Putting time travel on the curriculum

Transcript

Four voices: Sarah Cowie (SC); Ben Humphrey (BH); Stephen Allan (SA); and Jackie Bird (JB)

[SC]
My name is Sarah Cowie and I'm Senior Heritage Learning Advisor for the Trust.
Timesliders is our new programme for school pupils.
It's really about engaging pupils who might not normally come to a Trust venue or haven't visited us before. We're looking at bringing in pupils from Glasgow to Pollok House and engaging them in different and innovative ways --using technology, using theatre and using different activities and experiences.
I've been out at schools seeing pupils taking part in the project so far, and I've seen that they get a really different experience than they would get in the classroom.
Teachers have been telling us that it really brings history and science to life for them in a different way, and it's really encouraging the teachers to look at their curriculum and how they can update it and change it.
The other thing that I really want pupils to get from it is to feel that Pollok is a place that they can come and visit with their families, and that the Trust is an organisation that looks after Scotland's history, heritage and nature.

[BH]
I am a theatrical director and writer. I've spent most of my professional life so far working in theatre -- classical theatre, children's theatre and pantomime.
The programme itself -- the podcasts themselves -- they follow the adventures of Kyla and Eden who are timesliders, or time travellers, across Scotland's history and heritage.
And they go all over the place trying to stop the dastardly Professor Curran.
They travel all over Scotland, all throughout Scotland's timelines and they meet some of the key individuals and some of the not-so-key individuals and they have these wonderful adventures that we want people across Scotland to then become a part of.

[SA]
I'm Stephen Allan. I'm a Learning Consultant and I've been working with the National Trust for Scotland over the last couple of years to help develop a learning strategy and the Timesliders pilot project.
The purpose of Timesliders is to create a really creative and innovative set of learning programmes and resources to try to bring to life National Trust for Scotland sites and properties in a way that hasn't been done before, to really sort of animate those spaces as well as provide a set of digital learning resources that can be used.
What we really want them to do is to enthuse about it, for teachers to be engaged, to see the value of it with the Curriculum for Excellence and to start to use National Trust for Scotland properties as part of their own learning.

[JB]
I think on paper it sounded great. And in reality it was actually even better.
To see the faces of the children, to hear their enthusiasm and to see how much they engaged with it, it was just a great experience.
Feeling the enthusiasm of the children and then realising the subtlety of the programme, that it isn't just about history: it's about team building; it's about mathematics; it's about learning skills.
It's about so much more than just history, without the children actually knowing that it's a learning experience.