SAVREMENA’S STUDENTS ENJOY A MAGICAL ADVENTURE AT THE MUSEUM OF ILLUSIONS

Sasa Zdravkovic / / Blog, I-IV, Kombinovani, Nacionalni, V-VIII / September 17, 2019

SAVREMENA’S STUDENTS ENJOY A MAGICAL ADVENTURE AT THE MUSEUM OF ILLUSIONS

Students of Primary School Savremena visited the Museum of Illusions which immediately caught their attention and took them on an unforgettable journey through magical rooms where a captivating visual, sensory and educational experience awaited.

Illusion or reality?

The Museum of Illusions in Belgrade is a world where nothing is what it seems, and where fun and learning new things are guaranteed for all generations. Everyone gladly visits the Museum to enjoy its unusual rooms and objects and experience something unique.

The students visited mysterious rooms of the museum in small groups and were amazed at the very first step, wondering if they were dreaming or if they were really part of an illusion:

“This is magical! When I entered one of the rooms, I couldn’t tell if it was real or a dream.”

Disjointed perception, optical illusions and many new insights

A giant and a dwarf standing side by side? It’s possible! In one of the rooms, the children were for the first time taller than their teacher who explained how the distorted room made that possible. The children had an astounding perceptual experience and enthusiastically recounted their experience:

Now I know how it feels to be taller than the teacher! Everything in that incredible room is an optical illusion and people grow or shrink depending on where I stand.

In the upside down room, children ‘defied’ gravity, and learnt everything about it. They were particularly impressed with the Vortex tunnel where they experienced how it feels when the ground is slipping under your feet – they actually walked on a flat and stable surface, but the illusion made it look almost impossible, which drove them to fight tooth and nail and become stronger mentally.

In a colourful and ever-changing world of the kaleidoscope and the Room of Mirrors, the students’ amazement and joy were infinite – they had an impression they were in a room extending into infinity and that nothing could restrain their movements.

From classroom to Museum – developing cognitive abilities through play

Exploring the museum, the students came upon one intriguing room after another, and finally found themselves in a ‘smart playroom’ where they continued to play and learn through “Dilemma Games”. These games are designed to encourage the development of cognitive and logical abilities by having students independently solve problems using wooden puzzles, brain teasers, jigsaw puzzles and didactic games.

Education at Savremena is designed to encourage students to solve tasks and participate in activities that stimulate and develop the most important skills needed for success in the 21st century. Problem-oriented thinking, problem solving, inventive thinking and creativity are just some of them, and extracurricular activities at Savremena, such as visiting museums and outdoor classes are designed precisely to additionally stimulate these and many other skills and abilities.

The teachers solved the mystery

The students shared their incredible impressions with the teachers who pointed them to the material learnt at school and linked it to the secrets and questions arising from the visit to the Museum – why do eyes see things the brain doesn’t understand, and how optical illusions, perception and the human brain work.

Savremena and its creative instruction

At Savremena, instruction is personalised, and the primary teaching aim is to encourage creativity in every single student that will be expressed in the best possible way and inspire new ideas and creative works. This is why our school regularly organises carefully designed extracurricular activities – each activity brings about a new creative idea which is then materialised in class by the students and linked to the already known material.

The visit to the Museum of Illusions was just one in a series of such activities that made a lasting impression on students and achieved its goal – thinking outside the box, and developing the skills of creative problem solving.