To break up the drive from Scotland to Wales, I spent the night at the World Heritage Site, Ironbridge Gorge: the 'Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution'. I'm so pleased I did!
As I have not studied the Industrial Revolution in depth, I first became aware of this site through my friend Rita Rich. Rita's father Joe came to South Australia as a Barwell Boy in 1923 and his memoirs 'The Lochiel Apprentice' are an entertaining and illuminating read. He returned home to England in the 1930s and Rita grew up in this area before emigrating to Adelaide herself. It was a close run thing that I actually got to visit, due to the River Severn flooding. Sadly more rain is forecast.
My school teaches the Industrial Revolution depth study in Year 9, and I did an abysmal job of teaching it for the first time in 2018. My faculty often discusses ways to spice up this unit, so I wanted to take the opportunity to improve my understanding and see what insights I could bring home.
Helping Australian students to understand the geography of the UK is one of the barriers to teaching the Industrial Revolution well. Visiting this area in person has certainly brought the Industrial Revolution to life for me - if only we could bring students here on an excursion! Perhaps some lucky schools could incorporate it into their HASS tours of Europe. I stayed in affordable heritage accommoation at YHA Coalport, which added to the experience.
The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron is brilliant and has given me lots of ideas on how to improve. Part of the problem was that I was teaching the history in isolation from STEM, so I will be speaking with other faculties and continuing my discussions with Richard Venus from Engineers Australia about this (perhaps you are already using their excellent publication Adelaide: Engineering a City?) I will also be taking the title of this Depth Study more seriously (Making a Better World? - note the question mark). I intend to foreground the connection to climate change, so that the learning has greater relevance for students.
Regarding making connections to Australia, there were useful panels on the links between Ironbridge Gorge and the British colonies, e.g. agricultural machinery. One idea I would like to try when I get back is making a collection of manufacturer stamps on cast iron we have all around South Australia. For example, I'm aware that the Boy and Serpent Fountain at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens was cast in Coalbrookdale. Maybe it could be a 'citizen science' type of project, with people uploading photos of stamps they find in their neighbourhood (National Trust collections would be a rich vein to mine). We could also include South Australian companies like Metters.
I also liked how the exhibits talked about female management of the companies, including Abiah, Deborah, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah Darby. This will make for a richer discussion of women in the Industrial Revolution next time.
In a nutshell, I have no excuse for teaching the Industrial Revolution so poorly in future!
My school teaches the Industrial Revolution depth study in Year 9, and I did an abysmal job of teaching it for the first time in 2018. My faculty often discusses ways to spice up this unit, so I wanted to take the opportunity to improve my understanding and see what insights I could bring home.
Helping Australian students to understand the geography of the UK is one of the barriers to teaching the Industrial Revolution well. Visiting this area in person has certainly brought the Industrial Revolution to life for me - if only we could bring students here on an excursion! Perhaps some lucky schools could incorporate it into their HASS tours of Europe. I stayed in affordable heritage accommoation at YHA Coalport, which added to the experience.
The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron is brilliant and has given me lots of ideas on how to improve. Part of the problem was that I was teaching the history in isolation from STEM, so I will be speaking with other faculties and continuing my discussions with Richard Venus from Engineers Australia about this (perhaps you are already using their excellent publication Adelaide: Engineering a City?) I will also be taking the title of this Depth Study more seriously (Making a Better World? - note the question mark). I intend to foreground the connection to climate change, so that the learning has greater relevance for students.
Regarding making connections to Australia, there were useful panels on the links between Ironbridge Gorge and the British colonies, e.g. agricultural machinery. One idea I would like to try when I get back is making a collection of manufacturer stamps on cast iron we have all around South Australia. For example, I'm aware that the Boy and Serpent Fountain at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens was cast in Coalbrookdale. Maybe it could be a 'citizen science' type of project, with people uploading photos of stamps they find in their neighbourhood (National Trust collections would be a rich vein to mine). We could also include South Australian companies like Metters.
I also liked how the exhibits talked about female management of the companies, including Abiah, Deborah, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah Darby. This will make for a richer discussion of women in the Industrial Revolution next time.
In a nutshell, I have no excuse for teaching the Industrial Revolution so poorly in future!