Field Trip to a Cemetery

flickr photo by Vanessa (EY) http://flickr.com/photos/vanchett/371032362 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Today I had the pleasure of accompanying our Y10 students on a field trip to Sheffield General Cemetery as the source they were to use for their GCSE History Controlled Assessment. The historical connection and information which can be unearthed and synthesised from a cemetery is obvious, but I was also struck by the potential for a cross-curricular study. There are a number of subject disciplines which could gain value from an exploration of the site:

Science – a number of perspectives offer themselves up here. An exploration of causes of death and links with health, sanitation and epidemics. DIsuse over the years means many parts of the site have reverted to nature and are therefore ripe for habitat studies. The rocks used for tombstones offer geological information – are they local and if not, from where did they originate.

Maths/IT – a graveyard clearly offers a wealth of data and only when that has been collected, analysed and interpreted can they be used to tell a story. What data should we collect, how should they be gathered, stored and shared? In what ways might they be filtered or sorted, then analysed and how should the outcomes be presented?

English – an atmospheric place like a graveyard offers plenty of potential for creative writing, especially if the story of the cemetery and its life are taken into account. In addition, many of the tombstones and memorials are decorated with poetry in recognition of their lives, or to offer up prayers. These could be compared, contrasted and interpreted, perhaps then serving as stimuli for further wiring.

RS – many of the on tombstones, memorials and buildings are replete with symbolism. This particular  cemetery was originally conceived to serve the needs of non-conformists, but later admitted Anglicans, so may offer potential in discussing the differences?

Geography – spread over a wide area, the cemetery constitutes a large site, divided into different regions. This provides opportunities for mapping and, given the topography of the site, exploring contours, land usage, and microclimates. Data gathering, as mentioned elsewhere is also possible.

Art – A particularly moody place, the cemetery also offers a variety of locations like woodland and parkland, plus the chapels and buildings available for interpretation through drawing, painting and photography.

Learning technologies – with plenty of data to gather, a multitude of possibilities opens up. This can be as straightforward as recording information into a database/spreadsheet, which could of course be a collaborative file with small groups of students crowd-sourcing the data for the whole class. Rich media can be used to gather information in the form of photographs or video/audio commentary, or indeed building on the atmosphere of the location for more creative endeavours, like video storytelling or making movie shorts. Mobile devices with gps capability offer the opportunity for gathering location-based data, perhaps helping retain the context of the data gathered for the other sections already mentioned.

Other than history and possibly science, it might be difficult to argue the case for arranging a trip just for the brief examples I provided above. When combined together for a cross-curricular theme however, surely it would be well worth the effort and disruption to other lessons for the potential gains?

Y8 Visit to Bletchley Park

Today I had the pleasure of joining a couple of Y8 groups on a Maths visit to Bletchley Park, where secret British code-breaking operations took place during World War II. I thought we might try out the features of AudioBoo to explore some of the issues around live podcasting. In preparation I downloaded the AudioBoo app onto both my smartphone and iPod Touch. Since the smartphone had Internet access, the recording made on it could be instantly uploaded to our AudioBoo account and become instantly available to potential listeners. The camera on the phone was able to snap pictures appropriate to the location being discussed then easily linked with the recording. In addition, the phone’s gps feature meant the location of the podcast was also attached to the file, allowing a pin to be automatically placed on a map to show where the recording took place. No specialist knowledge required!

Here are some of the recordings we made:
Getting ready:

Lunchtime chat:

Cracking the code:

This exploration was just an initial foray, but live podcasting clearly offer plenty of scope on field trips. On a geology or geography trip for example, students could photograph, then describe and explain the features they are seeing, as an alternative to writing notes perhaps … given the British weather, perhaps this has distinct merit!? As they enjoy a guided tour as we did at Bletchley, perhaps (with permission) they could ‘interview’ their guide, asking questions to expand upon what they were learning. Maybe on an art gallery visit they could be challenged to convey to others, using the spoken word, what they see in particular works of art.

As this is all being done ‘live,’ there is the opportunity for othesr back in school or indeed parents to hear what students are learning on the trip. The ease with which AudioBoo podcasts can be embedded into websites and blogs makes follow-up or supplementary work on return to school incredibly straightforward.

A couple of things I did notice: smartphone users will not be surprised by how quickly battery charge is consumed when using all these features (that’s why I took the iPod Touch – as back-up). Uploading the recordings also seemed to take a while … perhaps due to cellphone reception? But there’s no reason why recordings couldn’t be made in situ, then uploaded later.