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This blackboard has been painted directly onto the wall of North Ryde Public School's 1910 classroom, now the NSW Schoolhouse Museum.
About the object
About the object
This large blackboard was painted in black straight onto the front wall of North Ryde Public School's 1910 classroom.
It is framed with timber and there is a ledge at the bottom to hold chalk and dusters.
Blackboards were used for all classes for explicit teaching. Lessons were written or drawn by hand on the blackboard surface using chalk.
Students copied work on the blackboard into their exercise books.
Blackboard writing was erased using a thick felt blackboard duster. This was a favoured job by students.
In wet or humid weather the chalk on this blackboard fades away as the wall holds moisture. It reappears when the weather is dry.
Significance
Significance
The size and position of the blackboard indicates it was the main focus of teaching in 1910.
It is a unique immovable artefact that is integrated into the fabric of the building.
The blackboard shows a teaching technology of the time.
Object details
Object details
Date –1910
Creator – NSW Department of Education
Place – 1910 classroom in the NSW Schoolhouse Museum, a building of North Ryde Public School
Materials – paint, timber
Dimensions – 253cm x 156cm to outside edges of frame
Look closer
Look closer
Rows of double desks face the blackboard at the front of the 1910 classroom at the NSW Schoolhouse Museum.
Part of the wall, a timber frame defines the blackboard on the wall of the 1910 classroom of the NSW Schoolhouse Museum.
Think and wonder
Think and wonder
See
See
What do you notice first?
Is the black blackboard paint shiny or matt (non-shiny)?
Think
Think
Why do you think the wall was painted to make the blackboard instead of installing a wooden blackboard?
Why was the blackboard an important feature in the classroom?
What is used in learning spaces today that has the same function as a blackboard?
Wonder
Wonder
What questions does this wall blackboard raise?
What else would you like to know about blackboards?
Do
Do
Compare the 1910 blackboard with an equivalent technology used in your classroom today, such as a whiteboard, smart board, large television screen or interactive whiteboard.
Use a Venn diagram or other comparison chart to list or illustrate the similarities and differences.
Explore and connect
Explore and connect
Box of white chalk, 'Alpha extruded quality chalk', used for writing on blackboards
Box of coloured chalk and two blackboard dusters. The grey felt side of the duster erased chalk from a blackboard.
Chalk
Chalk
Chalks of all colours were used to write on and decorate the classroom blackboard. Chalk is mainly composed of calcium carbonate in the form of the mineral calcite.
It was purchased by schools in cardboard boxes by weight – one gross, or by quantity – 200 pieces.
Teachers had to pass a subject in blackboard writing and decoration in their training.
Draw with chalk onto a blackboard, paper or a hard surface. How do you rub it off?
Blackboard on an easel in use in the NSW Schoolhouse Museum's 1877 schoolroom
Blackboard on easel, circa 1880
Blackboard on easel, circa 1880
Early blackboards were often placed on easels. This allowed them to be moved around the front of the classroom for the best view and to catch the best light.
Being on an easel also enabled the teacher to use the back of the blackboard to prepare a lesson and simply flip the blackboard over when needed.
What would be some other advantages of a portable blackboard in a schoolroom that had children aged 5 years to 13 years?
Join in chanting 3 times tables from the blackboard in the YouTube video Chanting 3x Tables (0:53min, NSW Schoolhouse Museum) – video transcript.
Paper blackboard stencils, packets and instructions. The dotted outlines are holes in the paper.
Paper blackboard stencils, circa 1930
Paper blackboard stencils, circa 1930
Paper blackboard stencils were used by teachers for drawing pictures and maps on the blackboard. The illustrations and drawings were used as decoration, for learning and as a visual aid.
Teachers used paper blackboard stencils by holding the stencil against the blackboard then tapping a blackboard duster over the holes. The dust formed a dotted outline.
The outline dots were then traced over with coloured chalks to create the pictures on the blackboard.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands of people using this site. Is, always was, always will be – Aboriginal land.
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