Virtual Waterways Archive Catalogue  
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Virtual Waterways Archive Catalogue
 

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Make Learning Fun

This site has been developed to help and support learning activities with children by providing a series of lesson plans.
A cabin block and water dipper, 1970s. Ref. 4855
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Using our site
  • Any relevant material and images can be downloaded and printed from the website free of charge.
  • Virtual Waterways contains archival material that encourages learning and inspires students whatever their age and ability.
  • Learning about our industrial history, boat people‘s lives, significant people and events.
  • Using archives as sources of information to help them ask and answer questions.
  • Learning about change and continuity in their local area and through various themes.
  • Understanding local events, changes and people in a wider political, economic, technological, social and cultural context.
  • Using archives to develop investigative skills.
  • Using archives to describe events, people and developments.
  • Understanding how history can be represented and interpreted in different ways.
Make learning fun

This site has been developed to help and support learning activities with children by providing a series of lesson plans.

Each lesson plan gives clear aims and objectives for the learning session and has referenced links to the National Curriculum, with referenced possible cross-curricular links. The activities are set out in a non-prescriptive manner and suggestions given for possible differentiation and assessment opportunities. Cross-curricular links are made, wherever appropriate, with Mathematics, Science and the Foundation subjects.

The archival material of the British Waterways Archive, Gloucester, has been used to produce outreach packs on ‘Work and Transport in the Victorian Age‘ and ‘World War Two - The Home Front.‘ These have been created using carefully selected archival material to provide a high quality educational resource for schools. The packs take a ‘question and answer approach,‘ and begin each section with a question, such as ‘why did people wear gas masks?‘ and ‘how were canals built?‘ This investigative approach, reinforced with appropriate archival images, will meet the needs of today‘s education facilitators.

The Virtual Waterways offers opportunities to stimulate pupils‘ interest in their surroundings and local area, helping them to develop knowledge, skills and understanding of their own environments and the people who have lived there in the past. The images develop an awareness of the local physical and urban environment and allow pupils to make comparisons with different areas in the UK and the wider world. Using photographs develops pupils‘ enquiry and analytical skills, helping them to ask and answer questions.

The Virtual Waterways enables pupils and students to use ICT to help them develop knowledge, skills and understanding in several subject areas.

The website allows pupils to use the Internet and find their way around web pages.
The website enables pupils to gain experience in using a search facility, identify and view documents on-line.