History boot camp offers insights

Gas masks, tanks and the frontline diaries of Kiwi soldiers have offered Wairarapa College Year 13 history students invaluable insights into New Zealanders at war.

College history head Helen Sproat and Neil Frances, from the Wairarapa Archive, last month led 18 students on a two-day foray to the Waiouru Army Museum, where the class conducted independent research that counts towards NCEA grades.

The students focused on military campaigns involving New Zealanders, including the Boer War, WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War, Ms Sproat said.

At the museum, they were able to access primary and secondary source material for their assignments and the information they gathered will be used to gain 10 credits in NCEA History Level 3 out of of 25 for the year.

Ms Sproat said the research comprised "a sizeable component" of the students' study and a quarter of the academic year would be spent using the information.

"We go to Waiouru because it is such a fantastic facility with military records and archive material," she said.

"The primary source material on the soldiers and the battles is invaluable and Neil Francis also is a fantastic resource.

"The student historians get to immerse themselves in the human story which is so important, it becomes real for them by trying on gas masks and sitting in tanks.

"It just immerses the kids in the time they are looking at, it makes it real."

Ms Sproat says the students often have a weak grasp of war as a subject of study but the military museum research provides insight in abundance.