|
|
|
The educational activities
are directly related with the lines of research of the museum and its final objective
seeks to promote a critical and positive attitude of pupils towards the patrimony,
its conservation, and especially, respect towards other cultures. The strong increase
over the last few years of the arrival of immigrants from Muslim countries has increased
the number of pupils with these origins. So coexistence is a fact that has lead us
to approach the necessity of dealing with the issue of multiculturality and presenting,
especially to schoolchildren, the example of tolerance and exchange represented by
the Middle Ages in Catalonia and also the processes that ended the coexistence at
the end of that period.
| 1. Proposals within
the permanent rooms of the museum |
|
|
1.1. The Time Trap
The Time Trap is a team game played by following an itinerary through the permanent
exhibition rooms of the museum and which fosters, as well as the assimilation of
the contents, attention, concentration, group work of the pupils and the observation
of the material exhibited.
The game is set in a story where the pupils are identified with two groups of medieval
adventurers, Muslim and Feudal, catapulted into the future by a Magician. The adventurers
have to regain the memory that they have lost along their journey and they do so
with a series of clues on specific objects in the rooms.
Educational level: 5th and 6th years of Primary Education.
Groups of up to 25 pupils
Duration: 1:30 h.
Price: 2.75 €/pupil |
|
|
1.2. Hisn Balagî-Balaguer, from the
Madîna to the city
A workbook that is carried out attending to the explanations of the monitors and
where the activities are addressed to the personal work of the pupils and the observation
and attention to what has been commented on. Simple but active and attractive exercises
for pupils, with multiple choice type questions, drawing activities or research on
the different materials exhibited in the showcases of the rooms.
Educational levels: Secondary school.
Groups of up to 25 pupils
Duration: 1:30 h.
Price: 2.75 €/pupil |
|
2. The city, complementary
extension of the museum
Balaguer has preserved
the urban traces of what defined it from its origins at the beginning of the 8th
century. The urban evolution allows us to distinguish the construction of different
quarters throughout the Middle Ages, which have been preserved to the present day.
In this way the city of Balaguer constitutes a museum resource in itself and a complementary
extension to the programme of the permanent exhibition. This is why initially two
thematic routes have been established which are accompanied by their own workbooks: |
|
|
2.1. Balaguer: The City of the Three Cultures
(7th to 15th centuries)
The activity is centred around an itinerary through the city combining the historic
thesis with urban growth. The pupil explores, guided by the Harpy, the mascot of
the museum, the ways of life of the inhabitants of the city during the middle ages.
The activities to be carried out are varied; thus, for example, exploiting the scenario
given to us by the streets of Islamic origin of the city, the pupils act out a brief
theatrical script set in the Balagî of the 11th century, where the Andalusian
society and the different social strata that form it are reflected. Crosswords, word
jumbles, games with clues, tests, etc. form the greater part of the exercises.
In order to bring the pupils closer to the frontier atmosphere in which the territories
of present day Catalonia were immersed during the Middle Ages, and to take a brief
rest in the long journey through Balaguer, a military strategy game is played: ėThe
Conquest of Balagî
Educational level: 5th and 6th year of school, and secondary education.
Groups of up to 25 pupils
Duration: 3 h.
Price: 3.45 €/pupil |
|
|
2.2. Balagî, a city of al-Àndalus
The growing interest for issues related to Islamic culture and its cultural heritage
and the demand from the educational centres themselves has lead us to prepare an
itinerary through the Islamic city and the rooms of the museum that deal in depth
with issues related to the way of life in al-Àndalus. So a final workbook
has been created that gathers activities from the previous ones, also incorporating
a visit to the castle of the city.
Educational level: Secondary school.
Groups of up to 25 pupils
Duration: 3 h.
Price: 3.45 €/pupil |
|
3. Synthesis credit:
The game of the Harpy
The museum has
collaborated with the team of teachers from the Institute of Secondary Education
Almatà de Balaguer, in the preparation of a synthesis credit for pupils in
the 2nd year of E.S.O. |
|
|
The guiding thread is the Medieval history
of the city where different personages, either historic like the Andalusian noble
Avimoni, count Ermengol VIII of Urgell and Richard the Lionheart, or inhabitants
of the city of different ranks like major-domos, traders, soldiers or peasants, create
situations that the pupils have to resolve on the basis of the knowledge acquired
in the classroom and that include activities from each of the different areas of
knowledge.
The objectives of the credit are very broad and range from the production and preparation
of texts and the extraction of information from different kinds of sources to the
systemisation and organisation of data and the stimulation of curiosity towards other
cultures and other periods, paying special attention to group work and the interest
in attaining common goals.
The various activities of the credit are mainly carried out outside the school in
the framework of the Medieval city, where each pupil has to elaborate his or her
own dossier.
The evaluation of the credit is carried out on the last day of study in the Institute
and constitutes the culmination of the efforts of the pupils who have to present
their work while playing the ėGame of the Harpyî, a board with the traditional structure
of the Game of the Goose (similar to Snakes and Ladders), but with the squares redesigned
with motifs from Medieval Balaguer.
The pupils, with the help of a dice in plastic that they have prepared in the technology
area, advance around the game board. Each square corresponds to one of the activities
of the dossier they have prepared and which will be presented to the jury of teachers
according to the square on which the dice makes them fall..
Educational level: 2nd year Secondary.
Groups to be decided
Duration: 5 days
Price: please consult |
|
|
