Investigation of a Museum Education Workshop of Széchenyi Zsigmond Hungarian Hunting Museum of Carpathian Basin, with a Focus on Education for Environmental Awareness

Laura Csákiné Dobos; Tímea Kollarics

doi:10.24368/jates349

Laura Csákiné Dobos University of Sopron, Doctoral School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences
Tímea Kollarics University of Sopron, Benedek Elek Faculty of Education

Keywords: environmental education; museum; museum education; environmental awareness; efficiency evaluation

Abstract

More and more museums are offering environmental education programmes, and museum education activities are providing more and more learning and experiences for people of all ages. This study aims to find common ground between promoting sustainability and museum education activities. We investigate the role of museums in the development of environmentally aware attitudes in the framework of a doctoral research. One of our research sites is the Széchenyi Zsigmond Hungarian Hunting Museum of the Carpathian Basin. As part of the research, primary school students participated in museum education workshops. The aim of the surveys conducted at the Hunting Museum of Hatvan was to develop the natural science skills of the third to sixth grade pupils participating in the programmes by providing them with the broadest possible scientific basis and to increase their knowledge of our living and non-living natural resources. We observed the effects of environmental education about the museum workshops, documented changes in students' knowledge and tested their short- and long-term memory (179-172-163 students participated). In the second survey, the students achieved better results in terms of changes in knowledge than in the first questionnaire (our hypothesis was confirmed). The results of the third survey exceeded the results of the second survey in most cases (except one question) (the hypothesis was partially confirmed or overturned).

Author Biographies

Laura Csákiné Dobos, University of Sopron, Doctoral School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Laura Csákiné Dobos works as an environmental educator and education coordinator at the Nógrád Regional Unit of the Bükk National Park Directorate. She has completed her higher education at the University of Sopron and the Szent István University, and is currently a student at the Doctoral School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences of the University of Sopron. Her research interests include environmental pedagogy, forest pedagogy and museum education.

Tímea Kollarics, University of Sopron, Benedek Elek Faculty of Education

Tímea Kollarics works as an associate professor at the Benedek Elek Faculty of Pedagogy, University of Sopron. She is mainly involved in professional teacher training at the institution. The subjects she teaches include environmental, environmental pedagogy and methodology vocational education and pedagogy at different levels of teacher training. She obtained her academic degree at the Kitaibel Pál Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, University of Western Hungary. Her main research interests are trails and field-based environmental education and awareness-raising, with further research in the field of sustainable development and teacher education, as well as vocational education and pedagogy.