Sydney Learning Adventures' Time Travellers in The Rocks invites student teams to visit The Rocks and gather evidence of people, where they lived and what kinds of objects they owned.

The program engages students in the process of 'making' history from the initial research phase, development and publication of historical narratives through to critical analysis. Time Travellers in The Rocks presents history as an ongoing debate that is constantly (and often controversially) unravelling. The program provides an authentic learning experience in which students analyse and interpret evidence in order to generate hypotheses on the changing living and working conditions in the area from 1750-1918. Historical concepts including multiple interpretations, pluralistic accounts and historical empathy are encouraged through robust debate.

Excursion stops include:

1. The Rocks Discovery Museum where Time Traveller teams photograph artefacts pertinent to their time period (digital cameras supplied).
2. Significant heritage sites relating to the period being investigated by individual teams.
3. The Research Room where Time Traveller teams select and upload documents pertaining to the sites, subjects and objects recorded during their excursion.

After the excursion, teams are asked to construct theories on the living and working conditions they have uncovered in The Rocks in response to inquiry questions in the Time Travellers in The Rocks' presentation templates.

School groups are encouraged to upload their finished presentations to the Time Travellers in The Rocks website where they can compare their results to those of other schools, check out additional online resources and join the Time Travellers in The Rocks blog to discuss results with other successful time travellers.

Comprised of fun, interactive learning activities, Time Travellers is a great way to develop historical skills in a non-threatening way at a critical learning stage, and participants can make this adaptable program as easy, or complex, as they wish.