The Academic Events Group, 17TH World Conference on Educational Sciences

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De-a arhitectura workshops offer teachers new ways of approaching heritage with primary and secondary students in Romania
BRINDUSA RALUCA HAVASI

Last modified: 2024-10-05

Abstract


88% of European citizens think that Europe's cultural heritage should be taught in schools because it teaches us about our history and culture.  Education for built heritage is deficient at the level of primary and secondary education in Romania. In November 2022 the Ministry of National Education launched 21 programs for new subjects that schools could include in their secondary curriculum starting from the 2023-2024 school year. Heritage Education or Science and Heritage, are some of the new optional courses announced by the Ministry of Education and for which school programs have been developed. The problem is that these programs lack course support, and this is where the De-a Arhitectura Association intervenes, providing educational resources for teachers and pupils. Following some projects in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism in Timisoara and other institutions, such as museums, teachers had the opportunity to collaborate with university teachers and architects enrolled in De-a Arhitectura Association. During the project Heritage and Water, they developed observation, documentation and analysis sheets for three heritage objectives in the city of Timisoara, adapted to primary and secondary school students. The aim of this study is to see how the teachers used and applied the educational resources offered for free by De-a arhitectura Association and how the students reacted to the workshop activities proposed by teachers and architects. A feedback provided by teachers will be analyzed, students and architects following the workshops held on heritage buildings during the summer holiday and the 2023-2024 school year in several schools in Timisoara, Romania. We investigate how easy it is for teachers to use the observation sheets and if they have used them on other occasions, without the presence of the architect. All the participants involved in the project note that they learned new things about heritage, but also from the collaboration with others: primary and secondary school teachers with university teachers, teachers with architects, and pupils with architecture students. The educational resources are available on the De-a arhitectura website and can be freely downloaded by teachers, but their use depends to a large extent on the presence of the architect in the activity. A collaboration between architects, primary and secondary and university teachers is recommended to familiarize them with the topic of built heritage and for the exchange of knowledge and educational practices between different professional categories.


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