High guests” in our Museum!
Visit of the 4th Kindergarten of Nea Smyrni to the Mineralogical Museum gaio-ORAMA
The Mineralogical Museum gaio-ORAMA was once again filled with the children’s voices during the daily visits of schools and a journey into the wonderful world of minerals. On Tuesday 10 May 2022, we received a special visit from the young pupils of the 4th Kindergarten of Nea Smyrni.
During the visit, which for many kids was the first one in a museum, the young pupils were by their surprise discovered that they already know many minerals and their uses, such as the salt that flavours our food, the graphite with which we write, the hematite that gives the red colours to our paintings, the gold, silver and gemstones found in jewels, amber which is nothing else than the fossilized resin of trees buried many, many years ago, and quartz which is the main raw material to produce glass. Each child found a mineral of their favourite colour and all were enchanted in the room with the fluorescent minerals. Then in the fossil section they learned about animals and plants that lived many years ago and are now extinct and the role of climate change in the evolution of species.
Their joy and creativity took off when, they played the role of the “young mining engineer” and they donned the helmet, oriented themselves using a compass, passionately used the geological hammer, studied the minerals of the sand with a magnifying glass and when they were no longer satisfied with the magnification of the lens they continued their study under the stereoscope, they saw the lava of a volcano under the microscope, they made the earth with plasticine, they sifted sand and discovered precious metals and fossils, and much more.
At the end, the kids were bid farewell by our new robotic friend PEPPER, with music and dance moves.
The kids left satisfied, full of new knowledge about the world of minerals, the profession of Mining & Metallurgist Engineer and the Technical University, this “big” school where, as we told them, in a few years, we expect to welcome them as students.
And yes, at the end of the day we had 24 young potential students of our School, who, as we were informed, after the visit, have been searching for minerals in the parks of Nea Smyrni using the equipment they received as a souvenir gift from the Museum.
The young pupils were accompanied on the visit by the Director of the KinderGarten Mrs. Magdalene Chonou, and the teachers Mrs. Vasiliki Oikonomopoulou and Mrs. Amalia Douraki.
In the last two months, since the lifting of the restrictive covid19 measures, 12 schools and about 400 students of all levels of education have visited the Mineralogical Museum gaio-ORAMA and attended the educational activities and toolkits developed in the framework of the RM@Schools ESEE programme.