...which was based the Designated World Cultures Collection of Exeter Museums, and the Virtual Victorians project (based on the Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life collection). Both resources were developed principally for UK primary schools.

The article explores the characteristics of online learning activities that move children from a sense of wonder into meaningful engagement with objects and their original contexts both in their virtual space and their physical space. The relationship between the virtual object and the physical object is examined, seeking an answer to the question: how does engagement with a virtual collection affect the attitude to the physical collection itself?

The analysis revealed findings across a wide range of research areas. Areas which will be the subject of future publications include: family learning in museums, family learning through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), museums and literacy, emotional responses to virtual objects.

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BURMESE THEATRE ORCHESTRA

The Burmese Theatre project ("Burma") is a partnership project between Exeter Museums and The Telematics Centre, University of Exeter, and is based on the Designated World Cultures Collection of Exeter Museums.

The Burma website (Prosser, Eddisford, Prosser, Osborne, & Kingsland, 2003) at www.molli.org.uk/burma was designed in 2002, to support the English primary curriculum (age 5-11) in Music, English, Geography, Art and Design, ICT and Design, and Technology. Users are able to find out about the Burmese Theatre orchestra held in store at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter, and to listen to some of the instruments being sounded. A simulation developed in Macromedia Flash, allows users to play some of the instruments, and to record and play back their own compositions (a screen shot of this section of the site is given in Figure 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

A scheme of work for primary teachers was developed and made available on the site. Following the scheme the children read and analyse traditional tales upon which Burmese puppet dramas are based, develop their own "script" from one of these tales, and produce their own puppet show, making the puppets, scenery, and box theatre. The children are invited to compose their own music for the show, either using the online Burmese instruments, or their own comparable instruments. A small gallery of Burmese Lacquer objects is provided as a source of inspiration for the decoration of the theatre, and to support a further Design and Technology activity: making a papier-mache lacquer bowl.

Known users of the site include teachers, parents, children in and out of school, adults in general, and other museum professionals.

VIRTUAL VICTORIANS

Virtual Victorians (Eddisford, Prosser, Kingsland, & Osborne, 2003) is a partnership project between Tiverton and Mid Devon Museum Trust and The Telematics Centre, University of Exeter. Developed between 2000 and 2003, Virtual Victorians extends and improves the learning resources of a small, successful museum-based education service through the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) at www.victorians.org.uk. It was designed to support the English primary (age 5-11) curricula in History, ICT, and English.

The site provides learning material for schools to study life in Victorian Times (a screen shot of the homepage is provided at Figure 2). There are opportunities to access the museum collections through digital images of Tiverton Museum artefacts and access to objects not normally available for handling or display. Users can follow a typical week in the life of a Tiverton working class family, and even ask the family questions through a web form in "Ask a Victorian." The "e-toys" section of the site uses Macromedia Flash (which allows multimedia designers and developers to integrate video, text, audio, and graphics into immersive, rich experiences) to allow users to manipulate some of the objects in simulations designed to replicate the original Victorian experience and use of...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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