Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/2. (2011)
Museum Pedagogy
Ana-Maria MESAROS, Gabriela CUZEPAN significant contribution to the protection of environment. It needs to be brought to the students’ attention that maintaining environmental health begins from them. In 2011 the museum lunched a new educational project named metaphorically My Hero from Nature, coordinated by Mesaro? Ana-Maria and Cuzepan Gabriela. The starting point of this project was that our current society has a few role models for our young generation to follow. A child with a role model is more likely to be inspired and driven to achieve his or her goals, than a child without one. Having a role model opens up our minds to possibilities we otherwise thought were far out of our reach. Each generation has its role models, which represents them. If we ask a first grade student who is his hero, he will say that a cartoon character with supper powers and if we ask a teenage student he will say an actor or singer. None of these are, in many cases, true role models. Nature has his heroes and through this project we attempted to reveal the secret aspects of the animals, which make them unique. During history, human kind has admired animals, transforming them in to religious and power symbols and included them in art and literature. We even reached that point of killing them for their body parts believing that if we consume or ware them then we will have the same qualities as the live animal possessed. Unfortunately many times, these impressive creatures have been hunted because of their attribute or because for us it was hard to understand their adaptations and today they are endangered. Nature through its diversity and dimensions offers examples of courage and power, strength and survival, true role models for each and one of us. The major learning outcomes of the project were: 1. To improve awareness about environmental concerns; 2. To develop understanding of animal life and behaviour; 3. To arouse concern for animal protection; 4. To stimulate commitment for environmental protection; 5. To demand action to promote conservation of animals and their habitats. The activities developed during the project were not meant to be prescriptive. Instead, these were suggestive and cut across not only through content areas of different subjects but also curricular activities and other programmes of the schools. The teachers were suggested to design similar activities to suit their locale-specific situations and achieve the desired results. Materials and methods During other educational activities performed by the project coordinator they observed that if asked what is their favourite animal the children would give exotic examples like lion, tiger, exotic poisonous reptiles and spiders, but none of them mentioned an animal from the Romanian fauna. Romania’s fauna was and still is one of the richest and most varied in Europe, boasting some rare and even unique species on the continent. Although Romania is rich in biodiversity, the country has undergone a progressive loss of biodiversity as a result of human activity. Children from a young age must learn to respect our country natural habitats and to protect the wild fauna and flora. The scientific mission of our Natural History Museum is set by its one profile: the study of biodiversity through research on the collection and transfer of scientific knowledge to the public, aiming to educate while spending enjoyable free time, the spread of knowledge regarding the Romanian natural heritage, raising awareness of current issues related to environment, species and habitats. That is why the project coordinators decided to appoint for each month an animal present in our natural habitats: for February the Bear (about 60 % of the total European brown bear 130
