School rules!

Why is it that School rules?

The content of school lessons and the entire educational system have been regulated by national school laws, especially since the era of enlightened absolutism. The Empress Maria Theresa nationalised education and adopted the first state primary education law in 1774, which also introduced general compulsory schooling for all children aged 6 to 12. Since school also means a continuous flow of knowledge and numerous experiences, people now see it as indispensable, particularly the youth, and to speak in their language, it really rules! From the basic features of education presented in the visitor’s field of vision, the exhibition progresses to interactive research and a more precise search of data, as well as additional layers of knowledge in its covert parts. School scenes presented on various levels, illustrations of everyday life, toys, sounds and music, educational thoughts, models, and the ambiental installation bring to life the spirit of the times and school life of various historical periods. The central design element of the exhibition is a big, long blackboard placed opposite a long school bench. However, the blackboard is not an ordinary one; as if it was a magic cupboard, it contains flaps, doors, and drawers, big and small, leading to a variety of data and captivating stories, archive material and documents, and also interesting objects from the history of schools in Slovenia. The long hall leads to an ambiental exhibition room where visitors find two classrooms, inviting them to attend historical lessons and experience the school from previous times for themselves.

The time of schooling is, among other things, the time of childhood, adolescence, and growing up. A visit to the new permanent exhibition in the Slovenian School Museum is, therefore, also a journey to one’s youth, a reminiscence of times that are unique and unrepeatable for each of us.

The exhibition is enriched by illustrated characters Ana and Blaž, who like to dress up as people from various periods. They are brought to life with the help of the so-called augmented reality enabled by new technology. Sometimes, they are joined by owl Zofi, who is mischievous yet full of wisdom. Install the app ScholAR and point your phone to the illustration to see what Blaž is doing with theatre masks. Visit the Slovenian School Museum and find other heroes!

The museum and augmented reality

Ana and Blaž are curious pupils who like to wander through museum exhibitions, discover unusual objects, listen to music, and solve puzzles. Their favourite pastime is to put on costumes from various historical periods. This helps them to experience past times and learn how life used to be different. You can meet Ana and Blaž in the permanent exhibition School Rules! With the help of augmented reality and your mobile phone, you can bring them to life and see what they are doing. They are often accompanied by the museum owl Zofi, who claims to have a name signalling her endless wisdom. However, she quietly adds that she learns something new each time she visits the museum. There are really so many new and interesting things to see there!

We found inspiration for pupils Ana and Blaž in Slomšek’s textbook Blaže in Nežica v nedeljski šoli (Blaže and Nežica in Sunday School), a real encyclopaedia from the times when parents began to send their children, both boys and girls, to school more regularly. But since both children wish to learn everything from A to Z, we named them Ana and Blaž.

The characters Ana and Blaž were drawn by Irena Gubanc, who also prepared them, together with Teja Jalovec, to be brought to life in augmented reality. Animation and computer programming in augmented reality were provided by Bor Hojs from Studio Tibor. The museum has developed two mobile applications for visitors, which you can test already by using the QR code or link to install them on your mobile phone, and then focus the phone on illustrations beside the code since augmented reality works by recognising an image.

ScholAR

Use the mobile app ScholAR to scan all appearances of Ana and Blaž in the exhibition and see what they do throughout 13 historical periods. Augmented reality works wherever Ana and Blaž appear, be it in the exhibition, in publications, or on objects.

Animation adds an entertaining interactive dimension to the exhibition while also linking illustrations to the original museum object in a nice way and revealing interesting facts on top.

PlakatAR

The museum has also added augmented reality to posters featuring questions related to the exhibition content. The answers can be obtained using the PlakatAR app.