About the Session 

An exploration of life in Victorian England through the portraits, landscapes and story paintings in Gallery 2 at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Duration: 2 hours

Session Format: The museum led session is scheduled for 2 hours and is delivered in the first 60 minutes of your booked slot. We recommend that schools use their second hour for follow-up time from the taught session.

Available: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. All Seasons.

About the Session 

Find out about the peoples and cultures of Mesoamerica and South America. See and handle objects from Peru, Mexico and even the far corners of the Amazon rainforest.  From modern jewellery to ancient potatoes, this session will help students better understand the cultural diversity of Latin America.

Duration: 1.5 hours

About the Session 

This discussion based session examines the relationship between museums and indigenous peoples, as well as current issues with collection, curation and repatriation. Students will learn how the collections come to the Museum and how we navigate the ethics of display and access for indigenous communities.

Duration: 1.5 hours

About the Session 

Using the collections housed at the Whipple Museum and Whipple Library, this taught session focuses on the impact and legacy of the theory of evolution by natural selection. It will also provide students with an insight into how science works, including Charles Darwin’s engagement with the wider scientific community and the observational basis of his theory.

About the Session 

This session will motivate students to think deeply about the science of the everyday – specifically why and how we see colour. Using prisms and optics and looking at the work of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell, students will understand how interaction between light, material and the human eye result in colourful creations.

Duration: 90 minutes

Session Format: 30 minute taught session + 30 minute handling and/or craft activity + 30 minute self exploration

About the Session 

Via gallery investigation, source analysis and discussion, and students will get a glimpse of science from the diverse perspectives of colonial forces and native peoples. After being led around our Astronomy and Empire exhibition by a museum teacher, students will be given sources and objects in order to prepare presentations on three or four case studies exhibited.

Duration: 90 minutes

Session Format: 30 minute taught session + 30 minute case study preparation + 30 presentation and discussion

About the Session 

How did the ancient Maya express their identity? What objects they used to show their power? What can archaeology tell us about Maya life? These are some of the questions we will discuss while students learn how to read a Maya monument and handle objects from Central and South America.

Duration: 90 minutes

About the Session 

This gallery taught session explores the human continuum of body modification, decoration and transformation by looking at ethnographic objects on display that highlight these concepts. 

Duration: 1.5 hours

Session Format: A museum teacher will lead the first 45 minutes of the session.  Students will then have a chance to independently investigate the galleries and conduct their own object research.

Available: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All Seasons.

About the Session 

Archaeologists use objects from burials (grave goods) to learn about the lives, art, culture and settlements of Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Students will see grave goods, complete a sensory activity and reconstruct an Anglo-Saxon burial using real artefacts and teaching replicas. 

Duration: 90 minutes

About the Session 

What was life like in Roman Britain? Did people live in the Cambridge area in Roman times? What can archaeology tell us about Roman settlements in Britain? These are some of the questions we will discuss as students see and handle objects from across the Roman Empire as well as objects found in Duroliponte (Cambridge’s Roman town name).

Duration: 90 minutes