The Museum as a learning environment and a supplement to school learning: An example of the educational programs of the Kikinda National Museum

Abstract

Shifting the focus from collections to visitors, museums have developed numerous educational programs in the past few decades, addressed to a diverse audience. Special attention is paid to the school and preschool populations. Schools and kindergartens have become inseparable partners of museums, and the partnership strives to provide education with an informal character. Whet-her it is children from local schools or children who visit museums as part of school excursions, museums serve as an inspiring setting for acquiring and expanding knowledge and enriching experiences. In order to deepen relations with schools and kindergartens, the educational services of museums and galleries create special programs based on the correlation between school programs and museum collections. They do this through such forms as storytelling, workshops, quizzes, and theatrical models. The paper looks at the genesis of pedagogical work in museums and the theoretical starting points of the relationship between schools and museums, and presents the results of empirical research on this relationship and learning outcomes in the Kikinda National Museum.