Learning never stops at the University of Reading, and creating opportunities for everyone to learn through our collections represents a key part of our museums and collections’ mission. We offer a range of freely available online resources thatsupport teaching and learning for students of all ages, backgrounds, and levels.
Schools resources from The MERL
For teachers, both at the museum and in the classroom, The MERL offers a selection of pre-visit, visit and post-visit resources on a range of themes. These include a variety of options that suit different abilities and learning styles, and offer schools cross-curricular learning links across a range of KS1-4 subjects, such as History, Citizenship, Art and Design, Geography and Science.
Picturing Science
‘Picturing Science’ involves slideshows and worksheets for children, teachers and parents, using illustrations in books written and designed by Marie Neurath in the 1950s and 1960s. The resources are grouped under themes that relate broadly to the national curriculum. Each pack contains a slideshow and a related worksheet to download and print.
Free online courses
From sustainable food production to an award-winning 3D digital model of ancient Rome, the University’s exciting, rapidly expanding series of open online courses (OOCs) cover many of the same themes as our museums and collections. They have been developed and supported by expert staff in our world-class departments.
Dissertation subject explorers
These guides are designed to help undergraduate students make use of our collections in dissertations. They relate to Special Collections and The MERL. Explore all of our subject explorers on Special Collections’ website, alongside several Collection spotlight videos.
Although these are designed for University of Reading students in specific departments, they are freely available for students at any institution and in any discipline to use and enjoy.
Discover our collections online
From comprehensive databases of our museum artefacts through to dynamic online exhibitions and rich social media content, our museums and collections are constantly sharing their unique stories digitally. Learn more on our collections page.