Museums’ involvement in the creation and development of activities based on the use of new Information and Communication Technologies is a course of action with which the Department of Culture and the Media intends to highlight Catalonia’s cultural heritage and make it attractive to global markets, improve accessibility to science and technology, and collaborate in the creation of products that act as a strategic catalyst in the modernization of Catalan culture.

The Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC) sees new technologies as an opportunity to single itself out and guarantee wider publicity for and participation in museum projects. It is also a way of getting the identity and distinguishing traits of the mNACTEC Territorial System across to increasingly broad sectors of a global society. The vitality of the Internet and the various Web 2.0 virtual communities presents a challenge in which to participate; a challenge in which the museums must find their role. The evolution of virtual information systems is taking us towards a definition of a new concept of heritage global communication, linked to “hands on”, “mind on” and “heart on” concepts, that could use the World Wide Web as a vehicle for their dissemination. The commitment aims to provide the right digital tools to get teachers in touch with innovation, to exchange ideas and opinions and is added to the teachers’ task of adapting to new needs and new times.

This year, the educational programme in 22 centres forming part of the mNACTEC Territorial System offers more than 100 activities including visits, workshops and guided tours that retain all the features and the quality level that have made them a basic, informal learning tool over recent years. The exhibitions’ virtual contents, the Big Bang Game (which involved bringing young children into contact with science through a fun and instructive instrument), and the creation of new virtual resources for teaching technology are some of the digital projects complementing face-to-face activities and offering a range of resources that can also be used in the classroom.

The educational programme for the academic year 2009/2010 comes from the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia and its regional network’s will to innovate and be creative, from a spirit of collaboration with the educational world and the firm desire to create educational events that will encourage participation, build scientific vocations and play a part in Catalonia’s future development.

- Introduction to the educational programme for the 2009-2010 academic year