| Abstract [eng] |
Subject of investigation: The functioning of the ethnographic museum as an educational space. Goal of investigation: To determine the specific nature of the functioning of the ethnographic museum as an educational space through an analysis of the forms and methods of exhibition and educational programs of the Open Air museum of Lithuania. The following tasks were pursued to implement this goal: 1. to determine the fundamental direction of priority activities of museums in documents regulating the activity of Lithuanian museums and to determine the source and changes of priority activities at the Open Air museum of Lithuania; 2. to determine the specific character of forms of exhibition at the Open Air museum of Lithuania; 3. to examine the prospects for learning and teaching within the informal environment of Open Air museum of Lithuania; 4. to determine whether there are commercial elements in the educational program of the Open Air museum of Lithuania, during traditional celebrations; 5. to elucidate changes in the use of educational media at museums and the effects of those changes on the educational process. Over the preceding decades in global practice education has been considered the foundation for all museum activities. Although laws regulating the activities of Lithuanian museums and the statute of the Open Air museum of Lithuania place greater emphasis on the heritage protection functions of the museum as an institution, following Lithuanian independence the museum began to make educational activity the priority. Since 1991 working exhibitions in which exhibits are employed according to their intended function have been organized here. These not only provide the visitor with greater opportunities for learning about and becoming personally acquainted with the context of the past, but also demolish historical and cultural clichés. Educational programs carried out at the museum are one of the most dynamic and effective educational methods which allows for teaching and learning in an informal environment. An ideal type of folk culture clearly connected with commercial elements is propagated in separate educational programs – at traditional celebrations. As information and computer technologies develop extremely rapidly, the museum has begun to make use not just of traditional museum exhibits but also virtual types in its educational activity, beginning in 2004. |
