Once we’d been given the initial brief we decided to choose Junior School Outing as our user group.Firstly, we wanted to find out about our user group. The main points we wanted to focus of were what the user group was like, their likes and dislikes, and their effect upon the client, the Museum of Liverpool. From this information we could then create a ‘character’ profile of our user group.
This is what we found out about a Junior School Outing as a user group.[talk about the photo]
We wrote down all the likes and dislikes of children this age so that we could create our final idea around this. This would then ensure that our product was something that fitted with the likes of the users’ but without having things that they disliked in it.[talk about the photo]
By making notes on the effect that the user group would have on the client, we could start to see how a Junior School Outing and the Museum of Liverpool would come together.[talk about the photos]
This is the ‘character’ profile which we created. This meant that we then had a teacher, who was taking their class on a Junior School Outing, to come and visit our final product.[talk about the photo]
During the beginning of the ideas stage, we knew that we wanted our final product to include all of these elements.The product had to be educational because of our user group and we thought we could incorporate this by asking the children questions.We wanted the children to learn through play so that they were enjoying themselves and the experience was something that they couldn’t get from just sitting in a classroom. To do this we decided on having different sections so the children wouldn’t get bored and this would allow them to explore and discover different things.
The first thing we needed to do was decide which subject from the school curriculum we wanted to base our product on. We chose Geography as we thought it would fit well into the Museum of Liverpool and it was a subject which would allow us to create something which the children could explore.From this we could then choose what our different sections would be based upon. We created 4 as this would give us a good variety of environments. We went with a volcano, a desert, a rainforest and the arctic. We thought we would make one of the rooms bigger than the rest so that we had an end point to the experience.The questions that the children would be asked would be based on each particular environment but we wanted to make sure that they linked in to the experience of that room. This led us to creating a climax point for each of the environments. Each correct answer that the children gave would lead up to triggering this climax, signalling the end of the experience in that room.
These are the elements that we wanted to have in the volcano and desert environments.[talk about the photos]
These are the elements that we wanted to have in the rainforest and arctic environments.[talk about the photos]
Once we’d chosen the environments and looked into what we wanted to incorporate in each, we then worked on how the day itself would work in terms of the layout. We decided to make the Arctic into the bigger end environment. The groups would spend 20 minutes in each of the environments before stopping for lunch. After the break they would then re-form as a class to go into the last environments together, spending 40 minutes here.
After receiving feedback on our idea we made some changes and began to look into adding or developing other things.As our product was too big in terms of scale we changed the environments from being in rooms to pods. We also removed the volcano as this was something which we came to see wouldn’t be very doable. From this we decided not to have a big room at the end and made the Arctic into the same size as the other 2 environments.By making the experience more sensory the children would have more to discover than just visually so we then thought about using some elements which involved using touch and sound as well as sight.We also needed to link the pods together better so we started to consider a pathway of some sort.The climaxes for some of the experiences were a bit too unrealistic so we then had to alter that for some of the environments.
After considering these changes we then received some more feedback which gave us our final considerations for our final product.In addition to creating some sort of pathway between the pods we also needed to work on how the pods would be laid out in the space. From this we then chose to make the pathways as tunnels between each pod.As our user group is a Junior School Outing we needed to develop some sort of narrative for the experience so the children would have a purpose and an objective to their day.Since we no longer had one big room at the end we needed to create an ending for the whole experience. With this we wanted there to be something tangible which the children could take away with them so they had something to show for their day.
There will be a narrative to accompany the children’s day so that they have a purpose to their visit. This allows them to have a fun element to their educational trip.Andy the Adventurer has gone missing. He has been known to have explored the Desert, the Rainforest and the Arctic recently. The Museum of Liverpool need the Junior School children to come and help them locate Andy’s whereabouts so the children will be following in his footsteps by visiting each of these 3 environments to gather clues which will help them in their search. These clues will be gathered by correctly answering a series of questions based on the particular environment which they are in.
Prior to arriving at the Museum, the school will be sent a Teachers’ Pack all about the exhibition the children are visiting. This pack will contain a covering letter which informs the teacher what the objective of the experience is and what the children should get out of it. The letter will also cover the layout of the day so the teachers know what to expect in terms of timing. Included will be a ‘missing’ poster, which the teacher will show to their class and then display in the classroom, and a set of questions, these will the questions which the children are asked during the exhibition so this will aid the teacher in terms of what the children will need to know for the visit.
This is the ‘missing’ poster which will be shown to the children by their teacher when they are first being told about the upcoming trip to the Museum of Liverpool. This will then be display in the classroom for the children to see.
This is how the pods will be laid out in the exhibition space. The children will follow the path round the exhibition, visiting each of the environments in their groups. In the changing rooms the groups will meet their guide for each environment and put on the relevant costume props. The props will be; in the Arctic - gloves, scarves, hats; in the Desert - sunglasses; in the Rainforest - hats.[hold up each prop as they are mentioned]
This is a detailed step-by-step guide which explains how the day will pan out as the children progress round the exhibition in their groups. [give out as hand-out][show models with props - explain]
Each of the environments will be housed in its own pod. This is an example of what the Rainforest pod would look like from the outside. Each pod will be a different colour to represent the environment.
This is what the Rainforest pod will look and sound like once inside. [play sound clip][talk about picture]
This is what the Desert pod will look and sound like once inside. [play sound clip][talk about picture]
This is what the Arctic pod will look and sound like once inside. [play sound clip][talk about picture]
In each environment there will be a question pod. The children will gather around this pod with there guide when they are going through the questions. A question will appear on the screen, like the ones shown here, and the guide will have a set of answer cards, each answer will be multiple choice. Once the children have decided what their answer is, the guide will give the card to one of the children who will place it in the slot in the pod. If the children get the answer correct then one of 2 things will happen. Something will happen in the room, it could be visual or sound based, or the children will be guided to a part of the room where they will find a clue about the missing explorer. If the children get the answer wrong then they will be given the chance to have another go.All of the questions for each environment, along with their multiple choice answers, are included in the Teachers’ Pack.
At the end of each experience there will be a climax which the questions have been building up to. This will act as a signal that the experience in that environment has now finished. In the Rainforest, the guide will bring out a real parrot for the children to meet. In the Desert, the temperature in the room will drop and it will go dark. The change in temperature won’t be extreme but it will be noticeable. In the Arctic, the Northern Lights will appear on the walls. [play video]
Once the children have been in all of the environments, they will reform as a class in the centre of the pods. A guide will go through all of the clues that each group has collected with them and then the children will decide which environment Andy the Adventurer is lost in. The children will go back into their chosen environment to see if Andy is in there.
To finish off the experience for the children, Andy the Adventurer will give each of them a goody bag so that they will have something which they can take home with them. The goody bags will be related to each of the environments that the children have been exploring throughout the day along with some goodies from the Museum of Liverpool shop. This will allow the children to take away something tangible with them so that they remember their visit to the exhibition and have something to show for it.