The
Education Program was founded in 1996. Its main task - to advance
learning about the period of occupation in Latvia. The Program
organizes student visits at the Museum and in-service training seminars
for history teachers. Over the years it has offered various activities
promoting understanding and study of recent Latvian history. Today the
Program has become an essential part of the Museum as well as a
significant national institution in the field of history teaching and
teacher training.
The Education Program offers the visiting students thematic,
interactive lessons. The thematic approach is important, because a mere
"running through" the entire Museum in an hour or so is definately less
effective than immersing the students in a single topic. Immersion is
especially relevant for students who have not yet studied this period
of history. The subjects the Museum presents are quite challenging -
students have to take up politics, they invariably have to face
atrocities of the past - therefore the Program takes every student
visit seriously and treats it as an important part of their educational
process.
Often students seek out the Museum for help with their research
projects. In other cases, a visit to the Museum or participation in an
Education Program organized seminar produce ideas for students' future
projects. To promote students' interest in Latvia's recent history, the
Program organizes various writing and research competitions.
History teachers are the most important target group of the Education
Program . Teacher seminars and workshops have been held since 1997,
when teaching materials on occupation history were first developed.
Later the Program organized thematic seminars on topics such as Soviet
Deportations, Nazi Occupation, Resistance, etc. All along the Program
has been scheduling methodological seminars for teachers. At the
present, the Program is offering information seminars for local history
teachers where they learn about the Museum, its approaches and possible
formats of student visits. Twice a year the Program publishes a
newletter for all history teachers in Latvia's schools informing them
about new exhibits at the Museum, activities of the Program as well as
teaching tips and materials for use in the classroom.
The Education Program is continuously working on new instructional
materials. The most successful product, this far, has been the
sourcebook for schools "Dokumenti liecina" (Documents bear Witness),
published in 1999 and, as a result of a special funding drive,
distributed to 400 schools in Latvia.
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EDUCATION PROGRAM 
