Sandra Altimari (6th year of the double Degree of Education primary and Pedagogy) and María Ángela Vergara (4th year of Pedagogy and Early Childhood Education) are two of the 89 students who, since January and for two months, are doing their internships in various educational centers in Navarra, nationally and in some cases, internationally.

In the case of these two students, they carry out their Practicum at the Museum of the University of Navarra, supporting the educational programs that this center has in place. The students are tutored by Professor Natalia Verea, from the School of Education and Psychology, and Fernando Echarri, manager of the Museum's educational programs.

On a daily basis, they work on the "Sing, Dance, Paint and Create" program, which is aimed at students in the last cycle of kindergarten, that is, students between the ages of four and six.

What is this internship experience at the Museum giving you?

María Ángela: I believe that we cannot leave art only in the schools, on the walls of the schools, it has to go beyond them. That is why it is important to take the Museum to the school and vice versa. It is a good opportunity to show that children can also be educated in the Museum, that they can learn a lot. And to have the ability to improvise.

A teacher at Education must be prepared for anything. To be adventurous, to lose fear... always thinking about different activities: today I can dress up as something, tomorrow I can act as something else... to be adventurous. The teacher is that and in the degree program we have seen it, you have to be prepared for everything.

Sandra: I agree with that ability to improvise and adapt. Last week I had a 4th grade ESO student come to group . I, used to working with children, suddenly teenagers of about 15 years of age arrive and you have to think about how to deal with them. You have to rethink the attention, how they think, how they act. They come with that adolescent attitude: I know everything, you know nothing. But you give them some activity and they are puzzled and start to think. Another thing about the Museum is that financial aid helps them to think, to go beyond what a book says.

What subject activities do you do with the children?

S: In "Sing, dance, paint and create", the activities are established: first we dance, then we sing, then we see the museum and then it's the painting part. Finally we make a kind of mini-museum for them with the works they have created. My favorite part, without a doubt, is the museum part. The activity consists of: my friend "the musketeer" got lost and we have to go through the rooms of the museum looking for him. Every time we go to one conference room we ask questions (the game is more about questions than about explaining what is there). I also do a lot of guided tours, and this game is not so much about explaining the work, as you do with adults, but seeing what the kids answer. We sit in the middle of the conference room, the children look at the paintings, think about which is their favorite and then they have to tell us why. From there any subject comment comes out. When they find themselves in front of Picasso's Musketeer painting, they get excited. Then we go back to the initial conference room and it's time to paint. Many of the children are inspired by the paintings they have seen, although you can find everything.

What knowledge have you acquired along the degree program have you applied in these months?

S: Above all, developmental psychology or Education because this part of understanding the child is important. This goes beyond the classroom: why the student behaves the way he does, how he does it, what goes on in his head. When it's inside the classroom, it's very important to know or when they come with special needs. You know how to handle them, what they have, that the disposition is different. What degree program has taught me is how to treat children: whether or not they have any subject difficulty.

Each child is different, how do you adapt the prepared activities to be successful for all of them?

S: The only thing the museum doesn't have that the classroom has is time. The activities last between one hour and average - two hours at the most. It lacks that part of deepening with them, but it is a matter of time, not because we don't want to. The activity does not give you enough time to meet all 30 students in one hour and average. In spite of this, as it is not an activity that is done sitting in a chair, it is very easy to adapt it to the needs of the children. For example, we once had a paralyzed child come in. They put him in a walker, and so he danced like his classmates. He was happy, he laughed, he danced, he moved as he could. He was delighted. That subject of things are very "on the fly", because we do not know who is coming or how many or what conditions they have. That's why improvisation is very necessary.

How do you project yourselves in a few years, what would you like to do?

S: Personally, I would love to stay in Pamplona (I am from Venezuela), because I think it is a comfortable place to live. I see myself in a high school, but more as a teacher than as a pedagogue. I see myself teaching elementary school. I love children.

MA: With all the topic of innovation, creativity... I see myself as a teacher who wants to transform Education. I don't want the same as how I was educated, or what I have heard. Over time I have learned a lot with the University and the experiences I have had; and it is clear to me that I do not want to be just another teacher. I want to be different, to be able to innovate, to invite children to think, to break the paradigms that until now have been maintained at Education. Sometimes there are many barriers, such as having a teacher who is already a little "rusty" and needs to be changed, or some who only refer to a textbook. I don't want to be a teacher who uses a textbook. I want to suggest new experiences from what the child has. I believe that the child is full of so much potential and many projects can be done from all the riches that they have. Yes, it would be a different class , I imagine. At the beginning, I don't know how I would start but I would really like to integrate the disciplines that connect to the Education. The artistic part, now having this experience in the museum, it seems to me that it is important that in the classes there is experience with art, literature, dance. The child must learn and express him/herself in many languages: the corporal part, the verbal part... I don't want to stay only with the latter. I don't want to focus on the fact that it is only important to read and write and learn to add and subtract. I don't want to stop there, the Education is much more.

Right now I am in 4th grade and I have another year to go. I can't wait to finish... When you have this contact with the educational reality, you want to go and live it.