The National Museum of Natural History, Sofia organised the Second National Meeting of Museum Educators

On September 17 and 18th in Asenovgrad, the Second National Meeting of Museum Educators took place as organised by the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia (NMNHS). It was dedicated to “STEAM approaches in museum education — a synthesis of art and science.” The meeting was hosted by the Asenovgrad branch of NMNHS — the Dimitar Kovachev Palaeontological Museum.

The meeting began with an official greeting by Prof Pavel Stoev, Director of NMNHS, welcoming the participants. Afterwards, Dr Todor Branzov of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences presented the online platform (https://mnet.emoko.bg, in Bulgarian), which was created within the framework of the Education With Science national programme, supporting the National Network of Museum Educators.

The meeting continued with three themed discussion panels.

PANEL 1: Innovations in museum education — approaches for creativity and project-based learning. Interactive methods and innovations in working with different audiences.

PANEL 2: Technologies and museums — a bridge between the past and future. Museum education in the age of digitalisation.

PANEL 3: The museum as a community center. Sustainability and future of museum education.

This year, 40 participants from 20 museums attended the meeting and 16 presentations were offered. Mrs Meglena Zapreva, a guest lecturer from New York and teacher at the Bank Street College of Education, presented “A review of best STEAM practices at museums in the US” and led a workshop with models of STEAM activities.

The participants visited the Asenovgrad branch of NMNHS, the Dimitar Kovachev Palaeontological Museum, where curator Assoc. Prof Dr Nedko Nedyalkov presented the history and collections of the branch.

Participants unanimously agreed with the idea of making the meetings a yearly event. Their goal is to build up the National Network of Museum Educators as an informal community of various specialists who work in Bulgarian museums and are engaged in educational and pedagogic activities. Events conducted within the framework of this network will focus on increasing the quality and effectiveness of museum education, as well as on encouraging the cooperation and exchange of best practices between specialists and museum institutions. On behalf of the Regional Historical Museum of Kyustendil Mrs Miroslava Taskova applied to become a host of the 2026 meeting.