The Year 4 students went on excursion to the Western Australian Museum in Fremantle.
The first stop was the Shipwreck Galleries where students learned more about the ships wrecked along WA’s treacherous coastline during “The Age of Discovery” as they examined countless artefacts. Students also enjoyed working together, to make reasonable deductions to identify a mystery explorer in the “Treasures with a Tale” activity in which all their class learning on William Dampier was effectively applied as they explored specific historical evidence. The original timbers from the Batavia (wrecked in 1629) as part of the Batavia Gallery formed an impressive context for the class inquiry.
The excursion concluded with a short and comprehensive visit to the Maritime Museum where students explored and made interesting observations with respect to a range of vessels ranging from the very first boats in Western Australia to modern commercial vessels and handcrafted sailing boats. A number of other very interesting exhibits were also on display in relation to marine life and early trade that complemented all learning areas this term across History, Science and Technology.
We all agreed that it was an “aaaarrgh-some” day, as any good buccaneer would say and students shared their thoughts regarding the best part of the day:
“Learning about a 300 year old ship that was dug up.” – Mikayla S (4B)
“Seeing the Batavia and learning about the treasure and shipwreck artefacts.” – Tyler B (4B)
“Viewing a yacht and having a go using the equipment that moves a yacht.” – Bridget S (4B)
“Learning that William Dampier was a thief AND friendly”. – Irena S (4A)
“Seeing a megamouth and learning how it got into the museum”. – Nikki B (4A)