Heritage education in primary schools of the historical center of Havana

Abstract

Currently, heritage education constitutes an essential way to produce a change of attitude in schoolchildren towards the appreciation of community heritage. On many occasions, schoolchildren are unaware or lack information about heritage resources, which is why it is necessary to design various actions that contribute to raising heritage education at an early age. Therefore, the article aims to characterize the projects of the heritage education program “Patrimonial Knowledge”, implemented in the second cycle of three primary schools in the Historic Center of Old Havana. The proposal points out five projects that contain actions that demonstrate (games, puzzles, talks, work with recycled materials, crafts, tours of the environment, visits to educational rooms and archaeological sites) the importance of intertwining the protection and conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the community. For the development of the research, theoretical methods were used: analytical-synthetic and documentary analysis and empirical methods: observation and survey, which allowed us to guarantee the objectivity of the research. The results obtained provide an ideal scenario for learning, the apprehension of identity values and contribute to the comprehensive training of critical and reflective schoolchildren who interact and coexist with the cultural legacy of the Havana context. The work is part of the results of the project “Climate empowerment in vulnerable communities through environmental and energy education”, led by the “Enrique José Varona” University of Pedagogical Sciences.