“Take a look at your monuments”. A dissemination program on cultural heritage for children and youngsters in Mexico

Abstract

“Échale un ojo a tus monumentos” (“Take a look at your monuments”), a program implemented by the National Coordination of Historical Monuments at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (cnmh-inah), was created for a specific need: to ensure that students from elementary schools located in or near towns with historical monuments get to know, enjoy and conserve their cultural heritage.  Using the active school principle: “learning by doing”, our approach is based on the simple principle that true appreciation of the value of heritage comes from taking care of it. This contribution addresses the aims, methodology and operation of this program in order to show its achievements and pose future challenges, which entails an analysis of the experience and its significance in the inah’s dissemination activities.