Education is one of the highest priorities for the Natural History Museum of Crete. In NHMC Exhibition Halls, several educational activities are carried out under a regular basis addressed both to children as well as to adults and families. Workshops, seminars, conferences, presentations and discussions, temporary exhibitions and happenings, all addressed and open to public. During 2012, more than 90000 visitors (40000 children) visited the museum and followed scheduled workshops and summer schools. Five priorities are strategic for NHMC:

  1. Bridging NHMC with Formal and Informal Education: since 1998 NHMC’s Educational team has developed 35 different educational hourly workshops addressed to school groups of all ages and connecting NHMC with school curricula and families. Contemporary methods of learning together with ICT are mainly used such as, Inquiry based learning, theatrical games, creative manufacturing, observation exercises, games etc. Apart from the workshops, NHMC supports scientific projects of environmental education, which take place inside the schools. In parallel, many schools have already participated actively in educational actions of research projects undertaken by NHMC.
  2. Life Long Learning: in NHMC Centre for Environmental Training (NHMC-CET) approximately 2000 teachers and other professionals, have been trained, up to now, on Environmental and Pedagogical issues.
  3. Volunteering, by activating young, older members and families of the club “Friends of the Natural History Museum of Crete” http://www.nhmcfriends.gr who take part in several indoor and outdoor activities.
  4. Awareness of People with Special Needs with specialized workshops.
  5. Development of educational packages for the Greek and Eastern Mediterranean natural environment.