National Science & Engineering Week

During National Science & Engineering week (9th-18th March) we will be trialling our all new STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) education sessions.

We’ve been busy developing two new sessions with local secondary schools Blue Coat & Coundon Court. The first of the new sessions; ‘Tyred & Tested’ is a science themed workshop that takes a closer look at friction, by exploring the many varied tyres in the Museum collection.

Our Design & Technology themed session ‘Design Challenge’ examines the various elements of vehicle design used for different types of vehicles, and challenges the students to come up with their own model to test.

Both sessions are aimed at Key Stage 3 groups and include a tour-based section, where learners will have the chance to examine the Museum’s eclectic collection, and a workshop-based session where they can test out their theories with creations of their own.

These new sessions will be officially launched in September for the 2012-13 academic year, but Science & Engineering Week seemed like the perfect opportunity to try them out and get some feedback, particularly as the theme this year is ‘Our World in Motion’.

For more info about the Education Sessions available at the Museum , or the new sessions being developed, please visit the Activities for Schools section of our website contact our Learning Team at education@transport-museum.co.uk

Happy New Year from the Learning Team

Happy new year from the Learning team at CTM!

Thank you to all of you who came to visit us on our Christmas activity weekends in December - you made some gorgeous unique Christmas cards and unusual gifts!

Naomi and I are the biggest Christmas fans ever and always feel a little bit sad when the decorations come down and go back into the loft for another year, so it’s a good job we’ve got loads of exciting things planned for 2012 to keep us smiling.

Our work with schools

We are currently working with lots of local schools getting good advice from both teachers and pupils, to help us create brand new school sessions that are completely different from anything the Museum has done before, including sessions for secondary school and college students. Keep an eye out for more information on these soon.

Family Activities

We will continue to hold regular family activity weekends throughout the year, and to make them easy to remember they will take place on the last weekend of the month. The first one will be on 28^th & 29^th January, activities will be themed to our ‘Wheels and Waves’ exhibition of surf vehicles, so come in out of the cold and look forward to the summer while designing your own seaside windmill. (10am – 12noon & 1pm – 4pm Saturday and Sunday)

Who’s counting the weeks until the February half term holiday already?... Well, we are already busy planning lots of interesting events and activities to keep you and your family entertained during all of the Coventry school holidays this year too.

But the most important of our learning team resolutions this year is that we want to make Coventry Transport Museum even more family friendly, so look out for more things you can actually do, things you can touch, things you can try on and things you can play with in the galleries because later in the year we will be asking for families to come in and tell us what you think!

See you soon, Krissy

Learning Team Update

Hello everyone! Just grabbing a minute in between school visits to give you all a little catch up on some exciting developments in our Learning world at the Museum!

We’ve been working really hard over the past six months to improve the overall standard of our Learning & Education offer at the Museum. We’ve made several changes to our schools offer, including our updated Education Pack and a clearer booking system. We’re really pleased to tell you that our efforts have been recognised and we have been awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge, awarded to us by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. This is a nationally recognised seal of approval, that lets teachers know that we provide a high standard of learning experience, in a safe and engaging environment.

There’s another logo you might be seeing around, as we’re also happy to have become one of the Children’s University registered Learning Destinations. Children’s University is a national organisation that encourages children to have learning experiences outside of school hours. Schools sign up to be Children’s University members, and the children within the school are all given a Passport to Learning. This looks just like a passport and the idea is that when children visit one of the CU official Learning Destinations they can do an activity and receive a stamp in their passport. We’ve already had a handful of Children’s University participants collect a stamp during the recent half term holidays, and we hope to welcome many more in the future.

Speaking of half term, we had an incredibly busy week, with lots and lots of families coming in out of the rain to have a look around the Museum and take part in one of our activities. We’re already getting ready for the next school holiday, (my favourite time of the year,) Christmas! I’ve just been cutting out some gorgeous Christmas pictures ready for our Christmas Craft weekends. We couldn’t decide which era we liked best so we’re having a look at Victorian & Wartime Christmas traditions over the first three weekends in December. We’ll have a fun craft activity available each weekend as well as information about how Christmas was celebrated in the past.

Behind the scenes we’re working on some really exciting partnerships with local schools and colleges to develop new education sessions for next year, which we’ll be telling you more about in 2012. We’ve also been working in partnership with Centro, the West Midlands public transport organisation. We’ve come up with an exciting new schools session that looks at Sustainable Transport, in conjunction with the work that Centro do in schools. I’m really excited about this partnership and the opportunities it will present us with for the future.

Finally, don’t forget to have a look at our all new Learning pages on the Museum’s website. We’ve new areas for Schools & Colleges, Families and Other Visitors, as well as creating an activities calendar to keep you updated on all of our upcoming family activities. We’ll be updating this part of the website over the coming months with more photos of what we get up to, news stories and more, so watch this space!

Thanks to everyone for all your continued support, we hope to see many of you over the coming months. Have a wonderful winter!

Naomi

Facilitator Blog - 2011 so far...

It’s been a busy and exciting start to the new year and we’re really pleased with how our themed family learning weekends have been going. Our ‘Through the Decades’ weekends started in January with a closer look at the Victorians, and last week we had our Edwardian weekend. It’s been really lovely to see families having a go at the timeline quiz and drawing trails, and really working together to find the answers. People have had lots of fun trying on bonnets and top hats, while finding out more about how people lived in times gone past. We’re really looking forward to our next Through the Decades weekend in March where we’ll be revisiting the Roaring Twenties – it has been great fun for us finding out all about flapper fashion and this age of decadence. We’ll be dancing the Charleston and learning how to make our very own ‘Mocktails’ (child-friendly, alcohol free cocktails!)



January also saw our Storytelling Weekend as part of National Storytelling week. We were very lucky to have Lady Godiva, aka Pru Poretta, come in again this year to hold some very special storytelling sessions for our younger visitors. This year she also brought Kushumika with her and together they told wonderful stories and had their audiences entranced. All the children really enjoyed this, and I have to say I loved it too - I could have listened all day! Downstairs in the Museum, children created their own stories and turned them into small books or comic strips to take home with them. Thanks to everyone who came and had a go. As well as our 1920s weekend to look forward to we’ve also got our Land Speed Record Weekend in a couple of weeks (19th-20th February) where we’ll be making and racing balloon powered cars, and our Women’s History Weekend at the beginning of March (5th-6th) to coincide with International Women’s day and the Coventry Women’s Festival. We’ll be discovering all about the vital roles women played during the Second World War and there will be a Women’s History Trail that visitors can follow around the museum.

Phew! With all this going on I guess I’d better go and do some work! Hope we see some of you at our weekends very soon! Naomi

Xmas Factor Grand Final this weekend

The Xmas Factor heats were simply great on the Saturday before last, 21st November that is! And we have 11 spectacular finalists including a guitar-based duo and 9 year-old identical twin girls who call themselves "Paw Prints"! All the singers will be performing two songs and the lucky winner will receive £100 cash prize, plus other great prizes.
There's going to be other great stuff as well... the Phoenix Dance Academy dancers will be performing, so will this year's Britain's Got Talent stars Good Evans while mum Estelle will be on the panel of judges. And Brody Swain will be playing presenter! So, if you are looking for some entertainment on a cold Saturday afternoon, why not join us at the Museum at 2'o clock and give a big 'whoop whoop!' to all the particpants? It's totally free!
Though you might want to book the tickets right away... free tickets, they are going faster than hot cakes!

Xmas Factor Returns

You know what they say... If you've got it, flaunt it! Well, here's an excellent opportunity for you all to show off your musical talents as our popular singing competition Xmas factor is back for a third time! So if you think you've got it in you come along and strut your stuff at the heats which be held this Saturday 21st November and see if you can make through to the Grand Final on 5th December.

The competition is open to all, young or old, amateur or professional. All you need to do is perform a Christmas song and spread some Christmas cheer. You can perform at the heats unaccompanied, or accompanied by a CD. If you wish to sing to a music track, don’t forget to bring along your CD. There will be four categories of performances: groups, under 10s, 10 – 15 years old and 16 years and above. You will be judged for your stage presence, professionalism and ability. So get practising as the heats are just around the corner!

The Grand Final will take place on Saturday 5th December 2pm – 5pm. The show will be hosted by Touch FM’s Brody Swain and there will be grand performances by ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ stars Good Evans while mum Estelle will be on our panel of judges and also by Coventry’s own Phoenix Dance Academy performers. With grand prizes for winners and loads of fun for everybody the event promises to bring a fun-packed evening for one and all!

No pre-registration is required for entering the heats. For free tickets to the Grand Final email us at enquiries@transport-museum.com or call 024 7623 4270

The BIG DRAW 2009

Lots will be happening here at the Museum this October Half Term with the The Big Draw where you can make your mark. We are having a series of master art classes where kids over 12 can work with local artists and learn unique, smart and wacky forms of art. From turning socks into cute kittens, puppies and bears to technical drawings and Japanese manga art, the idea is to keep the kids busy with something exciting and creative. For the under 12s, we will have craft activities such as ceramic and fabric painting and spare part arts.
Our Highlights Tours will be on throughout the week along with a number of hands-on activities, where you can discover about Coventry's past.
Spaces at the master class sessions are limited, so do hurry to book your place. Further information about the October Half Term events is available here