EDUCATIONAL EXTENSION:

This department is directed by the Director of the Maritime Museum, Lic. Carlos Pedro Vairo.
They organize interactive visits to the Museum exhibits for students from private and state-owned primary schools.
These visits aim at:
*Revaluating visits to the Museum as a place to get in touch with Fuegian, national, and international history.
*Integrating the Museum as a pedagogic tool, as a synthesis between theory and practice, to promote reflection on reality, critical judgment, and also as a tool for community organization and promotion. *Encouraging a critical review by teachers and students of cultural, social, political, economic, and religious Fuegian, national, and international processes.
*Encouraging students to be protagonists of their learning through the Museum so that they "be." *Acquiring knowledge and a critical valuation of our cultural heritage and tradition in order to be able to select elements that enhance a comprehensive development as human beings.

Educational Project "Learning History through the Museum"

• Maritime Exhibit: shows the links between locals and the sea for communication up to the middle of the 20th century, when commercial flights started.
• Native Peoples Exhibit: models and panels show the main features of ancient inhabitants from the surroundings of the Beagle Channel down to Cape Horn and on the mainland down to the Strait of Magellan. School children are allowed to interact with models and other elements.
• Prison Exhibit: it is a permanent exhibit in the first pavilion next to the entrance showing the history of the prison, its building, works by prisoners, and featuring some of the most famous convicts.
• Antarctic Exhibit: this is a true discovery of the White Continent, its history, explorers and travelers who made relevant contributions to our knowledge of this region. This exhibit also shows Antarctic biodiversity and draws a comparison with the Artic as part of the International Polar Year (IPY) program. It includes kits for school children to interact.
• The Museum Visits your School: , includes materials for temporary exhibits at schools made up of thematic suitcases about regional history.
* Kit tailored for blind children groups.
* Kit about Fuegian heritage and architecture.
* Kit with educational models and panels about the Prison of Ushuaia.
* Kit about fishing methods
* Museum suitcase about Staten Land (Isla de los Estados), Don Luis Piedra Buena, and the Yamana

• Planetarium: the Multiple Purpose Hall (former bakery) lodges the planetarium -set up thanks to an agreement with the NASA-, which enables adults and children to observe and discover the sky of Ushuaia. Activities are mainly focused on the Antarctic and Artic skies celebrating the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. Professor Daniel Giri is in charge of lectures including aurora australis and borealis.

• Roberto J. Payró Library: open to anybody on a permanent basis, this library keeps a large collection related to the region and has a video and map collection. The library is directed by Professor Juan Carlos Arias. Jointly sponsored by the Culture Department of Ushuaia Town Council and the Argentine Navy, three history competitions are held every year.

In the last two years, the Museum attracted over 7,000 students from our town, Río Grande, Tolhuin and around twenty children from Antarctica.

Within the school calendar, the Museum receives requests for student visits from the rest of the Province of Tierra del Fuego and our region. The members of the teaching staff - Claudia Maldonado, Agustina Gandini, Leonardo Lupiano, Daniel Giri, and Juan Carlos Arias- attend to these requests. Visit requests may be sent to: biblioteca@museomaritimo.com

CULTURAL EXTENSION:

This area aims at children (including the physically or mentally challenged) understanding the meaning of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and the need to preserve and safeguard cultural heritage. The following programs are directed by Lic. Carlos Vairo and carried out by Arq. Leonardo Lupiano.

"Architectural Heritage": this program takes place in classrooms using specially designed panels and models for preschool, primary (1st to 3rd grades EGB), and high school (polimodal) levels. Students get interesting information about the historic context that gave birth to Ushuaia and its later development as of the late 20th century, including building methods used by old settlers and several relevant samples of our architecture that gave the town its distinctive identity. This class closes with a drawing and painting activity for children.

"Heritage Advocates": this is a pilot program carried out in Schools N°1 and 31 as a joint project with the Popular Library Alfonsina Storni and sponsored by CICOP.

"Meeting Monuments": started with the approval of the National Committee on Museums and Historical Monuments and Sites, this program opened in 2005 involving 612 students and had a great success. First of all, an introductory lesson is given in classrooms with the aid of photos. Later, students visit monuments located in town, and the closing activity consists of interpreting a monument as a plastic arts activity using material provided by the museum.

"Cultural Routes and Itineraries": given the success obtained in national congresses on this topic, in which our museum took part with specific papers, we are launching (2006) a new program under this name. A cultural itinerary or route is a series of material and inmaterial elements and objects directly related through a cultural process thread in a given society and moment. History is analyzed in context instead of being valued as an isolated event. Examples of this are the Inca Trail (Camino del Inca), Jesuit Farms Trail (Camino de las Estancias Jesuíticas), the Maté Trail (Camino de la Yerba Mate), etc. The first topic addressed as a cultural route is the Beagle Channel, a six-century witness of human presence and cultural exchange between the end tip of the world and the rest of the world. This program consists of explanatory classes aided by a PowerPoint presentation or panels and a leaflet about the most important cultural route in the southern region. It is aimed at primary (EGB) and secondary (polimodal) school levels.

On closing the program, children and teachers get a certificate of attendance and the school receives a CD with photos of the students' activities.

The following photos show students from Schools N°3 and 39 in Ushuaia taking part in different programs.

School Nº 16	Hogar de Día
School Nº 3	School Nº 39

Children are transported by Tagle Turismo free of charge.

Other activities developed at the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia

* Meetings on intangible heritage with old residents
* Conferences and courses given by artists renowned at the national level
* Talks with protagonists of the Prison's history
* Participation in meetings to encourage contribution and cooperation with institutions, organizations, and experts on different areas and students from different regions, to promote awareness on cultural heritage and community development along the tourist circuits agreed on by all sectors involved. —more information

To sum up, we can see that the cultural activities offered by the Maritime Museum to spread knowledge about our regional heritage are varied and of a high quality. And, above all, access to these activities -funded by the Museum- is easy for schools..

  To request more information, send an e-mail to
programaeducativo@museomaritimo.com