Tour at a glance
Level: 4th to 6th class
Group size: 15
Location: Clarke Square, Soldiers & Chiefs, Irish Wars
Duration: 45 minutes
Available: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Booking: Please contact bookings@museum.ie to book this session
This new interactive tour uses games, objects and engaging questions to explore the stories of the ordinary men and women told through the exhibition Soldiers and Chiefs - The Irish at War at Home and Abroad from 1550 to the present day. Students have the opportunity to learn about the daily lives of soldiers at home and abroad and every day heroes confronted with conflict.
This tour uses interactive games, handling objects and engaging questions to explore the idea of what objects can teach us about the past and the lives of those who experienced it.
Our guide engaged the class in an era of history which can be tricky for 11-12 year olds. He guaged everything to the right level, and the students learned loads!
Teacher Feedback
Curriculum links
SESE History
Working as a HistorianTime and chronology
Using evidence
Synthesis and communication
Cause and effect
Empathy
Local studies
My locality through the ages
Story
Stories from the lives of people in the past
Life, society, work and culture in the past
Life in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
Continuity and Change over time
Clothes, Homes and houses, schools and education
Politics, Conflict and Society
Revolution and change in Ireland
1916 and the foundation of the state
Eras of Change and Conflict
The Great Famine
Changing roles of women in the 19th and 20th centuries
World War 1
Other curriculum links
- Visual Art (uniforms, symbols)
Learning outcomes
- Exploring experiences of soldiers in the British Army, as well as exploring the relationship between the soldiers and those who lived around the Barracks and the wider Irish population.
- Making connections to local history.
- Examining the period leading up to Irish Independence and the foundation of the state.
- Enable students to see connections between individuals and artefacts.
- Understanding the impact of war and different viewpoints.
- Developing an understanding of the importance of artefacts in our understanding of the past, and their connection to modern issues.
Resources and suggestions
Before your visit
- Visit the Museum in advance, if possible, to get familiar with the layout, key objects and key narratives. You can also review our Activity Sheets based on the Soldiers & Chiefs gallery.
- Read literature and poetry depicting events from and around the period.
- Use these resources and the exhibition visit to imagine and discuss the feelings and motives of people in the past and to discuss how an event in the past may have been perceived by those who participated in it.
- Consider choices made by individuals and organisations and the contexts these choices were made in.
After your visit
Ideas for post-visit activities:
- Plan a project around your visit and the task students to consider the ordinary heroes in their lives.
- Engage with our 'Proclaiming a Republic: The 1916 Rising' Virtual Tour, which spotlights some of the artefacts and people included on this tour, and many more.