THE ROMAN SOCITY AND KEY STAGE 2

The Roman Society gave grants to the Museum of London, the Corinium Museum and the Maidstone Museum to develop KS2 resources (children aged 7 to 11), partly based on Hella Eckardt’s Roman Revealed website: http://www.romansrevealed.com/ but also incorporating resources of their own. The museums sent reports on their projects:

Museum of London

Your support has enabled us to adapt our previous Written in Bone KS2 workshop to reflect the Roman Dead exhibition and the needs of our schools. Working on feedback acquired by our staff, we streamlined the sessions to an hour (plus a 45 minute self-directed exhibition visit), as longer often proved to be too long for Key Stage 2 (the age group towards which the sessions are geared), particularly in the morning before lunch. The support of allowed us to run twelve sessions of this valuable workshop on four days in September and October 2018. With 35 spaces per session, you allowed us to reach over 400 students, instilling in them a love of history and discovery, and providing an unforgettable day.

Feedback Feedback from teachers and pupils was overwhelmingly positive:

• Great experience for the kids, lots of primary sources and loads of knowledge. Brought history to life • We learn a lot about Roman life, but not really about the archaeological side of things so that is really unique • I learnt that they can tell if bones are male and female by the bones. The pelvis... if it's bigger it's a female because they grow babies • The leg bone tells you how tall someone is • I most enjoyed when they laid out the 14 year old person’s bones... learning stuff about the person

Written in bone live streams A second grant from the Roman Society allowed the Museum of London to live stream two different sessions to schools and home educators throughout the country. The first was based on the ‘Written in bone’ session, and included Hella Eckardt talking about evidence from other parts of Britain as well as Rebecca Redfern talking about analysis of cultural diversity of Roman skeletons from Museum of London collections. The second session was linked to the launch of Caroline Lawrence’s new book, based on the Lant Street teenager and London Museum, and she was part of the panel answering pupils’ questions. A total number of 1618. students participated in the two sessions.

Sandford Cascade Film

The Roman Society was delighted that the Museum of London’s KS2 Written in bone session was featured on the Sandford Awards film which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyExi6LvEuo

Corinium Museum, Cirencester

The session which was developed is called Roman Identity. It was trialled on 22 February 2018 at Powell’s, a local primary school. Future plans are to roll-out the session as part of the educational offer to schools. This session was offered alongside Everyday Life of the Romans, which is also aimed at KS2 pupils.

It is also intended to invite teachers to a twilight session in the near future to demonstrate the session to them.

One of the key issues with developing the session was communicating the theme of Roman Identity in a way to KS2 pupils that would not dumb down the subject, but would allow them to access it in a fun and interactive way. We chose to develop four activity tables allowing for rotation to each table (10 minutes per table.) The activities look at identity through the four areas – costume, human remains, tombstones and trade.

Costume Development

Children learn very well through role play, and the Museum collections can illustrate costume through sculpture, painting and mosaics. Cultures and historical periods can be identified through costume and so we included this element into the Roman Identity session. Children have the opportunity to dress up in military costume, and wear Roman style tunics and togas.

How wealth can be identified through the quality and colour of cloth will be discussed as well as evidence for Roman culture in Britain.

Human Remains Development

The skeletal evidence for identity allows us to draw upon research conducted by Hella Eckardt and profile the Romans Revealed website, which forms part of our introductory talk to the children. The children investigate three burials – two internments and a cremation. The cross- curricular nature of this table ensures an element of science is covered through simple cards that explain isotope analysis and what this can tell the pupils about someone’s identity from the past. Clues about the human body are hidden in the burials, as are burial goods, which also provide evidence of Roman Identity.

Tombstone Development

The tombstone part of the session demonstrates how identity can be deduced from epigraphic evidence. Children recreate the text from tombstones in the Museum collections. This part of the session has been tested with a local school, and with members of the public during a Family Discovery Zone. Small amendments have been made following feedback. It has a cross curricular element in terms of literacy and numeracy.

Trade Game Development

The trade element of the session is to give pupils an idea of the geographical reach of the and to cement the location of keys countries. The trade game also brings into play, the trade of goods from other countries showing diversity in identity through people and the objects they left behind. The game rules are on the board itself. It has been tested with schools, adults and work experience placements. All have given good feedback. Changes made include ensuring the English names for the countries are on the map as well as the Latin names. The boards are being printed.

Aims and feedback

Children have only 10 minutes per table and rotate to the next. By the end of the session children should be able to demonstrate the following: • To understand what is meant by identity • To understand how far the Roman Empire extended • To understand some new scientific terms, including isotope analysis, and information about the human body • To increase knowledge about Romans and the clothing worn during the Roman period • To increase knowledge about geography • To improve literacy and reading skills • To be able to read and translate Roman numerals • To gain an understanding of archaeology as evidence for identity.

Pupil feedback included: • I learnt that the most expensive colour was purple and the farmer wore a rich black toga and Celt wore a brown cloak and like it. • I learnt about Roman burials and how people know what country some Romans came from. • That they wear really horrible clothes. • That you can discover what country a Roman is from and a Roman is not only from . • I learnt that Roman women wore 2 brooches. • That people from Rome didn’t speak English. • I learnt that Romans if they had purple clothes were rich and that they can be poor.

Sessions to local schools and a twilight session for teachers

Another tranche of funding for Roman Identity sessions to local schools and a twilight session for teachers was given.

Roman Identity workshops took place both in the museum, where classes walked to the site and as an outreach activity. Overall, including the funded sessions, 339 pupils have taken part in the Roman Identity workshop over a three month period, which we are really pleased to report. Dedicated marketing and targeted promotion from staff have contributed to the number of Roman Identity sessions undertaken. We delivered 13 workshops in total between April and June 2019. The workshop achieves more outcomes when delivered with upper KS2 (Yrs 5 and 6) as they are better prepared for discovery based workshops. Year 3s, though they enjoy the activities in the Roman Identity session, find the writing and the more complex scientific elements challenging. A teacher or facilitator on each activity table allows the session to run smoothly.

Roman Identity Session Resources Final designs for the cards were printed and are now part of the session materials. All materials have been branded and recognise the Roman Society contribution.

Front – branding and question Back – the outfit clue

Once children are wearing the costume, they play a quick game to see if they can guess who they might be – a Roman soldier, a Roman bride, a Romano-British farmer, etc. children take two clues, one is a description of the costume featuring an image of a figurative object from the museum collections and the second relates to the colour of the costume.

The burials table is enhanced with the lab report which has been adapted to include quick tick boxes to minimise the amount of writing children do during their 10 minute circulation on this table. A specific question on the sheet What does the isotope information tell you about where your person was from? asks children to consider this information. This table works very well with adult supervision.

Laboratory report to be completed by children as they role-play a scientist examining archaeological human remains.

There are 3 professional deliverers here at the museum – Rebecca Shellenberger, James Harris and Valija Evalds - and their thorough evaluations have contributed to the success of the Roman Identity workshop. The session introduction includes a small talk about identity and isotopes so that children are prepared for new scientific information.

Teacher’s Twilight Session

A twilight session for teachers took place on 14th June 2019. The event was designed to introduce the Roman identity session to teachers and allow them time to explore the museum and other resources with a view to perhaps visiting in the coming year and booking the Roman Identity workshop.

The response from all attendees was positive and many said they had no idea we offered such wonderful resources and facilities. The Roman Identity session was received positively as it ‘ticks boxes across the curriculum.’ Most attending teachers knew of the museum but had no idea about the extent of our services or subjects on offer. They were given a memorable marketing pack comprising a tea-towel for the staffroom and a Roman session flyer.

Sample slides from the presentation are below:

Conclusion As a museum we have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with the Roman Society to develop a new session with a focus on Roman identity. We felt the session not only diversified our current portfolio but also allowed us to explore and present the Corinium Museum collection in a different way. The grant monies enabled us to purchase resources that were high quality and specific to the new theme, something our budgets would never stretch to. The funding also helped us to trial and promote the sessions through innovative and well-designed marketing materials. Having access to expert knowledge through Romans Revealed was an excellent starting point for development. Making contact with Roman and Education specialists including Hella Eckhart and Richard Woof helped us hone the session ensuring that new knowledge we were learning as staff was imparted correctly. Positive support from the Committee has been most welcome and we’d like to pass on special thanks to Fiona Haarer for her encouragement and enthusiasm throughout the project.

Corinium Museum now has a fantastic Roman offer for KS2 level visitors comprising Everyday Life, Roman Houses and now, Roman identity. We are happy to share our journey and advice with peers developing similar resources.

Report written by Emma Stuart, June 2019

Maidstone Museum

We developed a workshop, ‘Who Were the Romans in Britain?’, which is delivered in 3 parts. The workshop lasts around 75 minutes. The workshop works better with half a class (15), so we divide the class in two, and the other half visit the archaeology gallery with activity sheets, then swap.

Three skeletons (some complete, some partial, and a mix of real and replica) are laid out on 3 separate tables as burials with grave goods. The bodies represent a man, woman and child, each one, as pupils discover over the course of the workshop, originating from a different part of the empire (North Africa, Eastern Gaul, Southern England). The workshop is led by one of our learning team with archaeological experience.

The first part of the workshop (20 minutes) asks the pupils to find out about the person from their bones and teeth. They look at sex, age, injury, disease. They appreciate that a visual examination of these reveals little about the geographic origin of the person.

The second part (20 minutes) asks pupils what they might surmise from the grave goods. Each body has a selection of goods which provide clues to working life, literacy, religion, pastimes, status. The bodies have various objects which originated elsewhere (Gaulish samian, Egyptian amulet etc), so they appreciate that goods moved far afield - and therefore that people also travelled widely.

The pupils then draw their skeleton and objects and write their answers about them, then share with each other (10 minutes).

Once ideas are shared the third part of the workshop (25 minutes) deals with isotope analysis as a more definitive way of finding out about the bodies’ origins and travels. This is a hands-on activity. Pupils don a white lab coat, gloves and goggles. They follow the process in a series of screen images, by adding ‘acid’ (water) to a beaker with the sample, feeling the rubbery texture (white balloons) once the acid has been left overnight, and the candyfloss texture of the collagen samples (cotton wool). Once the ‘lab’ results have come back they match the coloured card for their person to a map of the empire, coloured with known records for different geological areas, albeit very simply:

• The man comes from North Africa, and from his grave goods (weaponry, amulet etc) surmise that he may have been a soldier, or perhaps a gladiator. • The woman comes from Eastern Gaul, and from her grave goods (writing implements, jewellery, highly decorated Samian etc) surmise that she was educated and wealthy – and was buried with her favourite offering bowl. • The child is local, buried where they were born, in Southern England.

The workshop learning is reinforced by pupils using the ‘Romans Revealed’ site back at school. We feel that our aim of finding out about the diversity of people in was achieved – and that the pupils really enjoyed the journey they took to come to their conclusions.

Feedback

Pupils: • the Romans came from different countries. • the Romans didn’t just invade Britain. • not all Romans are from Rome. • you can tell a lot about their graves. • some artefacts are for the afterlife. • the Roman emperors did not all come from Rome. • the romans put shoes on their legs when they died.

Teachers: • they learnt about difference in the Romans. • it was good at identifying where the Romans came from. • they enjoyed it but sometimes found it tricky • very interesting and fun, lots of information. • I liked the workshop and wanted to do something similar again. • it is a really good workshop.