Award for MNACTEC technological education projects

The Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) received an accolade at the 5th Ibero-American Education and Museum Awards for its project "Technological tools in science museums: education inside and outside the classroom". The award coincides with the Ibermuseos programme, a cooperation initiative among Ibero-American countries to foster public policy in the field of museums.

The 5th Ibero-American Education Museums Awards reward educational museum projects that encourage personal development and social cohesion. More than 130 projects were entered for the awards, from 14 Latin American and Iberian countries, to be evaluated by a technical committee comprising specialists from 10 of the countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay).

The MNACTEC project was placed fourth among the 13 award-winning finalists, and was the first of the two Spanish finalists. The award comes with a cheque for 5000 dollars.

The MNACTEC award-winning project

The project "Technological tools in science museums: education inside and outside the classroom" is a fun and instructive project intended for youngsters, to supplement their formal education, and for families in order to contribute to informal education during leisure time through science museums. The project takes the specific form of four initiatives combining the face-to-face world (in museums and cities) with digital technologies via the Internet and smartphone applications:

• Augmented Terrassa: Application for mobiles (iOS and Android) and iPads, offering a tour of the industrial and modernist side of the city, through augmented reality, multimedia, audio storable images.
• EgaREC audiovisual Competition: Audiovisual awards created for high school students and/or individuals of all ages. Videos lasting less than one minute about the mNACTEC, the Modernist Fair and the industrial heritage of Terrassa.
• The Fotocroma: A platform for visitors within a setting at the Museum. An iPad can be used to select current and past images of objects and landscapes created by a photographic artist. School groups and individual visitors take their photos and share them via social media. Also accessible via smartphones by using the mNACTEC app.
• The MNACTEC App and self-guided visits: This is achieved by combining www.labonavida.cat (for teachers, with interactive suggestions, and games for youngsters) with a transversal themed visit to the permanent exhibitions. The Museum provides devices and training for teachers, allowing them to be self-sufficient in guiding their students around the Museum.
   

The project forms a part of one of the strategic approaches by the MNACTEC regarding technological tools, developed in partnership with the Department of Education of the Autonomous Regional Government of Catalonia. These tools have been developed with subsidies tendered by the FECYT (Spanish Science and Technology Foundation) and the CreativeCH programme within the 7th European Union Framework Programme "Science in Society".

04/11/2014

  14 November 2014