How has life changed in Australia?
What was life like for your Grandma and Grandpa when they were your age? Did they play games on computers or watch movies on their own television?
In Then and Now students handle objects and explore the galleries to investigate how life has changed in Australia over the last 100 years.
Program details
| Year levels | Preschool–4 |
| Group size | 30 students – two groups can run concurrently |
| Duration | 75 minutes |
| Cost | $5 per student |
| Availability | Tuesday–Friday at 10am, 12pm, 3pm |
| Curriculum links |
Australian History curriculum links to our programs (178kb PDF) |
Aims
- Give students an opportunity to explore the collection of the National Museum of Australia.
- Introduce students to the idea of collections and the link between collecting and remembering.
- Introduce the concept that museum objects help us remember stories from the past and tell stories of the present.
Structure
- Introductory activity – students are introduced to the concept of change over time. They handle a large range of objects that would have been used in the home at different times in the past and discuss how these objects have changed.
- Gallery activity – working in groups, students explore the Museum's galleries and participate in a Then & Now treasure hunt, looking at objects which have changed over time.
- Reflection – students share with the class the objects they found of interest in the Museum and discuss how different objects have changed over time.
Exploring the Museum
You may like to allow extra time to visit other exhibitions and to explore other places in the Museum, such as Circa and Kspace. For everything you need to know about visiting, see Plan and book a visit.
Related resources
You may also be interested in the following online interactives:
- The Cobb & Co coach – discover how people travelled before cars and buses
- Emergency at Lonely Creek – learn how people communicated in the Outback in the late 1800s
- The Enterprise – explore the work of paddle steamers on the Murray and Darling rivers in the 1890s
You can also see the full list of resources related to Australian history.