Using UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vlkolínec (Slovakia) in Geographical Education

Year 2019, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 426 - 446, 31.08.2019

İveta Rakytová , İvana Tomčíková

https://doi.org/10.33403/rigeo.573655

Abstract

UNESCO identifies unique
places in the World, whether natural or man-made, of universally outstanding
value or cultural significance as World Heritage. These places are considered
heritage of all mankind, rather than just heritage of a particular area,
country, or region. Such sites can be rich sources of information not only for
the people of the region, but also for the general public, and are often
associated with lively tourism.

The aim of this paper is to
characterize the UNESCO World Heritage site of Vlkolínec, one of the most
visited UNESCO sites in Slovak Republic, and to use the settlement of Vlkolínec
as an example to describe how the site attributes can be used in geographical
education.

In the first part of the
paper, we describe the natural potential of Vlkolínec, characterize the
settlement’s development from the end of the 18th century to the present, and
describe historical landscape structures whose existence in Vlkolínec was the
reason for its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the school
year 2018/2019, we conducted a survey among students in the 2nd stage of
primary education in Liptov region on their knowledge about the UNESCO site of Vlkolínec.
Based on the results of the survey, we designed and realized a project with
year eight primary students at the Slovak UNESCO World Heritage site of
Vlkolínec.    

Keywords

UNESCO site, geographical education, project teaching

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