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Enhancing the Educational Value of Palaeontological Heritage: the Didactic Collection of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and Its Strategic Framework

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Abstract

The biased perception society has towards palaeontology, shown through practical activity experience, has led a multidisciplinary team of educators and scientists to meticulously design a didactic programme to increase, in a regulated and coordinated way, the outreach of this science at the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). The specific objective of the programme, which can be summarized as to strengthen and diversify the educational offer of the MCNB concerning palaeontological topics, serves as a cohesive and comprehensive channel to achieve the strategic aim of communicating effectively the importance of palaeontology as a science and increasing social sensibility towards conservation of the palaeontological heritage. In this context, establishing a strategic framework as precise guidelines for the didactic programme in palaeontology seems necessary to improve and guarantee its sustainability over time. The didactic collection is a key resource for the complex inner workings of the programme, not only to communicate main palaeontological principles aimed to be addressed, but also as a tool to disseminate the significance of the work carried out at the museum. Overall, the programme is conceived as a model in palaeontological didactics, and additionally, as an interdepartmental collaboration to subsequentially develop activities and projects to promote and strengthen the understanding of palaeontological science and its role within society.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks are due to the technicians of the Documentation Centre, for supplying references, and to preparator Dr Gerard Lucena of the Geo-Palaeo Preparation Lab of the MCNB, for his work in producing the excellent thin sections of carbonate rocks. Thanks are also due to Marta Pérez and Olga Muñoz of the Preventive Conservation and Restoration Lab of the MCNB, for their work in producing the outstanding replicas. Research fellowship programme of the University of Alcalá (UAH) “Ayudas de Iniciación en la Actividad Investigadora” are also gratefully acknowledged. Special thank-you to Fernando Barroso Barcenilla of the UAH, for reading and giving valuable criticism and suggestions to an initial version of the manuscript. We would like to thank the reviewers for their corrections and comments helping us improving the article. Last but not the least, we would like to gratefully thank our educational team for their invaluable work on transmitting natural science to the public of the museum.

Funding

Financial support for the present study was received within the framework of the collection projects of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Paleontologia, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Passeig Picasso s/n, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Vicent Vicedo & David Fernández-Lluch

  2. Departamento de Geología, Geografía y Medio Ambiente (Grupos de Investigación PaleoIbérica e IberCreta), Universidad de Alcalá, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Senay Ozkaya de Juanas

  3. Departament d’Educació i Activitats, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, P. Leonardo da Vinci, 08019, Barcelona, Spain

    Albert Batlles & Montserrat Ballester

Authors
  1. Vicent Vicedo
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  2. Senay Ozkaya de Juanas
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  3. David Fernández-Lluch
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Correspondence to Vicent Vicedo.

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Vicedo, V., Ozkaya de Juanas, S., Fernández-Lluch, D. et al. Enhancing the Educational Value of Palaeontological Heritage: the Didactic Collection of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and Its Strategic Framework. Geoheritage 13, 19 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-020-00527-7

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