Abstract:

The paper examines the multidisciplinary collaborative process leading to the production of an interactive multimedia web-based teaching resource. The website is designed to enhance aspects of the United Kingdom primary history curriculum and to encourage the development of historical enquiry skills in Key Stage Two pupils (age 8-11). The teaching resource brings together for the first time two historical databases containing 19th century census data and Great Ormond Street Hospital admissions data and allows the user to trace the life of a particular child in Victorian London. Key stakeholders in the project team include Kingston University, London Grid for Learning (LGfL), the educational software developers 2 Simple, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The paper gives an overview of the content and format of the website itself and documents the multimedia development process from the initial concept through to completion. The paper includes discussion of an evaluation undertaken by teachers and pupils in order to begin to assess the impact of the resource on primary school practice. Several theoretical perspectives on multidisciplinary team collaboration are utilised to analyse specific procedural elements of the project.

Keywords:

Multidisciplinary, multimedia, interactive, primary, history.