Past
Students use primary sources to develop historical and critical thinking skills.
This curriculum-aligned program develops secondary students’ historical inquiry and source analysis skills through hands-on investigation of museum objects and primary sources.
Students think like historians, using museum objects to ask historical questions, analyse evidence and explore perspectives.
Enrichment and extension activities deepen students’ historical thinking and skills, fostering engagement with history in the classroom and beyond!
Students will experience
- Object-based learning using museum objects.
- Using engaging strategies to collaboratively generate and evaluate questions for historical inquiry.
- Applying and strengthening historical skills in the museum’s galleries.
Students will learn
- The important role of questioning in History, and how the study of History develops valuable transferrable skills.
- Strategies to generate, refine, categorise, and evaluate questions for historical inquiry.
- Strategies for using historical concepts, including significance, to develop deeper questions.
- Collaborative approaches to strengthen historical skills.
Students will be provided
- A booklet to take back to school, which will guide them through the galleries and for them to record their findings.
Students will need
- Pen or pencil.
Other key information
- This excursion includes a 45 minute workshop followed by 45 minute gallery visit.
Availability
Terms 1–4, Monday to Thursday
Duration: 90 minutes
Student information
Years 7 to 8
Minimum 15 students
Maximum 30 students
Bookings
$11 per student + education service fee
Call 13 11 02 or submit an online booking request
Workshop
Presented by a museum educator
Victorian Curriculum Links
History: Levels 7 and 8
Historical questions
- develop and use historical questions to inform historical investigations (VC2HH8S01)
Historical sources
- explain the features, content and context of historical sources (VC2HH8S03)
- explain the perspectives, beliefs, values and attitudes of people and groups based on evidence from a range of sources (VC2HH8S05)
Critical and Creative Thinking: Levels 7 and 8
Questions and possibilities
- the construction of a main question and sub-questions for different purposes (VC2CC8Q01)
Intercultural Capability: Levels 7 and 8
Culture, identity and belonging
- change in cultures, including their own, in a range of contexts, and how this influences identity and a sense of belonging and inclusion (VC2CI8C01)
Accessibility
Please view our accessibility page for general information. A sensory map of Melbourne Museum can be found on our Visual Stories page where step-by-step visual and written access guides are available. Contact our team on 13 11 02 or email us at schools@museum.vic.gov.au to discuss how we can support your visit.
Museums Victoria Learning Access Fund
The Museums Victoria Learning Access Fund aims to enhance access to our museums (Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and Immigration Museum), programs and events by offering free or subsidised education programs for eligible schools. Find out more about the fund.
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