Examining trains using slow looking

This activity has been inspired by the theory of ‘slow looking’ which is most commonly used in museums and art galleries to support visitors to engage with pieces of art more meaningfully. The Tate Museum offers some very helpful top tips on how to facilitate and encourage slow looking.

The six images in this activity have been specifically selected to encourage learners to consider how trains are a feature of our landscapes no matter where you are in the UK or the world. Trains connect and disconnect us from peoples and places and have facilitated mass travel for many years. Trains have captured the human imagination for this exact reason.

This is the first activity in a series of resources designed around trains. See the others below:

• Trains through time
• How trains shape our imagination
• Representation of trains in film and literature
• HS2: Trains and environment

SHAPE is a collective name for social sciences, humanities and the arts. SHAPE subjects play a vital role within our communities and in shaping our lives – past, present and future. SHAPE skills give us the tools to enact change and allow us to better understand the world by providing a myriad of ways to express, analyse and interpret our global world and human experiences.

For more information about the underpinning principles of the resources, visit our website.