EDUCATION-VENEZUELA: A Museum Where Children Learn, Play, Dream

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Mildred Pineda

CARACAS, Aug 1 2001 (IPS) - A children’s museum in Venezuela that broke new ground in Latin America highlights outstanding scientific and artistic milestones of the 20th century, with the aim of complementing the education youngsters receive in school and awakening interest in technical careers that boost the country’s development.

The Caracas Children’s Museum, which has been open to the public for 19 years, supplements formal educational programmes by means of exhibits on biology, the environment, art, communications, physics and astronomy.

“This is not like a traditional museum. It’s a place where children feel free and can be active, where their curiosity is awakened, and where they become the most important thing,” said Alicia Pietri de Caldera, the institution’s founder and director, and the wife of two-time president Rafael Caldera.

Pietri conceived of the Children’s Museum after her husband’s first term (1969-74), and continues to preside over the private foundation that administers the institution with its own budget, 30 percent of which comes from the state. The rest is financed by private companies.

Omar Paredes, chief of institutional relations at the museum, told IPS that “this experience has been a pioneer in Latin America.

“Other countries in the region, like Argentina, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, have sought advice from us on setting up similar museums.”

The Children’s Museum has even “exported several exhibits,” he added.

The museum has a team that includes physicists, biologists, social communicators and artists who design the exhibits as well as the explanatory placards. So-called “guide-friends” aged 16 to 25 attend to visitors.

The museum was set up to complement education in science, technology and art, especially for low-income children whose families are unable to afford a computer or a visit to a theme park like Disney World.

Most of the young visitors, who are accompanied by their parents or teachers, are aged seven to 14. The entrance fee is five dollars for a four-hour visit, but classes from schools in poor neighbourhoods enter free of charge.

The exhibits are spread out over four floors and separated into thematic areas like Planet Earth, Electricity, Robotics, Molecular Physics, The Human Body, Environmental Problems, Telecommunications and Computer Science.

Among the favourites are Communication, which takes students on a hands-on tour showing how a newspaper is produced, from gathering information on a news story to carrying out an interview, editing, layout and printing.

Conquering Space is another popular exhibit in which children board a space shuttle dressed as astronauts to learn about the universe and solar system.

After climbing out of the space shuttle, Génesis Rodríguez, an eight-year-old from a local Caracas school, told IPS she was excited because “this was the first time I could see the moon up close.”

Her teacher, Josefina De Bellis, said it was the first time she had taken her students to the museum. “It was so interesting to see them learning there, exuding such vitality that I wanted to be a child again,” she commented.

An estimated four million children from every socioeconomic level have visited the Children’s Museum. Of course many of them are fascinated by the experience and return, said Paredes.

In the environs of the museum, children find additional recreational options like parks and ice cream parlours. They can also visit the “Tienda del Museito” store that sells school materials that also serve as souvenirs.

The museum has a large potential pool of visitors, because according to statistics from the Centre of Documentation and Analysis, seven million of Venezuela’s 24 million people are under 14.