(leer más)
Despite the binomium “Environmental Education” was in 1960 still scarcely known by the population, the National Aquarium promoted since its opening educational and teaching activities. Together with different specialized optional activities the educational general program promoted a popular knowledge about sea and its resources along different generations.
Preceded by agreements with the concerned schools, an average quantity of 100 children received so during the first years knowledge on marine topics, main commercial fish species, development of the Cuban fishing industry, catch techniques as well as skills in the manufacture of fishing craft articles and elementary know-how about care of sea and shore. In subsequent times the average quantity of children attending yearly to this incipient educational program started to reach a total of 5,000.
After creation of the Vocational Study Group “Friends of Sea” in the decade of the 70s the number of participants in such activities increased to more than 6000 children/year. Towards the end of the decade of the 80s the number of children attending to specific educational modalities was already the double, aside from those ones, that enjoyed the attractions of the facility through guided and free tours.
After a careful study of the national educational programs in the decade of the 90s, the vocational study group Friends of the Sea turned out into the Program “Let´s know Sea”. On this basis were adapted the topics to be developed so to use them as a complementary item within the different teaching levels according to a more participatory, active, and novel prism.
Nowadays the National Aquarium of Cuba has signed an Agreement with the Ministry of Education of Cuba about the insertion of the Program Let´s Know the Sea in the National Education System throughout the country. This Program is also applied in the classes broadcasted by the educational channels of the Cuban TV-broadcasting system .
Grounded on the experiencies achieved along the first years and the improvement reached to date, took place an integration of all specialized activities of the institution in order to have available a “staff of educators”. Further it was established a current and perspective strategy to turnout the Aquarium into a center of high educational and scientific potentiality.
Goal
Change of attitudes towards the environment aiming at a consciousness rise of children, young people and adults with regards to environmental problems, mainly those related to coasts, sea and its resources. This change seeks to encourage the awareness of such problems and their solution in order to relieve the existing affectations and avoid the occurence of new ones.
Updated june 23, 2010 |
