Among the objectives of the Hellenic Maritime Museum is to present to the young people the Greek maritime history, traditions and heritage and at the same time inspire in them the love for the sea which is an inexhaustible source of life.

As part of the creative and direct contact of students with the museum’s collections, the Hellenic Maritime Museum has been the first maritime museum in Greece to organize a series of educational programmes already since 1993.

♦History of Educational Programmes
1993: Implementation of the “Sea routes” educational programme in school groups of all educational grades.
1998: Participation of the Museum in the “Melina” programme with the “Is King Alexander alive?” programme for preschool children.
2001: Planning and intermittent implementation of the “Traveling on board Kirinia” programme as part of the “European Days of Cultural Heritage” with the theme: “From the exchange of ideas to internet exchange”.
2004: Planning and implementation of the modernization of educational programmes following the modern methods of Museum pedagogics. The programme’s name is “Triton”.
2004: Implementation of the programmes “Meeting an Artist” and “Engraving crystal with a diamond” as part of the temporary exhibition “Sea, inspiration, creation”.
2004: informational programmes for students of Gimnasio and Likio against the use of drugs by young people. They were carried out in cooperation with the institution of “Life Care against Addiction”.
2005: Planning and intermittent implementation of the “Savoury Voyages” programme as part of the “European Days of Cultural Heritage” on the subject of diet.
2007: Planning and intermittent implementation of the “Floating Homes” programme as part of the “European Days of Cultural Heritage” on the subject of “Familiar Stories”.
2008: Presentation and implementation of three new permanent educational programmes.

♦Planning
Programmes are planned in accordance with the school curriculum but they remain flexible in terms of structure and content in order to adjust to the characteristics of each group, as far as this is possible.

♦Objectives
1st direction of objectives: Getting familiar with the Museum
• To give children an opportunity to live a beautiful experience in the Museum premises, allow them to become familiar with the facilities and the staff and thus, forge in them the habit of visiting museums.
• To help children built an analytical attitude towards the museum exhibits and enable them to live the museum experience in the future as self-confident visitors.
• To inform children about the Museum services and the way they can use them.
2nd direction of objectives: Special learning and aesthetic objectives
• To familiarize children with the sea and the maritime heritage and history.
• To help children realize the importance of the sea environment and the need to protect it in order to preserve the ecological equilibrium.
• To teach children to observe, study and compare the museum exhibits. Moreover, to teach them to make hypotheses and understand and interpret the maritime activity of humans across time.
• To familiarize children with the methods of construction and operation of ships and nautical instruments, teach them how these have evolved in time and describe the life of seamen.
• To help children express themselves and discover the marine folk art in a creative manner.

♦Methodology
Methodology characteristics from several fields have been put to use:
• The dialectic method, using an ongoing dialogue with children,
• The illustrative method, using audiovisual material,
• The investigative method, using projects as well as discovery games,
• The experiential approach, using role-playing with drama games and acting out the children’s personal experiences,
• Creative expression in workshops following the project method

The approach and analysis of the exhibits follows the methodology “Learning from objects”

Educational Programmes

In September 2007, in the Hellenic Maritime Museum started the new series of educational programmes and guided tours under the general title “Triton’s Travels”. These new programmes were created for the new school year 2007-2008.

♦Permanent educational programmes for Kindergarten and Primary School:
1. “ Is King Alexander alive?” for preschool, 1st and 2nd grade children:
Once again our prehistoric friend Hoursara will guide preschool children and 1st and 2nd grade primary school students around the Museum premises and he will describe them the first attempts of man to travel in the sea in papyri boats. Captain Manolis Fourtounas will sail with us in rough seas and tell us the story of the mermaid, sister of Alexander the Great.

2. “Building a Trireme” for children of the fourth grade of primary school:
Our slightly older friends will travel all the way to Troy on board a Pentekonter and they will roam about the Aegean Sea on board Olkades and Triremes. They will have to row hard to manage to rescue Greece from the Persian danger.

3. “From sail to steam” for children of the fifth grade of primary school:
Some other young friends will travel to an era when technology brought important changes to navigation. Some marine professions became extinct whereas new ones appeared, the form of vessels changed and they became faster. Nevertheless, they lost their beautiful sails which were replaced by steam engines. Our young seamen (the students) will describe these changes when they will write about their adventures to their parents who are waiting for them to return home from their long voyages.

4. “Ships of the Greek War of Independence of 1821” for children of the sixth grade of primary school:
Older children will find themselves in an Aegean Sea which is in a state of war turmoil. Nonetheless, Kanaris, Miaoulis, Papanikolis and Bouboulina will show them the safest sea route as long as the “chief officer” on board the wooden hulls is careful with his/her logbook.

♦Permanent educational programmes for Junior High (Gimnasio) and Senior High School (Lykio) students:
Junior High and Senior High School students will also have the opportunity to learn about the ancient Greek ships, the ships of the War of Independence of 1821 and the steam boats. This has been made possible through the relevant programmes which have been adjusted to the students’ educational needs and interests (“Building a Trireme”, “From sails to steam” “Ships of the Greek War of Independence of 1821” for Junior High and Senior High School).

♦New Educational Programmes:
This year, just like every year, “Triton”, who has become the inspiration of the educational team of the Hellenic Maritime Museum, is working on new educational programmes and events:

1. The “Savoury Voyages” were planned as part of the European Days of Cultural Heritage 2005 - 2006, which is a significant European event. The very positive response and keen participation of friends and schools has encouraged us to incorporate this programme for the children of the third to sixth grade of primary school as well as for Junior High students. During this programme we get to learn that our present eating habits have been influenced by great navigators such as Marco Polo and Columbus. We will listen to beautiful Chinese, Japanese and Indian legends as well as fables about tea, potatoes, chocolate and rice. We will learn how the love of a woman broke the monopoly of coffee held by Holland, why the Egyptian slaves who built the Pyramid of Cheops used to eat one clove of garlic every day and how the ancient Greeks came to taste wine, oil, bananas and watermelons...

2. “Traveling on board Kyrnia” for students of Likio, is a programme focusing on the Ancient Greek trade. This programme is based on the findings of the significant shipwreck found outside the port of Kirinia in Cyprus. Young students will get to live the last minutes on board Kirinia before it was lost in order to try and find the reason for its destruction. Moreover, archaeologists will talk to us about the findings brought to light from the sea bed.

3. “A chest full of history: Balkans Wars of the period 1912-13” for students of the sixth grade of primary school. This is the story of two children who discover an old chest with personal items and mementos (regimentals, photos, letters, a diary, poems...) which belongs to their grand-grandfather, a fighter of the Balkan Wars. Through this story, the students will have the opportunity to travel in time and unfold the historical events of that period.

Waiting for you to have a great time together...

To receive more information and register for the programmes, please contact the Hellenic Maritime Museum’s educational team from Tuesday to Saturday, 09:00 – 14:00, on 210 4516264, 210 4516822, 210 4286959, fax 210 4512277, email: nme@ath.forthnet.gr