Museum lessons as an alternat form of teaching natural sciences in basic secondary school

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of the museum lessons as an alternative form of teaching Natural Sciences for students in basic secondary school. It proposes the detailed analysis of the concept «natural sciences museum lessons» and explores educational activities provided by the Ukrainian museums to schoolchildren. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of the museum educational activities for both, students and teachers: while for students museum lessons are the chance to improve their knowledge, skills and abilities, for teachers, they are the opening to explain subject material in an accessible way and meet the basic curriculum. Most museums in Ukraine and abroad offer standard tours, museum lessons, lectures and educational workshops. Analysis of those activities showed that natural museums have an extremely important role in the education process of children. Natural history museums clearly realize the importance of their educational role by setting the programs for schools. They provide the interdisciplinary approach in teaching and offer natural sciences lessons to students of all educational levels. Educational activities offered by natural history museums are usually complementary to school natural sciences curriculum, which include several school subjects – biology, geography, physics, chemistry, and astronomy. It is emphasized that apart from the educational content, the museums offer a very wide choice of possibilities and new teaching methods, which require students’ active participation. The educational activities of the museums are included into the curricula of basic secondary education and provide information and communication technologies for the organization of information and educational environment of the museum. The study describes and characterizes the activity of Lviv museums, which offer museum lessons their compatibility with the core curriculum of basic secondary education. Keywords: museum lesson, museum education, natural history museum, basic secondary education, educational program, museum innovations.