Learning by riding, painting, singing, doing

When History Meets Geography and Art

Course Outline

A few words about the course: Thessaly and especially Western Thessaly, an area located in the center of Greece, is the ideal place for someone who wants to know medieval and Byzantine Greece. Monastic small or large “states” created a different universe dominated by the supernatural and otherworldly element. Our course is run through two axes. First axis: A journey where History, Geography and Art coexist and interact with each other. Second axis: Tools and techniques that can take off our lessons and give our students beyond knowledge and information, true emotions. Through learning by doing, we will do archery, riding with the famous Thessalian horses that were the base of the famous horsemen of Byzantium, we will sing Byzantine melodies. In other words, we will not just see or learn the medieval routes. We’ll feel them. We’re going to live them.

Interested in this course?

Agenda

Day 1

Introductory meeting

  • Explanation of practical arrangements
  • Presentation of timetable.
  • icebreaker, brainstorming and team building.

Day 2

Greece in the late Byzantium

  • Panagia Pelekiti. Little Monastery near to the hotel and the lake Plastiras, our base.
  • First contact with the late Byzantium.
  • The Middle Ages in the west and east. An intercultural approach.

Day 3

Everyday life in Byzantium

  • The monasteries in late Byzantium.
  • Geography: Where, how, why?
  • Study case: Monastery of Corona
  • Architecture in Byzantium

Day 4

About Art

  • Art Byzantine
  • Painting in late Byzantium
  • Instruments and music
  • Meteora Study case
  • Visit optional

Day 5

The art of the war

  • Medieval weapons, siege and defensive tactics
  • Riding, Thessaly horses, Archery
  • Create a lesson about Middle Age
  • ICT and History Geography and Art
  • Conclusions

Learning outcomes

  • identify and describe the political, religious, economic, and social aspects during the late Byzantium through interactive activities.
  • identify a range of works of art and artists
  • analyze the role of the monasteries in that time in Europe
  • analyze the art of the period according to objective methods
  • link different materials and types of art to the attitudes and values of the period
  • Intercultural and interactive approach to medieval Europe
  • learning teaching History, Geography and Art as a single unit.
  • teaching outside the classroom, in open spaces.
  • design and creation of digital media

Methods & Tools

Learning by doing, lectures, discussions, group work, presentations, exercises, study visits, video-presentation, audio visual tools, practical implementations, activities, instruments and music, experiential learning.

Evaluation- feedback

Participants fill in a course evaluation form providing thus feedback on what they have been taught.