The place of worship of my youth has become a museum!

The place of worship of my youth has become a museum!

On Wednesday May 3, 2023, the students of the Teachers Education Programme of Athens University of Economics and Business, visited the Museum of the Bank of Greece within the framework of the course "General and Evolutionary Psychology" in the company of Dr. Dimitra Makri and the collaboration of the scientific director of the Programme Dr. Vasiliki Brinia.

This museum resembles an exciting journey through the economic and monetary history of modern Greece, as it is aptly expressed in the phrase of the logo. The visitors - students traveled through the collections, archival material and modern interactive applications. Both groups of students were impressed and reported that the tour was interesting with different thematic sections. The mode of presentation included questions and discussions between guides and students, allowing the latter to discover knowledge. Finally, it is very important that the Museum is fully accessible to people with mobility or visual difficulties, so the visitors - students had the opportunity to wander around the space and observe the exhibits with the contribution of their other senses beyond their eyes.

The journey begins... with the highlighting of the role, the functions and the contribution of the Bank of Greece to the course of development of the Greek economy. The guides investigate the knowledge level of the students and with guiding questions help them to discover the functions of the Bank of Greece. Then a connection was made between the theme of the museum and climate change. First of all, the environment needs to be protected for human survival. Secondly, the cost of future disasters is estimated at many millions per year, which directly affect the economic situation of all countries, as well as Greece and that aspect relates to the museum's permanent exhibition. Students then observe the exhibits dealing with the history of money, seeing examples of anti-pragmatism up to the modern forms of money, such as plastic money. In addition, there is a discussion about the green professions of the future and many opinions came from the team.

Τhe last part of the tour took place in the underground part of the museum, where the journey through time is completed with historical remarks about the monetary system in Greece and the prevailing political conditions in the period 1828 – 2001. The students noticed the differences between the old banknotes and coins and these which are used today, focused on the values ​​and the images found on them. Mostly, there are important personalities, mythical figures, monuments and designs that symbolize values ​​of the country and European Union.

The students were satisfied with the experience that exceeded their expectations. The tour was quite interesting and the guides were very helpful. This visit aims to make the students, as future teachers, visit museums with their students, when exists a connection of their lessons with the content of any museum, as that one of the Bank of Greece and plan to children to learn from experiential methods.