Object Detectives - Information for teachers - the basics

Object Detectives brings ICT-rich activities into the Key Stage 3 curriculum, inspired by a wonderful mixture of objects, artefacts and artwork. All the objects in the database are in the care of leading museums in the south west of England. They range from historic to recent, practical to quirky.

Pupils follow interactive, subject-based learning journeys and/or research items in the database.

Object Detectives supports aspects of:

• English
• Art &
• History at Key Stage 3

The database can be used for ICT, and as a resource for almost all subjects at Key Stage 3.

Object Detectives is designed to be flexible enough for use:

• on an interactive white board or single screen to lead a whole class activity
• on a single screen for individual pupils or small groups with minimal teacher intervention
• as a site to visit for homework and work outside the classroom

This web-based material supports

• virtual work by teachers and pupils anywhere in the world who may never visit the museums involved
• actual visits to the museums involved in this project

Home Page

Text on the homepage is mainly for teachers and parents/carers.

HOVER THE MOUSE OVER EACH SECTION TITLE TO FIND OUT A BIT ABOUT IT.

An outline will appear in the text box, bottom centre of the screen. Hover over:

• English button (thinking head with scroll image)
• Art button (sculptured head with paint image)
• History button (man in red with sword image)
• Object browser (words in purple on right)
• Teachers' Area (words in purple on left)
• Text Only (words in purple on left)

COME BACK TO THE HOMEPAGE WHEN YOU WANT TO REACH THE TEACHERS' NOTES AND BACKGROUND MATERIAL.

CLICK ON THE ARROW TO GO INTO THE STRUCTURED ACTIVITIES

The site will now come up in a new window.

Click on the button for your subject or area of interest.

The teacher's link in the new window will take you back to this page

Each section is outlined below.

Under Investigation

We suggest that each subject specific learning journey begins with an 'Under Investigation' session. This encourages pupils to research and investigate objects relevant to the curriculum area. A limited sub-set of objects from the database will appear on the screen.

A short animation explains how to use the section.

A question appears on the screen. The user makes a selection of objects as their 'answer' (see Teaching Tip 1). The user gathers their objects in the 'Stash'.

Troubleshooting the Stash

If your chosen object won't appear in the Stash make sure you click on the bottom of the yellow arrow or the treasure chest and NOT on an empty grey square.

Click on the magnifying glass to see a bigger image.

Written information is divided into three bite sized chunks:

• Facts & Stats gives short, factual and sometimes unusual information
• Phone a Friend text is a young person's view of the object, sometimes descriptive, sometimes reflective Ask the Expert gives the museum view; the sort of thing you would find on a museum label.

Recording this research

If you want a complete record of this research, the contents of the 'Object Stash' can be printed out at the end of each question (but see Teaching Tip 2 on this).

Object Browser

Under Investigation (above) draws on a standalone database of over 120 amazing artefacts and artwork from a range of times, places and cultures. To bring ICT into any KS3 classroom, go directly to the object browser and access the full database (you can skip the Object Stash and questions if you like). Here pupils can find inspiration, investigate facts and sources, and gather sub-sets of data.

Right click to print individual records.

See also Teaching Tip 3.

KS3 Art & Design journey

Under Investigation (see above). This research activity underpins and informs Exhibition Time.

Learners select and curate their own show to the teacher's brief in Exhibition Time.

KS3 English journey

Under Investigation (see above). This research activity underpins and informs the other activities.

Word banks support pupils to make their own Animated Poetry.

Use Exhibition Time to create an exhibition and to write and edit short labels on a theme of the teacher's or learner's choice.

KS3 History journey

Under Investigation (see above). This research activity underpins and informs the other activities.

Pupils are invited to Build your Castle, inspired by real castles in Cornwall. Historic visitors comment on the completed castle's balance between defence and comfort.

Learners or teachers use Exhibition Time to create an exhibition on a historic theme or period of the teacher's or learner's choice.

Text Only site

All text based content is created to W3C accessibility guidelines and is accessible using screen reader software. This content is also be mirrored in the text only site which will have an invert text option to cater for visually-impaired users. Flash activities/games do not have text-based alternatives. This is standard as there is no text-based alternative to a Flash activity.

Links and Contacts

This section lists the teachers, schools and museum professionals who developed this site.

It includes contact details to help you make contact with the museums to ask about other resources on offer, book a visit to the school from a museum worker and to plan a visit to one of the featured museums.