Art talks and activities

Museum and school

Including museums in school teaching has always been an aim of museum education. Because of this the various museums offer a wide range of thematic guided tours for school classes.

Our education and mediation work places special emphasis on overcoming school children's inhibitions regarding the museum. We want them to find enjoyment and fun in the act of looking at and discovering original works of art, and to get to know the museum as a place full of genuine witnesses to history, culture and art. A variety of educational material and method-rich pedagogic mediation approaches are designed to make guided tours both varied and rich experiences so that school children actually enjoy coming to the museum.

The aims of education and mediation work are, above all, to inspire joy in learning through discovery and play, to promote powers of observation, to stimulate children and young adults and to motivate them to look into a given subject more closely, to animate their imagination, to involve them with all their senses, to enable them to learn how to move about a museum independently and gather information.
We have a number of offers available for cooperation with schools:

Offer for school groups
Three different formats are available for visits by school classes:

Workshops, 2 hours
After looking intensively at art and discussing particular works, participants put their own ideas on a particular topic into practice. The aim is to develop a better understanding of artistic ideas and strategies through ones own activity.

Discussions of works, 1.5 hours
A few works of art on selected topics are examined as part of a mutual dialogue. The primary focus is on active participation and individual engagement with the work of art.

Guided tour, 1 hour
The tour introduces and discusses selected topics, and artistic positions or a particular exhibition.

You can download our current school newsletters (available only in German):
School newsletter collections

Booking and information
Guided Tours - Visitor Services of the National Museums in Berlin
Tel.: +49 - (0)30 - 266 42 42 42
Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 266 42 22 90
E-mail: service@smb.museum

Postal address:
Visitor Services / Guided Tours
Genthiner Straße 38
10785 Berlin

Teacher Training
We regularly offer courses for teachers aimed at introducing current exhibitions and training general methods approaches to working c with contemporary art.

A series of teacher training courses on specific topics present topical links to the framework curriculum, details are published in the programme of the Berlin Senate department for education, science and research,.

Visits to the museum's permanent collections and special exhibitions by students from all kinds of schools and from all age groups should play a continuous and firm part in educational work.
A number of main focuses as regards content have been chosen to ensure that teachers can use the museums for their own specialized subjects as well as for teaching general knowledge and as part of extra-curricular activities. These are closely related to the school curriculum, and have been selected with a view to various age-groups as well as to current problems and interests.

Teacher Training 2011

Arrangements for school classes at the museum
PDF for download (only in german available).

School classes without guided tour
Teachers can also visit the museums with their classes without having to book a tour. To help us better coordinate such visits we would kindly ask that you let us know of your intended visit by phone, fax or e-mail. You can send us the completed form by fax or e-mail.

You can download the form here (only in german available).

We reserve the right to make changes because of special exhibitions.

Further advice
d.bystron@smb.spk-berlin.de