The school study packs prepared by Glasgow Museums for the Scrolls from the Dead Sea exhibition at Kelvingrove (featured in TES Scotland, April 24) are on sale to the general public. The regular retail price of the glossy packs - one for primary and one for secondary - is pound;9.95 but Glasgow schools visiting the exhibition (at a cost of pound;1 per child) will get one free.
The packs, written by teachers, comprise a 20-page illustrated booklet with a glossary of terms, list of classroom activities and a dozen worksheets. Glasgow Museums’ education officer Jem Fraser says: “Although the packs have been produced for the exhibition, their usefulness is wider. The story of the 2,000-year-old scrolls covers religious and moral education, environmental studies, language and expressive arts.”
Study of the scrolls (which include the oldest known copies of books from the Old Testament) “is a very specialised subject, so for school pupils - and the general public - we’re concentrating on the incredible story of how they came to be found, the lives of the people who produced them and the many objects that were uncovered during excavations.”
Schools wishing to visit the exhibition must book - over 160 already have, some from as far away as England and the Western Isles. Visits begin in the education room where a 10-minute video is screened. Then there is a chance to piece together a scroll jigsaw, re-assemble a pottery jar, take coin rubbings and handle the kind of oil lamps that were used by scroll scribes 2,000 years ago.
Primary schools can book special storytelling sessions, while secondary school pupils who visit on a Wednesday can attend a 30-minute lecture.
The exhibition continues until August 30. Further information and bookings: 0141 287 2748.
Deedee Cuddihy
