Mineralogical museums are attractive and special places of learning

Minerals in beautiful colors and shapes still attract visitors to museums. Whereas in the past it was hobby collectors, today it is also interested people who want to find out more. Dusty showcases filled with systematically arranged minerals are no longer in demand. Current topics from science do, especially if they are related to everyday life. The exhibition about minerals in Smartphones in the Würzburg University Mineralogical Museum attracted a large number of visitors from different age and professional groups. Exhibitions with artists reach a different group of visitors. Accompanying the exhibitions, a museum educational program is offered with original illustrative material and models as well as presentations on current scientific results, prepared in an understandable way. As part of the museum's public relations work, school classes are among the most important visitors. Enthusiastic pupils are multipliers and our future students. The aim is to arouse children’s curiosity about science. A visit to the museum serves as an ideal supplement to the curriculum-related lessons at all types of schools. Symmetry operations in the primary school mathematics curriculum can be supplemented very well by symmetry exercises on original crystals and by making crystal models in the museum. At Bavarian secondary schools, the subject of geology is offered as an alternative curriculum in the upper grades. The Mineralogical Museum has been a training partner of these schools for many years. In the teaching-learning laboratory, the students get to know the various geoscientific working methods and identify minerals and rocks accompanied by students.