Students experience 'active learning' at Inquisitor's Palace

A unique Saturday morning visit to the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa that integrated history with drama, provided Grade 10 and 11 students studying history at San Andrea senior school, L-Imselliet, with an experience of 'active learning'.

To prepare for the visit, the students first held discussions, conducted research and wrote about the Inquisition. It was also decided to act a role-play at the palace, using a script based on an actual Inquisition case, that was provided by Heritage Malta. The fact that the students were going to act the role-play wearing period costumes in the same historical setting where similar events actually took place, motivated the students further.

At the start of the visit, the students were given a guided tour of this unique historical palace, and listened carefully to the information provided by the guide. The students were then handed an interactive workbook created by Yosanne Vella and provided by Heritage Malta, and they toured the palace in small groups, linking what they had studied in class to what they were seeing on site. By exploring the palace on their own and analysing artefacts to fill in the workbook, the students truly discovered the palace.

After completing the workbook, the students were then given their costumes and played a historical character in the role-play. Acting helped them relate with their character and empathise with the particular historical situation. Besides using the script the students also improvised using knowledge they had learnt in class.

The role-play turned out to be a success - the cherry on the cake of a very entertaining and informative visit that reinforced the students' skills of analysis and evaluation of evidence, comprehension, empathy and observation.