Ordinary – Extraordinary

Interactive Exhibitions

An international project about prejudices, discrimination and the scape goat phenomenon

1. Introduction

Backgrounds

Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects has been founded in the end of 1992. The foundation originates from a famous foundation for Peace Building in the Netherlands. When this Foundation was forced by the government to integrate into some-other organisations on the level of political awareness building, two staffmembers decided to create a new organisation to stimulate peace education projects in the Netherlands and in Europe. The device of the foundation is: “Peace can be learned”. Of course every motto contains some simplicity. But in this case it is a statement against indifference to show that peace can be achieved by people. It is also a statement against the widely spread thought among people that violence and war cannot be resisted. The motto shows that people of all ages are able to learn peace in whole their daily live: at home, in the classroom and on the street. The motto finally includes that people are able to express their capability to overcome conflicts that are for instance based in the diversity of the

A small highly skilled team of pedagogues and teachers found a lot of goodwill in Holland and abroad, when they expressed their intentions of this new foundation. In the years that followed a series of very successful educational projects were produced in the Netherlands and other countries in Europe. One of the most

significant projects was the continuing development and production

of Interactive Exhibitions, also named as Educational Games Circuits in the Netherlands and in seven other European countries. This series of exhibitions aimed at the challenges of the multicultural society are the subject of this project summary.

Mission statement

Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects as an independent institution sets itself the mission:

To serve peace by the promotion and implementation of educational projects in the fields of peace, development co-operation and the multicultural society.

Activities

The organisation is mainly involved in the development of creative teaching packages, educational software, musicals and interactive exhibitions on the subject of Inter-cultural Education. The activities are aimed at pupils and teachers in primary, secondary and higher education. Also parents, participants of educational institutions and the youth work in general belong to the target groups.

A small educational team generates the projects. Subsequently, a broad group of experts set out to work from various fields. Teachers, youth workers as well as youngsters follow the entire development process, thoroughly. The methods are aimed at interaction, dialogue and enable children and young people of all ethnic backgrounds to create perspectives. All activities are sponsored on the level of projects grants by private foundations, municipalities and the national government.

Apart from educational materials in the Dutch language (the Netherlands and Flandres) the foundation develops projects in other European countries as well, in co-operation with organisations (NGO's) in the field of intercultural learning. Among other things, an interactive exhibition has been compiled about prejudices and the scapegoat phenomenon, in co-operation with institutions in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and N-Ireland. In Russia a project was realised by means of a mobile interactive Exhibition in co-operation with DOM - Children’s Open Museum in Moscow and various Children’s Museums all over Russia.

2. Project Description

2.1 Concepts and design of the programme:

Mission of the project

To stimulate awareness-building processes and to oppose prejudices and ethnocentrism by promoting an open, tolerant and inquisitive attitude towards people in the own social environment and elsewhere in the world, is the mission of the project Ordinary - Extraordinary.

Main objective

To become acquainted with the problematic and positive aspects of the differences and similarities between people from different cultures in one’s own social situation and in the global context by means of dialogue, interaction and personal perspectives to act.

Subgoals:

1. The pupils are able to explain, handle and give examples of the concepts in their daily life and in larger social meaning of:

- Fact and Opinion

- True and Untrue

- Ordinary and Extraordinary

- Prejudice

- Scapegoat phenomenon

- Discrimination

- Basic human rights

2. The pupils are able to put the West-European history and culture in perspective, in relation to other non-western societies.

3. The pupils discover that people are not born with negative prejudices in their minds. They learn that prejudices are learned by a process of internationalisation. They learn finally to unmask prejudices.

4. The pupils learn that the judgements to culture lifestyles, habits and traditions as normal or strange, depend on the position of the observer.

5. The pupils will develop insight and perspective to act in situations where discrimination and the scapegoat phenomenon occur.

Challenges

The project challenges the pupils on different levels. It must be a pleasure to learn about oneself and about others. The means and learning climate is open, self directed, attractive and within an atmosphere of respect for children. The pupils need to:

· perceive accurately;

· co-operate with one another and learn to ask questions;

· empathise with the situation of other people;

· look for possible solutions

· learn to express an own opinions;

· make choices on basis of argumentation;

· search for perspectives to act;

Target groups

· Children in context of the school of youthwork in the age from 10 - 14 years old.

· Their teachers or facilitators in youthwork

· Their parents

Design of the programme and methodology

Methodology

From the early nineties the staff of Peace Education Projects became involved in Interactive Learning as a tool to strengthen a multicultural society. These innovative methodology of learning has a praxis based origin. The traditional points of view on education failed in the field of awareness building programmes. We discovered the impossibility of teaching children and young people peace and tolerance only by showing them the terror of war and violence in the past and nowadays, which a lot of educational projects still do. We also discovered that there is a contradictory to teach children respect for entice differences between people, only from the angle of the social problems of discrimination and racism. May be children and young people will start to think social desirable in some ways, but they still don't know how to change their behaviour in daily life. For violence, scapegoating and prejudices are a part of daily life of nearly every child.

So an interactive methodology that stimulates the children and young people in the first place to analyse the causes of these social problems instead of only rejecting the effects, was developed. This methodology would give the target groups the opportunity to form their own opinions and perspectives on their own role in the multicultural society. These educational means should offer children the opportunity to exercise the tools of respect for human rights to sustain and strengthen a society where differences are enriching.

The development of this interactive methodology has a lot to do with the history of the multicultural society in the second half of the twentieth century in the Netherlands and other European countries. When the first migration to western Europe industry areas took place in the sixties of the last century, one could observe a society strongly divided in Us and Them. The educational materials that were published in these days till the eighties, represent this attitude of Us and Them, were significant. Educational research and revelations of children of migrants learns us that the development of a multicultural society, needs another approach. Instead of carrying out programmes that learn children about the traditions and habits of children from another cultures, there is a need to design educational means about children in general in interaction with other people. Instead of making the children of migrants an object of the educational material, we need to make the diversity of children subject of the programmes. The multicultural society is in this view not something to strive or to gain but it is reality. Us versus Them changes in We, living in a world of differences, that offers specific tensions and enriching challenges. In that sense, we speak within the framework of this programme about education of diversity. One of the consequences is that we need no differentiation in our programme. All pupils work together in the interactive exhibition.

Programme

Children visit the interactive exhibition in groups of about 30 and it takes about one hour and a half. After a short introduction by a videofilm, to make an appeal the pupils concentration and involve them into the theme of the exhibition, the children work concentrated in pairs independently. The way of learning is interactive. The pupils interact between the panels with the themes, they interact with one another and write down there opinion of solution in a booklet, in most of the countries called a passport for the visit to the exhibition is a kind of a journey. The pupils manage their own learning process and most of the admissions are self-correcting.

From the view of the interactive methodology, there is no guiding necessary of adults. The teachers and other adults, play a role in the background and they are prepared only to stimulate the pupils to give them the opportunity to develop their own opinions and find their own solutions. The pupils have a little booklet to write down their experiences. This booklet gives afterwards in the classroom the material for a follow up. By this means the children are respected in their own capability. There are not filled with more of less political correct opinions. But they are challenged to develop their own attitudes towards social problems that are also part of their daily life at school, in the street and at home. We frequently call the exhibition a game circuit to illustrate that for far most of the children, learning in such a context is serious but also a great pleasure. For the teachers a manual is developed, containing some theoretical backgrounds of the methodology and the theme of the multicultural society and a lot of different educational means and group activities. Some suggestions are made to involve the parents to the project by a parents evening of the school-journal.

Co-operation with other European partners

The overall project consists of a continuing process that started in 1994 with the first interactive exhibition. From that time we developed several exhibitions in co-operation with NGO’s in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, N-Ireland, Russia. These projects have the same, Dutch interactive exhibition as a starting point. It was not a matter of exporting a educational means to other countries from the Netherlands. On the contrary. Of course the innovating methodology and new approach to the multicultural society was mostly adopted by the partner NGO’s in other European countries. But the contents of the exhibition was transformed in multilateral meetings and seminars to each cultural situation. As the enclosures will show, the headlines of the exhibition and themes like the scapegoat, discrimination and human rights are the same in the various exhibitions. But the application was different in each country. For instance the social and cultural impact of skin colour is a major point in countries that have to deal with former colonies like Holland and France. The South African term `Apartheid’ is known all over the world and from Dutch origin. In Russia skin colour is a completely different item and plays not an important role in the Russian version of the exhibitions. Of course Russia knows social problems as ethnic tensions, exclusion and the scapegoat phenomenon.

We can conclude that there is not only a continuing process of developing interactive exhibitions on the theme of the multicultural society but there is also an going on cumulative process of international learning and understanding.

Financing the project

It will be clear that the ongoing process of developing interactive exhibitions was financed by a lot of different local, national and international governmental institutions, private foundations and sponsors. Of course the process of hiring out the exhibition brings money to finance the exploitation.

But the most important contributing in this project in Holland and in other countries is the involvement of volunteers on the local level. When an exhibition is for three or more weeks in a small town, a group of volunteers, will foster the project, play the role of host and stimulate the children in their learning process. The volunteers meet one another in advance in a briefing meeting to get acquainted with the project and the methodology. Without these thousands of volunteers, the interactive exhibition could not be successful as it is now.

In 2.2. some of these financing institutions and mentioned. Frequently these organisations are mentioned in the written materials in the enclosures.

2.2 Implementation of the programme

Chronological summary

The programme started in 1994 with a Dutch edition of an interactive exhibition with support of European Community to implement such a methodology in other European countries. A year later an Italian and a Spanish version was produced. Meanwhile we co-operated with Arbeitsstelle Weltbilder in Munster, Germany for an exhibition in Munster surroundings. In the years that followed a French and Russian version was produced. It generates a process of mutual learning and synergy. The original Dutch exhibition was further developed in a mobile version and a Table Top model in a suitcase. At the moment a pilot project of this Exhibition in a suitcase is produced in N-Ireland. There are also contact with NGO’s in others countries.

By means of a summery, we describe three Dutch interactive exhibitions that were adopted and transformed by NGK’s in Belgium, Italy, France and Russia.

Vreemd is anders heel gewoon (1994)

Een interactive tentoonstelling over vooroordelen, discriminatie en de zondebok

(Ordinary – Extraordinary. An interactive exhibition on prejudices, discrimination and the scapegoat, including teachers manual and passport for children.)

The project began with the development of this exhibition by the Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects. This version of the interactive exhibition built as a small village in schools, community halls (250m2) is still running in the Netherlands and Flandres in two editions.

About 150.000 children visited this exhibition.

Financed a/o. by the Ministry of education, Foreign Affairs Office (NCDO), the European Union DG5, National Commemoration Committee. (annex 1)

Gli Altri Siamo Noi (1995)

Giochi strumenti idee per una societa interculturale

An Italian version of the interactive exhibition built as a small village for schools and other room (350m2) including a teachers manual and pupils guide (passport). Produced in co-operation with Pace e Dintorni, progetto di Educazione alla Nonviolenza, Milano. In the years that followed this organisation produced two other exhibitions, adapted to the particular situation in the South of the country (Sicily).

About 45.000 children visited this exhibition.

Financed a/o. by the European Union. Pace e Dintorni, Organismo di Volontariato Internazionale.

Я и Другой (1996)

(Me and the Other)

An interactive exhibition about prejudices, including teachers manual and pupils guidebook. The exhibition was built as a small village in museums (300m2) in co-operation with DOM – Детский Открытый Музей, Children’s Open Museum. Moscow, Russia. DOM is providing a network of children’s museums in Russia. Children museums in Russia play an important role in educational reforms.

About 40.000 pupils visited the exhibition that was a/o. exposed in Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Irskoetsk, Yaroslavl, Samara, Toliatty, Petrozavotsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Jekatharinaburgh.

Financed by TACIS/PHARE democracy program European Union Brussels, Soros Foundation.

Le sentier de la guerre ou comment ‘leviter… (1997)

Une exposition-jeu sur la tolérance les différences le respect de l’autre.

(The road of war and how to prevent it… An exhibition-game on tolerance, differences and respect for the other.)

France version of the exhibition built as a small village in schools (200m2) in co-operation with L’Ecole de la Paix, Grenoble France. Including development of teachers manual and pupils guidebook.

About 30.000 pupils visited the exhibition.

Financed a/o. by Le ville de Grenoble, L’Organisation des Nations Unies, L’Union Européenne.

De Gewoon – Vreemd Express (1997)

Mobiele tentoonstelling over de zondebok

(The normal – Strange Express, A mobile exhibition on the scapegoat)

An interactive exhibition in a truck meant for small villages with one or two schools. The truck is parked in front of the school and can house a group of 35 children. Developed by the Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects, including teachers manual and pupils guidebook. About 140.000 pupils visited the Express.

Financed a/o. by Foundation Children’s Stamps, Ministry of Welfare and ministry of Education, European Union.

De Vooroordelenkoffer (1998)

(A suitcase on prejudices)

This suitcase, edited in 850 copies with teachers manual and pupils guidebook was implemented in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flandres), contain 45 carton board displays that can be exposed on tables in an desired room (school, church, youth centre ect.) an interactive exhibition on prejudices and the scapegoat).

When every suitcase is used three times it give an estimate number of 85.000 participants.

The project was mainly financed a/o. by NCDO (Nat. Comm. Development Co-operation).

Gewoon – Vreemd Paleis / Le Palais de l’étrange et du normal (1998)

(Ordinary – Extraordinary Palace)

A bilingual interactive exhibition on cultural diversity, including teachers manual and pupils guidebook, built in a former warehouse in co-operation with Foyer, regional centre for integration, Brussels, Belgium.

About 20.000 pupils visited the exhibition.

Financed a/o. by national centre to combat racism, Commission of the Flemish Community.

Воэможно быть Другим (1999)

(The possibility and the right to be different)

An interactive Table Top exhibition about prejudices, human rights and scapegoat in the classroom in co-operation with DOM – Детский Открытый Музей, Children’s Open Museum. Moscow, Russia. This was also accompanied by a manual for teachers, containing the pupils guide The exhibition is used as a methodology in Civic Education, a new task of the Russian schools. The exhibition was produced in 1.000 copies and implemented by a Train the Trainers-program in which 800 trainers are involved in four regions (Moscow, Samara, Yaroslavl, Krasnoyarsk). In March 2000 this project will be evaluated.

The table top exhibition is very popular in Russia. We assume that these 1.000 exhibitions in suitcases will be used in 25 groups at least. When a schoolgroup has a average of 30 pupils, about 750.000 children participated or will participate in this project. The project is financed by TACIS/PHARE democracy programme European Union Brussels and the Soros Foundation.

2.3. Evaluation

Evaluation tools

In general it is difficult to predict the outcome of a awareness building projects precisely, even with valid statistic research. One of the problems concerns the starting point, the definition of results and awareness of a social problem in relation to ones own behaviour and the difficulties towards attitudes. Nevertheless we can provide some important indicators in addition to the numbers and figures described in 2.2.. These indicators provide qualitative data in relation to the main objectives and the subgoals, which are important to make a final evaluation. As a rule we state that the more concrete the objectives, the more precise the evaluation. In the context of the Interactive exhibition project we used the following tools.

during development process

- Process evaluation by making clear objectives and involve small experiment groups (pupils as well as children) during the whole development process. It is an important tool to prevent mistakes and too high pretensions.

during and after the implementation process

- Observations of visitors by students from the University and Teachers Training Colleagues.

- The didactical involvement of teachers and pupils in time and in intensity.

- Oral feedback and written reports from teachers about the effects of the participation in the project and the follow up.

- Oral feedback and written reports from volunteers.

- All kind of materials of children (articles, reports, posters, essays, photographs etc.).

- Written, filmed or recorded reviews by experts in media in general and in pedagogical magazines.

Results

In the different countries a lot of evaluation material is available. To the projects in Russia and in other countries, extensive reports are produced for the organisations that offered financial support. When an exhibition is organised in cities and villages, the inviting organisation produces evaluation materials with the tools mentioned above. Besides that a lot of students made an article or evaluation report on the exhibition or a part of it. In this context, we can only give some brief headlines. If desired, further evaluation material can be provided.

during development process

Most important tool was practised during the development process in the different countries. A constant process of trial an error and learning lead to a good result. Most important tool was the experiment group. And the most important attitude was listening to children and teachers and try to elaborate their opinions and questions. In this way methodological cornerstones are developed and put into practise. Motto’s as: “We don’t want to teach what to think but teach them to think!” came up in these pre-production stage. This way of experiential developing was exiting for every participant in the project. It makes the original providers of the theme and the methodology of the project (Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects) modest. For they got involved in a very interesting learning process, for instance about the social and educational situation in Russia or Northern Ireland.

during and after the implementation process

In all countries teachers are asked to fill in a written evaluation form after visiting the exhibition.

- Nearly all teachers give an indication to the topic of concentration. They are very surprised by the fact that children can concentrate themselves for one hour. It says something about the various means of learning in the interactive exhibition. Pupils are taking seriously and apparently the themes became concerns in their daily live.

- Teachers indicate also that the project has a positive effect on the classroom climate. The participation of the project stimulates an atmosphere of openness to universal psychological themes as the scapegoat phenomenon. Children dare to come out and discuss their attitudes towards one another.

- Teachers, mainly in Russia but also in other countries indicate that they could improve their teaching capabilities. The interactive approach and the methodological paradigm stimulates them to differentiate their didactical means.

- In many cases teachers tell us a story that is significant for the children’s reaction in relation to the objectives of the interactive exhibition. One of the objectives will offer the children tools to make distinctions towards facts and opinions and other terms (see subgoals 2.1.). It often happens weeks after participating in the project that children ask the teacher when he of she says something in the classroom: “Sir/Madam, is this a fact of is it your opinion?” This illustrates that children were able to integrate these terms in their minds and that they can handle it. The same can we conclude to terms as prejudices, discrimination and the scapegoat phenomenon.

- From materials from children we learn the deep involvement to scapegoat phenomenon. They nearly all experienced it themselves in different positions as the scapegoat, the witness or the perpetrators.

- Especially children with a minority ethnic background feel themselves comfortable in the mentioned learning process. In the case of ordinary and extraordinary, everybody is involved. I am strange in the eyes of somebody else. But the contrary can also be true. From experience we know that it gives a balance between moderating ones own culture on one hand and be proud of ones own roots on the other hand.

- From children’s material, we learn a lot of prejudices. They experience it every day, with themselves as a subject and as a object. (I have prejudices to Roam-people. And: Children don’t have an opinion. Or children have a big mouth.) A lot of them evaluate the unmask method in the teachers manual as very positive. They discover that prejudices are learned from parents, media etc. And that they can get rid of it by asking questions.

2.4. Future Planning of the project

The different projects will continue in the near future in various ways. As already mentioned the second project in Russia will be evaluated in March 2000. We will try to formulate a follow up programme.

In Italy, they partner NGO developed a second exhibition on violence and aggression and will exchange their experiences.

In Northern Ireland we will work on the implementation of the Table Top Model after the evaluation of the pilot project.

In France and Belgium meetings will be organised to exchange information about experiences with the exhibitions.

Although not a part of the project description, the Stichting Vredeseducatie/Peace Education Projects developed a new interactive exhibition in a former military Fortress in Utrecht about the scapegoat phenomenon in relation to the history of second world war. Because this Fortress was during this war used as a execution place where 140 men, mainly from the resistance, are executed by the nazi’s. In this new Remembrance Centre for the Future children can learn what resistance nowadays means in society and in their daily life. For we think that the best way of commemorating the men that were killed at this site, is to exercise ourselves in their ideals of liberty and democracy. The Stichting Vredeseducatie will try to find partners in other countries to elaborate these themes and means and continuing the learning process.

Utrecht, January 2000