From West Africa to Old Aberdeen:
Exploring slavery through object based learning
This project involved a P7 class from St Peters’ School in
Aberdeen, initiated and funded by The Reading Bus (an Aberdeen
literacy initiative) in partnership with the University of Aberdeen’s
Marischal Museum.
Within social studies, the class were examining the theme of
slavery in the past and the present. The main aim of this initiative
was to use museum objects as a starting point for a variety of
activities. These activities would enhance learners’ understanding
of the world and Scotland’s place in it, as well as develop skills for
learning, life and work as outlined in Building the Curriculum 4,
including thinking, literacy, IT and team work skills.
At the beginning of the project, the class visited the museum and each learner chose an object which
was used as a stimulus for their ideas. The end result was an illustrated book of poetry and prose
which was put on display as part of an exhibition of African objects in a display space at the
University of Aberdeen. During the project, the class also undertook a variety of other activities
related to slavery and African culture which linked learning across the curriculum.
Related links
Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade: A rich learning resource for primary and early
secondary schools, developed to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.
Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen: The University’s museum of Scottish history,
archaeology, non-Western ethnography.
The Reading Bus: helps to raise the literacy of parents and children in Aberdeen. West Africa to Old
Aberdeen was used as a template for further projects based around the heritage of old Aberdeen.
For further information contact Jenny Watson at The Reading Bus:
mailto:j.watson@hanover.aberdeen.sch.uk
Museum trip
With museum staff, the learners examined a range of African objects including jewellery, wooden
carvings and small Ashanti gold weights depicting scenes from African life.
The learners collaboratively examined the objects using a thinking skills framework like that
promoted in the Hands On Guide. Following on from this, the learners took part in storytelling,
observational drawing and creative writing workshops.
Putting ideas into practice
The learners engaged in a variety of enterprising learning and
teaching activities making connections across a range of curricular
areas such as literacy, expressive arts (artwork, dance and drama)
and technologies (use of IT), using the Social Studies theme as a
context. Developing literacy skills was the key focus of the project.
Both in the museum and in class, the learners worked with a
professional artist and author from the Reading Bus to develop their
writing and illustrations for the book, inspired by their objects.
In a further example of partnership working, Aberdeen City Council’s
ICT Support department came into the school and demonstrated to
the learners how to animate their objects using CrazyTalk recording
themselves reading their work and making the objects ‘speak’.
Have a look at two examples of the learners’ work using Crazytalk
(CrazyTalkExample1 and CrazyTalkExample2)
Sharing and celebrating learning
The learners later shared their new skills with other classes in St
Peter’s School. Their work, alongside some of the museum objects
that had inspired them, were displayed in an exhibition in the
University. The class also played a key part of the opening of the
exhibition, which further enhanced the enterprising aspects of this
project. Having learned about the origins of slave music, they
performed a slave song with a storyteller and accompanying dance
in front of guests at the opening. To share their work, they also acted as guides, with tours in English
and Polish, and were recorded as guests for a community
radio show.
Watch the video of Helena Gillis, Learning and Access
Manager with Museum Galleries Scotland discussing the
learning and teaching involved in ‘From West Africa to
Old Aberdeen’ (16_FromWestAfricaToOldAberdeen)
Related links
Listen to a podcast describing gold weights similar to
those used by the learners.
See the final online book produced by the learners
For more ideas for enterprising teaching and learning go to the LTS Enterprise in Education website
Partnership working
“All establishments should work with partners and share a common understanding and language
around skills development and application.”
Building the Curriculum 4
Building the Curriculum 4 emphasises the
importance of partnership working in delivering
Curriculum for Excellence. All participants felt that
the strong partnership between the school, the
Reading Bus and the University of Aberdeen’s
museum was a key element to the success of the
project. Through careful planning with the class
teacher, the specialists in the various fields could
add further depth to the learners’ understanding
and skills development. By working with these
partners, the learners could link the relevance of
what they were doing with the real world and,
informally, they learnt more about what was involved in these various jobs which could help them to
make decisions about the future. They enjoyed working with people from outside their normal
school environment, and this motivated them to work even harder.
Impact
The project was a clear success and related with many of the principles of Curriculum for Excellence.
Challenge and Enjoyment
Learners found challenge and enjoyment in working with
the objects and producing the illustrated book. The
learners developed an ‘ownership’ of the object they
chose, which was very motivating.
‘When the project was finished I felt proud of the work we
had done.’
‘It made me say WOW!’
Relevance
Learners found the showcasing of their work in a real exhibition with a real audience to be
particularly motivating.
‘I’m amazed that the paintings we did in class
eventually came to be in an art gallery! I really
enjoyed pretending to be different people, an
abolitionist, a slave, a trader and so on. I know a lot
more about slavery, I know that slavery is still
happening today’
The learners were also able to understand the
relevance of their work to modern issues, shown by
the dedication of their book and the exhibition to
people all around the world who suffer from slavery.
“As a result of our work on slavery over the past few months, we feel very strongly that everybody
should be treated with respect and dignity. We have worked with Marischal Museum and the
Reading Bus to produce this exhibition, and dedicate it to people all over the world who suffer from
oppression.”
‘I felt that showing people our slavery dance was amazing – it gave people an obvious message.’
‘I hear people talking about slavery and I wonder if they had done the project, the exhibition and the
book, would their thoughts be different?’
Progression
This project provided an engaging context for the development of essential skills for learning, life
and work as outlined in Building the Curriculum 4.
The development of thinking skills was a key aspect of this project. Interacting with the objects,
enabled the learners to enhance their creative communication and thinking skills (remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating & creating) skills. This extract from the Hands On
Guide shows the skills which can be developed by analysing objects.
Working on this project also boosted the learners’ team working, communication, literacy and IT
skills through the activities described, as well developing as confident individuals.
‘I felt confident talking about slavery and answering questions about it’