Abstract:

Science centers (interactive museums) represent a frequent weekend destination for families with children, yet a considerable number of visitors stands for school groups. Which means the centers represent supplementary education. Their biggest expansion in the Czech Republic dates 10 years back. In that time, especially the large science centers appeared – iQLandia and iQPark in Liberci, VIDA! In Brno, Svět techniky in Ostrava and Techmania Science Center in Pilsen. They were inspired by abroad Science centers such as Phaeno Wolfsburg, Experimenta Heilbronn, Technopolis Mechelen and others.

There was a mutual cooperation during their reconstruction, therefor it is no surprise they are very similar to each other. And yet they are not the same. That is the reason we decided to compare them regarding their programme offering to pupils of elementary schools, particularly from the point of view of the educational area Humans and their world.

An analysis of educational programmes of the selected Science Centers was carried out. The result of the research is a comparison of their programme content considering its application while teaching science and technological subjects, particularly in the field of Humans and their world. The fields is defined by The Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education (FEP), defining assumed study outputs of pupils. At the same time, the role of Science Centers was defined in the field of formal education.

Keywords:

Science Center, primary education, Humans and Their World, formal education, informal education.