Students’ Internship at the Hong Kong Museum of History
- 2020
- News Updates
- Department of Literature and Cultural Studies
Students at the Hong Kong Museum of History
In 2019, students from the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Chinese History) and Bachelor of Education (Honours) (History) had an opportunity to become engaged with their subject in a very hands-on way. 17 students were recruited as interns at the Hong Kong Museum of History to provide services there and at other history-oriented museums around Hong Kong for six months. They attended 12 hours of seminars given by the staff of the Museum. There were 10 hours of workshops on topics to do with laboratory work in preservation, collection management and learning to be a docent. They gave presentations in small groups on what they had learned before they offered their services. Besides the Hong Kong Museum of History, students provided services to the Sun Yat-Sen Museum, the Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the Law Uk Folk Museum. They worked on preservation and upkeep of artefacts. They wrote exhibit captions and helped to plan exhibits. They also worked on the preparation and dismantling of special exhibitions. Dr David Kang Jong Hyuk, Associate Head and Assistant Professor of the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies remarks, “Sometimes, study in history classrooms is too detached from the vividness of past events. When students handle documents and artefacts, they gain a valuable perspective.” He continues, “As history educators, students need to explain historical events to students. From the experience of being docents, students better understand how to use the kind of materials that are to be found in a museum.”
At the opening ceremony on 10 June 2019, Professor Tong Ho Kin, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities gave an opening address. He said, “Many thanks to the Hong Kong History Museum for letting EdUHK participate in this collaborative project and experience the work and educational function of the museum. I hope the participating students will cherish this rare learning opportunity and work hard.”
