Education Resources Downloads - at The Museum of Dartmoor Life, Okehampton, Devon, UK

1. National Curriculum and QCA links

The Museum of Dartmoor Life, like any museum, essentially offers a cross-curricular experience for school visits, with broad opportunities for speaking and listening, discussion and the analysis and interpretation of a wide range of evidence. The main subject links are in History, particularly Victorian Britain and Local History. The QCA Units 11 (What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?) and 12 (How did life change in our locality in Victorian times?) would offer a context for the museum visit with Key Stage 2 pupils. During the visit, pupils can use historical skills including chronological understanding, historical interpretation and historical enquiry. In the Dartmoor Industries gallery there are further opportunities for Science (Sc3 – materials and how they can be changed and QCA Unit 3D Rocks and Soils) and Geography (3 – places and how they change; 4 – the influence of natural and human patterns and processes on the environment). There are links to the Design and Technology curriculum through an exploration of the theme of product design – objects designed to meet a specific need or solve a problem (1a-d – Developing, Planning and Communicating Ideas). Early technology is perfect for simplifying studies like this, especially as materials are usually familiar and workings visible.

2. Background information

The Museum’s ‘Wheel of Discovery’† characters give information about Okehampton people from Roman times to the 1960s.

Click to download it as a ---- Word document (809KB) or ------ PDF (640KB).

(NB: At 56k the approximate time for download is: 110 secs; ------- 90 secs.

A broadband connection would require much less time.)

Further information about Dartmoor’s history and industries is available as downloadable PDF files from Dartmoor National Park. There are individual sheets on the history (148kB) of Dartmoor, farming (227KB), and tin mining (220KB).

3. Dartmoor stories

There are many stories about Dartmoor and we have collected four of the best known here – The Great Thunderstorm of 1638, Jay’s Grave, Bowerman’s Nose and the Legend of Childe’s Tomb.

Click to download them in a ----- Word document (459KB) or ----- PDF (287KB).

Teachers’ Resources & Links

These resources help to support a school visit to the Museum of Dartmoor Life, providing activities for use in school and at the museum. The main purpose is to offer sources of historical evidence, with the intention of developing historical skills and encouraging discussion.
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Some of the documents listed on this page are stored in Portable Document Format (PDF). To read these files your computer needs to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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4. Documents

Document 1– Schoolchildren watching a meet of Mid Devon Hounds at Spreyton, 1907
Click to download it as a ----- Word document (345KB) or ------ PDF (168KB).

Document 2– Miners at Ramsley Copper Mine, South Tawton, c. 1905

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (629KB) or ---- - PDF (278KB).

Document 3– Okehampton Market Day, 1909. Includes Document 3a – a list of tolls for Okehampton Market from a board on display in the museum.

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (547KB) or ------ PDF (1172KB).

Document 4 – Workers in the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War, including Mrs. Vallance, Hatherleigh.

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (235KB) or ------ PDF (146KB).

Document 5 – Blowing up West Bridge, 1957. There are no teachers’ notes with this document. The photo is more suitable for creative work (e.g. accounts, paintings) than evidence activities. However, it could be used for discussion about reasons for development and safe ways to demolish structures (note that the blast has been directed away from the buildings).

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (296KB) or ------ PDF (133KB).

5. Objects

The three activities use objects found in the museum.

1. Design a crest
Click to download it as a ------ Word document (235KB) or ------ PDF (121KB).

2. Victorian sampler
Click to download it as a ------ Word document (477KB) or ------ PDF (218KB).

3. Copybook writing
Click to download it as a ------ Word document (378KB) or ------ PDF (161KB).

6. Resources for use in the museum

1. Children’s Fun Trail

You can download a copy of the museum’s trail here, providing a sheet of creative, fun activities for children aged 7-11.

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (26KB) or ------ PDF (66KB).

2. Discussion trails for use in the galleries
Three trails with gallery plans, set out as teachers’ notes with points for discussion.
Sounds– exploring the museum with younger children, thinking about the sounds that are associated with objects, from medieval bells to the scratching of pen on paper, from the World War II siren to the hiss of the blacksmith’s red hot horseshoe.
Materials– museums are full of materials! This trail explores the qualities of different materials for various uses, from building Bronze Age huts to shaping Victorian hand-tools or stamping a medieval penny.
Strange contraptions– exploring why objects were designed as they were. The trail asks what problem an object was designed to solve and encourages discussion about how problems in earlier times were different to those of today, which is why they designed different tools.

Click to download it as a ------ Word document (282KB) or ------ PDF (278KB).