Education

Multimedia learning and teaching resource 

The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority has developed a highly engaging and interactive CD ROM, called Key to Port Arthur Investigations. It is a rich multimedia education resource which can encompass all subject areas within the curriculum. It has been primarily designed for use in middle schools but can be used, in part, at upper primary level.

Unique and relevant

Key to Port Arthur Investigations is unique because it embraces the curriculum, from stimulus material through to assessment. It can be used as a stand - alone resource or in conjunction with site visits and other resources. We are currently developing lesson and unit plans which can be used with the CD which will be made available to teachers at a later date.

Select key Port Arthur Lives

The program uses a CD ROM as a starting point; this is linked to a purpose built website to allow students to select a key life from Port Arthur and follow that life through a series of tasks that make explicit links between the Port Arthur Historic Site and contemporary society. While based around the Port Arthur Historic Site and its history and inhabitants, the CD ROM has relevance across the range of curriculum areas.

Rich multimedia content

Key to Port Arthur Investigations uses more than an hour of video images and over 100 pages of original research material and has been designed to complement the curricula of the Tasmanian and mainland school systems. It also has wider international appeal for those interested in the contribution that the convict era made to Australia’s history.

More information

If you require more information regarding Key to Port Arthur Investigations, or any other education issues, please contact our Education Officer.

Download Key to Port Arthur Investigations

Instructions

1.  Click on the Key to Port Arthur Investigations download link (below)
2. Choose ‘SAVE’ when prompted in the dialogue box. The document will take approximately 30 – 40 mins to download.
3. A window with many icons will appear, double click on the icon, ‘START’.
4. A dialogue box will appear. Choose ‘EXTRACT ALL’ and follow the instructions, saving to your computer’s hard drive. This should take about 8 mins.
5. Once this has been completed, a window will pop up with an assortment of files.
6. Among the files should be a red icon, with a stylised ‘ds’ symbol. Double Click on this.
7. A dialogue box will appear with a security warning. Click ‘Run’.
8. Key to Port Arthur should begin automatically.

Technical requirements

• PC/Mac compatible
• Adobe acrobat reader
• 256 Mb RAM
• Windows 98 / OS9 or later

• Key to Port Arthur Investigations [external link]

  Please refer to the instructions above. At 518 MB, the file is a large one. It will take some time to download.

  
• Key to Port Arthur Investigations CD Sleeve [PDF 865KB]

  Download the sleeve to the Key to Port Arthur Investigations CD ROM, which contains further information about the ground-breaking interactive teaching and learning resource.

  
• Classroom Resources

  Have a look at the lesson and unit plans and other resources that are available for use in conjunction with Key to Port Arthur Investigations.