A museum in motion: history, state of the art and perspectives of the new Museum of School History of the University of Macerata

The "Paolo & Ornella Ricca" Museum of School History at the University of Macerata is a recent institution but constantly in evolution. After being established in 2009, the museum has gone through several seasons, the last of which coincided with the blocking of activities due to the health emergency before, and after, with the expansion and renovation works on the venue. This last phase represented an opportunity not only to rethink the museum's structure and services, but more generally to reflect on the mission and the future challenges that the reopening museum will be called to face. The contribution traces the history of the institution and the evolution of the activities implemented in the past, especially represented by workshops for schools, cultural events for the general and adult public, and educational activities for university students. Then two pilot projects are analyzed: the first one, focused on the experimentation of tools for improving accessibility for persons with intellectual disabilities; the second, aimed at involving university students in realizing digital artifacts to be implemented in the new multimedia museum exhibits. The mentioned activities were implemented during the lockdown: despite the museum's closure, on the one hand, and although classes were entirely offered online, on the other, it was possible all the same to readjust the teaching strategies to the new conditions. Consequently, students from the BA degree in Education and the MA degree in Heritage Management were able to participate in the creation of the mentioned artifacts. The results of the experimentation demonstrated not only that the students acquired practical skills in the management of new tools and contents, but also that they actively internalized the theoretical contents specific to the syllabi of History of education and Heritage education.