Professional paper
Pedagogical and educational programs of Croatian History Museum for school children visits
Andreja Smetko
; Hrvatski povijesni muzej, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The advantage and specificity of the museum is comprised in the work with the original museum object, which allows learning in the immediate and empirical way. By offering learning methods through games or fun museums can be very useful associates to schools in the creative formation of extracurricular activities. The Croatian History Museum has a long tradition of museum and pedagogical work recognizing museum education as one of important segments of museum work in general. Educational activity of the museum arises from its basic definition as a specialized, historical museum, and its holdings. Understanding the importance, role and the extent of this museum work, the Museum is among the first in Croatia that within the jobs ensured the job position of a museum pedagogue and in this way gave professional and quality approach to the entire museum activities. Even though it has been facing the problem of being cramped at the palace Vojković-Oršić-Kulmer-Rauch, in which it is situated, at the address Matoša 9 in Upper town, the museum has been intensively working on raising quality of museum visits. Its educational activity is directed to school population and is performed in a number of ways:
• by expert design and organization of museum tours;
• by designing independent educational programs that cover certain topics from
Croatian history and are in consent with school syllabus;
• by organizing creative (art) workshops;
• by designing tasks and other educational issues for students and teachers;
• by realization of programs outside the museum, so-called, museum chest;
• by informing and organizing museum visits (updating school addresses, sending info and calendar of events, organizing tours for school representatives, etc.);
Using museum-pedagogical methods and work (working with museum object, interpretation and interactive methods, work with target group) the museum programs allow two-way communication directed to the visitor who from a passive viewer becomes an active participant in the exhibition. A good example of this is given in two historical exhibitions in the Croatian History Museum, which enable the successful application of its interactive and interpretative guiding, with their content and layout, offering the method of animated history. Educational program of animating the crowning ceremony at the exhibition "Koloman's path" activates the visitor and offers him/her the possibility of participating. The second example refers to the type of guiding with interpretation in the first person (costumes) at the exhibition "A Life in the Palace" which offers active and suggestive perception of the exhibition. The purpose of such programs is the efficiency of the visits, which means return of the visitors to the Museum. Quality of a museum visit does not depend only on ways and modes of museum presentation, but also on early communication with schools. Therefore, cooperation of museums and educational institutions is necessary to both. However, it is the most useful to children, as in enriching their school syllabi as in fulfilling their free time.
Keywords
extracurricular activities; museum pedagogy; Croatian History Museum (Zagreb)
Hrčak ID:
334658
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2006.
Visits: 547 *