This project tool place in June/July as part of an end of term enrichment week. Year 9 pupils were offered places with a particular interest in history, science and/or art.  15 pupils chose to take part.

Day 1:

The entry event for the project was a visit to Newcastle University in June where the pupils were introduced to the special collections archives more generally and then specifically to the resources related to cholera. They then took part in a science workshop in the Medical School. Here they worked with a lecturer and PhD students to find out more about the disease and the cures.

Days 2-4:

This introduction was followed by 3 days in July at Berwick Record Office and Museum researching the local Cholera outbreaks.  The pupils were introduced to the archives, visited local sites (streets, churchyard) affected by the outbreaks and heard about a volunteer’s research on one of the victims. They then worked with a comics researcher/practitioner on the production of a comic which would introduce the subject to a teenage audience.  The project also included a visit to a graphic designer/printer who talked about his job and demonstrated how he would be laying out and then printing the comic.

Showcase events:

The pupils’ work was showcased to a wider audience at two local community events in Berwick: A heritage open day and Berwick Literary festival.

The pre and post project questionnaires demonstrated that the pupils had developed a good understanding of cholera as a disease including its symptoms and that this had improved significantly by the end of the 4 day project -which the pupils themselves recognised.

It was also apparent that there were real benefits to exploring the local aspect of the cholera epidemic and that this added interest and relevance to the learning:

Pupil: I think it makes it more interesting because when people say cholera comes to Berwick and stuff like that you don’t really think oh Spital or Tweedmouth, you think of the main, you know, where the town hall is, it was facts about the surrounding area and where I live and that makes it more interesting

The interviews with pupils several months after the project had ended and when they had started their GSCE history course also showed that they still remembered key facts about the disease and that it was both the work at the university and record office that had supported this:

Pupil: The facts we used, some were from the university, like what went into the cure and stuff and like how the cure worked and some from the archives we learned it was from the water they were drinking

The final version of the comic included many of the key facts that the pupils had learnt. It also highlighted the particular areas of interest for the pupils.