There are several ways to visit the Powerhouse Discovery Centre. Supervised and themed tours can be tailored to each group’s specific interests and needs to meet Key Learning Area requirements. All tours ensure that students and teachers experience and work directly with objects from the Museum’s collection with a focus on discovery and exploration.
Teachers notes
Venue and safety information for school excursions
For information about all programs, costs and opening times please contact us on (02) 9762 1300 or email castlehill@phm.gov.au
PRIMARY PROGRAMS
Display Store Visit
A self-guided class visit through the Display Store, the centrepiece of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre. Explore the larger objects in the Museum’s transport and technology collections and discover the Museum’s treasures by opening the thematic drawers on the upper level of the Display Store.
Available: From Term 1, 2008
Length: 60 minutes+
Bookings essential: (02) 9762 1300
Weird and Wacky Machines Stage 2
Ideal for Years 3 and 4 students studying machines and transport. This guided program relates to the Science and Technology units Out and about and Making it easy and also to the COGS unit Machines. This program includes a multimedia introductory presentation, followed by a tour of the Display Store and a hands-on activity (case study) where students can handle a series of objects and models.
Available: From Term 2, 2008
Length: 90 minutes
Bookings essential: (02) 9762 1300
Life in the Past Stage 1 HSIE
This guided tour is ideal for the Stage 1 units Our stories, our families, The way we were and Families past and present. Years 1 and 2 students will discover how people lived in the 1880s and early 1900s in Australia, with a multimedia introductory presentation drawn from the story of a family visiting the 1879 International Exhibition, a tour of early horse-drawn and steam-powered vehicles, and the opportunity to examine artefacts from everyday life past and present in a hands-on activity (case study).
Available: From Term 2, 2008
Length: 90 minutes
Bookings essential: (02) 9762 1300
Powerhouse Discovery Centre Education Philosophy
The Powerhouse Discovery Centre: Collection Stores at Castle Hill is the Powerhouse museum’s storage and collection care facility. Its centrepiece, the Display Store features over 3,000 objects and provides a museum like experience for visitors.
The Discovery Centre’s education and public programs provide our visitors with a range of engaging activities which encourage discovery and learning. Our philosophy is to enable visitors to enjoy and explore the museum’s collection.
The Discovery Centre presents innovative programs which provide life long learning experiences and supports teachers in the delivery of school curricula. Our ‘case studies’ enable our visitors to work directly with, and handle, objects from the Education Collection.
The Discovery Centre’s 56 dedicated volunteers and staff deliver all programs for diverse audiences.
SECONDARY AND TERTIARY PROGRAMS
Display Store Visit and Site Tour
Introduces Secondary and Tertiary students to the history of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre followed by a tour of the Display Store. The Display Store provides students with a museum experience where they can see an extensive range of objects large and small, including trams, buses and steam engines. Students will also have the opportunity to get a sneak peek inside a storage area to view some of the extraordinary objects not normally shown to the public. Learn more about how museums care for their collections.
Suitable for History (Years 7, 8 Mandatory and Years 7–10 Elective History) and Design and Technology students, Years 7–10.
Available: From Term 1 2008
Length: 90 minutes
Bookings essential: (02) 9762 1300
Collection Focus Visits to Other Stores
These specialised visits give students access to the stores not normally open to the public, as well as the Display Store and the Resource Room. Students may look at highlights of the site and the collection, follow a theme or focus on a particular part of the collection. Visits can be tailored to the needs and interests of the group. In the Resource Room students can research the Museum’s collection online.
Suitable for Secondary Design and Technology students and Tertiary Museum Studies students.
Available: From Term 1 2008
Length: 90–120 minutes
Bookings essential: (02) 9762 1300
Industrial Arts Visits to the Powerhouse Discovery Centre
There are numerous themes that will provide students with knowledge and understanding of design in product development, building materials and construction, timber, metals, plastics and ceramics, and past and present lifestyles,
These are guided tours by our volunteers and can be tailored to your teaching programs
DISTANCE CONQUERED: Engineering Studies Stage 6
DISTANCE CONQUERED is ideal for Engineering Studies Stage 6. This structured program is based on the Modules of Personal and Public Transport and Aeronautical Engineering. It relatesspecifically to the history of transport, traces materials choices and manufacturing methods, and looks at the use of specific materials in light aircraft design.
The program includes a multimedia presentation followed by a tour of the Display Store and another storage area. At the completion of the tour, a further power point presentation will review current transport systems and look at possible future directions through the sociological and environmental impact on society.
Cost: $10 students (One teacher free per 10 students)
Available: from Term 3, 2008, Tuesdays-Fridays, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm
Length: 90 minutes
Bookings essential (minimum three weeks’ notice): 02 9762 1300
Technology programs
Visits specific to the Technology syllabus are currently being developed, and will be available in 2009. For more information please contact the Education and Volunteers Coordinator on (02) 9762 1303
