Make the connection

Children leaning over a museum exhibit. One of them has an iPad tucked under her arm.

Year 6 students investigate an exhibit during their game

Why do we collect objects? What are museums for? And who gets to say?

Our unique iPad app, The Museum Game, challenges you to make connections between objects on display. The more interesting your connections, the higher you score and the more of the board you colonise.

In this program teams of students think creatively about historical sources, and learn collaboratively, by finding surprising connections between disparate objects on display. After the game, your images and ideas are published online for further discussion in the classroom.

Details

Year levels	5–12
Group size	40 students
Duration	1 hour
Cost	$5 per student
Availability	Tuesday–Friday, hourly, 9am–3pm
Curriculum links	This game is versatile! We have identified Australian Curriculum links for History and English

Aims

to inspire students to explore historical sources at the museum
to provide students with the opportunity to work collaboratively and use ICT in their meaning-making
to practise critical and creative thinking through game-based learning

Structure

Introduction – students are issued with a device and participate in a short tutorial that introduces them to the concept of resemblance and how to play the iPad game.
Gallery activity – students play the game in teams over three rounds. A game takes about an hour to play. Students are actively engaged in looking at objects from different perspectives, and imagining ways to connect them to each other.
Reflection – at the end of the game, students gather to discuss which analysis and interpretation of sources was most interesting, and how presentation affects meaning.

Planning your visit

To ensure you get the most out of The Museum Game, look through these curriculum links. The more you prepare your students, the more their gameplay will serve curriculum outcomes.

You may like to allow extra time to visit other exhibitions and to explore other places in the Museum, such as Circa and Kspace. Find out everything else you need to know about visiting.

Or go directly to request a booking.

After your visit

Back at school, you can access your game content – photographs, text relationships, ratings, team photographs and so on – on this website.

How you use the content will depend on which part of the curriculum you're using, but we include some ideas on the curriculum links page for The Museum Game.

Related information

Introduction to The Museum Game
Curriculum links for History and English
Book a group in to play