Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/2. (2011)
Museum Pedagogy
THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM FROM SIBIU - THE EDUCATIONAL PROJECT MY HERO FROM NATURE Ana-Maria MESARO§, Gabriela CUZEPAN Muzeul National Brukenthal Sibiu, Str. Cetätii nr. 1, RO—550160 Sibiu ana.mesaros@yahoo.com, gabrielacuzepan@gmail.com Abstract: The Museum of Natural History from Sibiu through its educational activities promotes environmental education as a central aspect of the process of change towards sustainable development. Environmental education creates enthusiastic students, innovative teachers and inspires all the participants to respect nature. One of these projects My Hero from Nature was initiated at our museum in 2011, the length of the project was of three month (February to April). Each month was dedicated to one animal from our Romanian fauna. The main objective of the project was to offer the students positive role models from the animal world, examples of power, strength, impressive adaptation skills and at the same time introduce new notions related to these animals morphology, habitat, ethology and why it is necessary to protect them. At the project participated over 1000 students from 11 educational institutions from Sibiu County who signed up for 55 activities held by two museum curators, who also coordinated the project Mesaroj Ana-Maria and Cuzepan Gabriela. Keywords: environmental education, educational project, natural history museum. Introduction Today more than ever, society needs high-quality environmental education programs that succeed in moving values and changing behaviours in the direction of sustainability and environmental conservation. Environmental education is often lauded by educators as an ideal way to integrate classroom curricula, stimulate the academic and social growth of young people and promote the conservation of the natural environment. Each year the Natural History Museum from Sibiu promotes a series of projects based on environmental education. The projects have different themes and notions and are held by the museum staff according to their area of expertise. Objectives of environmental education demand more challenging learning outcomes, the existing classroom practices need to be supplemented with more innovative and participatory techniques, and that is why the Natural History Museum is the perfect place to implement different techniques. It is erroneously believed by common people that environmental degradation includes only pollution, cutting of trees, use of non-bio degradable materials and killing of animals. It is also wrongly perceived by majority of us that individuals can do very little with regard to protection of environment and that the responsibility for the same lies either with the Government or with the organisations specially established for this purpose. Many students do not know and understand that little actions on the part of individuals and groups can make M A R I S I A, XXXI, p. 129-137
