For schools, the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg and its facilities offer guided tours and project days that are age-appropriate, activity-oriented and related to the curriculum.
The diverse themes of the exhibitions and collection areas open up numerous points of contact with the Thuringian curriculum.
The programme is aimed at primary school, regular school and grammar school pupils. The programme will be continuously expanded to include other subjects and other types of school.
The extracurricular venues of the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg offer opportunities for vivid, action-oriented and explorative learning. The aim of the educational offers is to enable pupils to independently use the museum as a place of learning and experience to acquire information, to train their powers of observation and to promote their aesthetic knowledge and skills through active creative engagement.
Discover the natural history cabinet of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt!
Heidecksburg Palace Rudolstadt, Natural history museum
Primary school, grade levels 1-4,
Subject: Local history and geography
Duration: 2 hours (with practical part)
Content: Animals and plants, fossils and stones were collected at the Rudolstadt royal court more than 250 years ago. A natural history cabinet was founded, which today in its reconstructed form is one of the museum's greatest treasures and bears witness to great curiosity, local biodiversity and the richness of nature.
In a dialogue-based guided tour, the pupils discover selected treasures of Heidecksburg Palace from the collections of the counts and later princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Pieces from the chamber of art and a reconstructed part of the princely natural history cabinet created at the end of the 18th century provide an insight into the princely collecting of artefacts and natural objects as well as into the development of museums. At the same time, the pupils are introduced to the significance and tasks of a museum today.
Practical part: Afterwards, there is the opportunity to practically explore what was seen in the museum's educational workshop, to design small art chamber pieces yourself or to create a collage on the theme of »contemporary art worth collecting«.
Aims:
- Inspire curiosity and the desire to discover the history of one's own town/region
- To get to know the Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt as patrons of the arts and sciences
- Gain insight into the origins of museums and the tasks of modern museums
- To recognise museums as preservers of cultural heritage and as a medium for the acquisition of information
Native flora and fauna in the Natural History Museum
Heidecksburg Palace Rudolstadt
The natural history museum's territorial focus is the natural region of south-eastern Thuringia. A display collection of birds and mammals, an animal geography exhibition, an outline of the history of the collection, which is over 250 years old, and the natural history cabinet are presented.
Duration: 1 hour
Content: Guided tours of the local flora and fauna are offered for the following learning areas of the subject local history and geography:
- Local bird species
- Meadow and forest habitats: animals and plants
Learning area: Animals
Subject competence: The pupil can describe selected birds with regard to appearance, reproduction, way of life in different seasons, selected migratory and resident birds, measures for bird protection, name and describe selected animals in trees and bushes with regard to appearance and way of life.
Learning area: Habitats
Subject competence: The pupil can identify and describe plants and animals in the meadow habitat, describe the importance and benefits of the meadow habitat for humans and animals, name measures to protect nature. In addition, the importance and benefits of the forest for plants, animals and humans can be described, as well as relationships between living organisms in the forest habitat and selected adaptations to the seasons.
Methodological competence: The pupil can compare selected plants and animals on the basis of given characteristics, use media sources to obtain information, make collections of plants.
Practical part: Afterwards, there is the opportunity to deal with what you have seen in a practical way in the museum's educational workshop: from looking under a microscope to creating a herbarium; depending on the chosen topic of the previous guided tour, various things are possible in consultation.
Discover the natural history cabinet of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt!
Heidecksburg Palace Rudolstadt, Natural history museum
Subject: History
Duration: 2 hours (with practical part)
Content: Animals and plants, fossils and stones were collected at the Rudolstadt court more than 260 years ago. A natural history cabinet was founded, which today in its reconstructed form is one of the museum's greatest treasures and bears witness to great curiosity, not only of local biodiversity, and the richness of nature.
In a dialogue-based guided tour, the pupils discover selected treasures of Heidecksburg Palace from the collections of the counts and later princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Pieces of the art chamber and a reconstructed part of the princely natural history cabinet created at the end of the 18th century provide an insight into the princely collecting of artefacts and natural objects as well as into the development of museums. At the same time, the pupils are introduced to the significance and tasks of a museum today.
Practical part: Afterwards, there is the opportunity to deal with what you have seen in a practical way in the museum's educational workshop, to create small art chamber pieces yourself or to make a collage on the theme of »contemporary art worth collecting«.
Curriculum reference:
Learning area: Introduction to the history of the home region
What is history? References to monuments, street and field names, castles, churches, legends, photos, fashion, chronicles, historical sources (selection): utensils, non-written and written factual evidence; expand information on historical facts by visiting e.g. museums, exhibitions or libraries.
Aims:
- Inspire curiosity and the desire to discover the history of one's own town/region
- To get to know the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt as patrons of the arts and sciences
- Gain insight into the origins of museums and the tasks of modern museums
- To recognise museums as preservers of cultural heritage and as a medium for the acquisition of information