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The potential of the school museum: The visual aspect of patriotic education // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2026. Issue 1 (47). P. 9-23

The school museum in the modern educational and social space functions not merely as a repository of relics, but as a powerful instrument for shaping patriotic consciousness and civic identity. The authors argue that today, school museums have evolved into active centers for civic and patriotic education. Through mechanisms of engagement in research activities, project work, and direct interaction with historical artifacts, students develop not an imposed, but a deeply personal, conscious connection with the past of their people, region, and family. This is made possible because the school museum serves as a kind of a visual bridge between eras—a living portrait of collective memory, woven from countless details. The authors place particular emphasis on the phenomenon of "co-participation", where a student, becoming a custodian and interpreter of history, recognizes their own role in continuing the traditions of service to the Fatherland. The work analyzes specific practices of patriotic work in school museums of Ulyanovsk Oblast through the lens of the visual image, demonstrating that effectively organized museum activities contribute not only to the personal development of individual students but also to the strengthening of civic solidarity, thereby forming the basis for the sustainable development of society in the future. Common meanings and values in the school museum are transmitted through the powerful and universal language of visual images, making the past not only understandable but also emotionally close for the younger generation. Thus, the aim of the research presented in the article was to analyze the activities of specific school museums to identify the main trends and innovations in their work. In setting the tasks, various directions of semiotic research were considered, demonstrating the circumstances under which the visual images transmitted by school museums can exert a powerful impact. Accounting for this potential and the universality of the language of visualization provided the authors' research with originality, despite the seemingly simple organization of school museum work. The study developed criteria for evaluating school museums: 1) the integrity of the exhibition, reflecting the chosen historical fragment, as well as the presence of unique exhibits in the museum; 2) the interactive component of the museum's work (the presence and completeness of a website, an electronic museum page, the possibility of an interactive tour of the museum exhibition); 3) conducting research work based on the museum (the presence of publications by museum staff in scientific and socio-political journals); 4) organization of educational and extracurricular work based on the museum (museum exhibition); 5) implementation of cultural and educational activities aimed not only at schoolchildren but also encompassing different social groups. The visualization of historical memory, leading to the "I was there" effect, requires pedagogical reflection and precision in methodological work, since the original tasks of school museums included involving students in search, project, and research activities to form in them not an imposed, but a deeply understood and conscious connection with the past of their family, their region, and their Fatherland. The conclusion is drawn about the necessary support from universities (particularly based on the achievements of museum pedagogy developed within them) for self-organizing school museums.

Keywords: museum pedagogy, visualization of historical memory, service to Fatherland, historical memory, activities of school museums, educational technologies, local history, personal development