Decorative Arts & History

Workshop at a glance

Level: 3rd to 6th class
Group size: 20
Location: The way We Wore: 250 years of Irish Clothing and Jewellery exhibition
Duration: 1 hour
Available: Thursday 10am to 11am and 12pm to 1pm
Booking: Please contact bookings@museum.ie to book this session

This workshop is set in ‘The way We Wore: 250 years of Irish Clothing and Jewellery’ exhibition. Using their detective skills, students will uncover how clothing and fashion accessories convey information about the men, women and children who wore them, and about the society in which they lived. A selection of objects from the Museum's handling collection will challenge children to think more deeply about themes such a rich and poor and the changing roles of woman in the past.

Curriculum links

SESE History

Working as a Historian
Time and chronology/ Using evidence/ Communication

Life, society, work and culture in the past
Life and culture in late 19th and early 20th century Ireland

Continuity and change over time
Clothing over time 

SPHE Curruculum
Being Creative-Students explore and evaluate options in the context of decisions they make and consider possible outcomes and consequences. Thinking creatively and being open to the viewpoint and perspective of others is also encouraged.
Managing Information And Thinking- Students are encouraged to question assumptions (their own and others) and social norms. They are supported to reflect on their learning and prompted to review their learning in light of new information and insights gained.

Visual Arts Curriculum
Drawing, Construction
 

Learning outcomes

·       To encourage the children to look at clothing from the past and understand that the clothes people wear say different things about them and that people wear clothes for different reasons.

·       To help the children to think about the real people who wore these clothes and how it must have felt to wear them. To help children critically examine the roles of children and women in the past. 

·       To encourage the children to see the similarities, as well as the differences, that exist in how people wear clothes now, i.e. wearing clothes in order to impress; how rules may have changed but still exist.