School Networks
Throughout the years, the Museum has developed close working relationships with schools of all levels of education. In particular, the Museum aims to strengthen collaborations with the local schools in Lesvos but also to develop a series of educational activities of cooperation with schools from all over Greece and abroad and the schools of the UNESCO ASPnet Network.
The Museum has developed systematic cooperation with the schools that participate in the following networks:
A. Cooperation with the schools participating in the National Thematic Network “UNESCO Global Geoparks in Greece”
Since the establishment of the National Thematic Network "UNESCO Global Geoparks in Greece" in 2018, the Museum works closely with all the schools of the Network from both Lesvos and the rest of Greece. The Network is coordinated by the Environmental Education Center of Evergetoula located on the island of Lesvos, which has been recognized by UNESCO.
The National Thematic Network "UNESCO World Geoparks in Greece" was established on the initiative of the Environmental Education Center of Evergetoula in close collaboration with the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest and the support of the Regional Directorate of Education of the North Aegean and the Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education of Lesvos and the University of the Aegean. The Network is coordinated by the Environmental Education Center of Evergetoula based in Asomatos, Lesvos.
In the framework of the Network, in recent years the 3-day educational program "Discovering the Lesvos Geopark: Petrified Forest of Lesvos - Geosites - Nature - Culture" has been implemented with a large participation of Primary and Secondary Education schools.
B. Cooperation with the schools of the UNESCO ASPnet Network
The Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest in the framework of the program "UNESCO Global Geoparks" cooperates with the schools of the Network of Collaborating Schools of UNESCO (UNESCO ASPnet), which in Greece is coordinated by the Department of International Relations of the Directorate of European and International Affairs & Religions.
The UNESCO Network of Collaborating Schools was founded in 1953 and is a global educational network currently numbering more than 10.000 educational institutions of all levels of education, which work to support quality education in practice.
In Lesvos, three schools from all levels of education have joined the UNESCO Network of Collaborating Schools:
9th Primary School of Mytilene
4th High School of Mytilene
Experimental General High School of the University of the Aegean
The UNESCO Collaborating Schools are committed to promoting the ideals of UNESCO by implementing pilot projects aimed at enabling young people to be able to meet present-day challenges effectively.
At the same time, the network was designed with the aiming in disseminating information about the results obtained so that other schools in the country can carry out similar activities.
The Museum collaborates with the students and teachers of the ASPnet Network with the aim of developing innovative educational approaches, methods and materials under the main thematic, the UNESCO Global Geoparks.
C. Cooperation with the schools of the UNESCO World Geoparks - International Educational Program “I AM GEOPARKER”
The Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest, as the management body of the Lesvos Geopark, works closely with schools located in other Geoparks from all over the world that are members of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network such as schools from Japan, Spain, China, Portugal.
At the same time, the Museum collaborates with the schools of the UNESCO Global Geoparks in the framework of the International Educational Program for students "I AM A GEOPARKER". The aim of the program is to participate in an international network of young people called "GEOPARKERS: THE NARRATORS OF EARTH HISTORY" who are storytellers trying to connect man with the earth and the natural processes of their Geopark, thus putting a piece in the puzzle of the History of Earth.
The following Primary and Secondary Schools from Lesvos have collaborated with the following stories:
