Space, cold, old classroom problems

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 25

Space, cold, old classroom problems

By

SHEILA LEWTHWAITE

Thousands of children have already used the new classroom which came into use at the Canterbury Museum in March. The result of an agreement between the Canterbury Museum Trust Board and the Canterbury Education Board, the room is by no means the first at the museum. Classes for the last 50 years have been conducted in rooms and spaces virtually all over the building. George Guy, the first education officer, was appointed to the museum in 1938 under an experimental scheme involving a Carnegie grant to the four main centres’ museums. By the end of the year he was offering a series of lectures for secondary school pupils by curators on bird life, volcanoes, New Zealand flora, and Stone Age Man, ancient and modern. Classes were limited to 30 students, and the lectures appear to have taken place in

the old library — soon now to be remodelled into a Victorian museum display in the reconstructed wing.

Officers in the four main centres during a conference in Wellington reported on space problems for tutoring schoolchildren, there being, in most instances, insufficient accommodation even for staff.

The Museum Education Service in those days showed films to classes and used sets of “lantern slides” to illustrate New Zealand natural history, so a withdrawal room was of prime importance. Such a lecture room and another for special displays and club headquarters were sought by Mr Guy in his first reports

on his work. But he continued to work in cramped quarters for the balance of his term.

Again in 1945 by which time a museum club — for boys only — was well established but hampered by lack of a room. Problems increased by the following year because of the growth in popularity of the museum for use by schools. The Education Board three years earlier had apparently had plans drawn for a museum education service building, but pressure for ordinary school buildings diverted that course. The warmth and attractive lighting in today’s building is a departure from conditions re-

ported by Huia Beaumont, the education officer, in June, 1951. “On many mornings the thermometer stood at freezing point for the first period of the day and at least on one occasion it registered four degrees of frost at 10 a.m. It is fortunate that classes are able to move from point to point during the lesson, otherwise teaching would be impossible.”

Complaints were made by various people about the lighting in the Mammal Hall, identification being difficult in some cases. Also the shadowy bear case was more inclined to frighten than educate younger children. The dim lighting was perhaps partly to disguise deficiencies in dis-

plays, some of which dated back to Julius von Haast’s establishment of the museum. A grant of £lOOO was made by the Education Board in 1952 towards the construction of an office and school room in the museum. The “new” wing took another five years to build, and while education rooms were to be part of it, the board proposed to floor over the New Zealand gallery to gain space for the time being. Pleas for heaters continued. By August, 1953, the classroom had a gas fire and a couch supplied by the Education Board. The old serge curtains had been “washed, trimmed and sewn and converted into blankets for use by pupils who were off colour,” it was reported. When work began in 1955 on the Centennial Memorial Wing, the activities of the Education Service were cut drastically. The existing classroom and office were demolished and no alternative accommodation was available. By mid-1956 the education staff had erected a temporary wall in the mammal room to turn part of it into a far from sound-proof lecture theatre. So lessons began again. At the end of 1957 the section moved into four rooms in the new wing and also had the use of the new lecture theatre for films. Two years later the museum itself was heated making teaching forays into the galleries more comfortable. In 1986 the. museum decided that the existing classroom — on the first floor — should be converted to gallery space. As the room had been inconveniently far from the education offices, the offer of an area which was once staff-room quarters turned a bleak space, with Education Board assistance, into a newly ceilinged,wall-lined, carpeted, heated room. To build up a “hands-on” collection, a request went out via the museum news sheet and a suburban newspaper which has resulted in the gift of a mangle, two stoves, and various kitchen equipment. A door footscraper also arrived. The new room has so far been used for a special insects display in which about 3000 children have studied live cockroaches and other beasties. They have also participated in lessons on harakeke where some weaving was taught, and "great-great-great-grandma’s work” which allowed juniors to have hands-on experience. ■ > . This room is already a vital asset to Canterbury schools and would have pleased the founder, von Haast, who gave his own children practical experiences of the museum.