MUSEUM – BETWEEN HISTORY AND EXPERIENCES

Abstract

“Action for children. Backing the futureâ€,  a project developed in United Kingdom, identified six key service pathways to child well-being (Aked, J.; Steuer, N.; Lawlor, E.; Spratt, S., 2009). These pathways help create the conditions for improving children’s psychological and social well-being, and influencing positive outcomes over the longer term. They were found to have applicability in universal and targeted service settings and they are in line with results of previous studies (Gardner, 2005; Goleman, 2004). These pathways includes building relationships based on stability and trust and link children into their wider community, promoting of positive emotions and experiences to help ensure happy childhoods and drive longer term positive outcomes, encouraging to use their strengths in a practical way. This approach combines consideration of the structural factors affecting the circumstances of children’s lives, together with the psychological and social aspects of their well-being. The combined approach is important due to the dynamic nature of well-being, where positive experiences (‘feeling good’) and outcomes (‘doing well’) arise through the interplay between children’s external circumstances, their inner resources, and their capabilities and interactions with the world around them.

In order to illustrate the importance of this combined approach, we developed a long-term partnership with several museums from Brașov. Students from the first grade of primary education learned about history, local traditions and cultural identity in formal or non-formal context and transferred their acquisitions in everyday life.  They could also teach their parents about the history of houses or costumes and they built together memories for a lifetime.