New Perspectives in Science Education

Digitised municipal archives can provide authentic materials for developing data literacy and inquiry skills in interdisciplinary education. This paper explores the educational potential of Bulgarian municipal civil registration and administrative services (CRAS) archives from 1878 to 1912, focusing on how historical administrative records can support learning about the production, organisation and interpretation of evidence. The study draws on historical and institutional analysis of administrative correspondence, registers, reports and regulatory documents. It examines the provenance, administrative functions and relationships of these records and considers how digitisation and semantic structuring can make this context accessible to learners. Structured metadata describing document types, institutions and chronology provides a basis for preparing archival materials for educational use. Building on this analysis, the paper proposes an approach to learning through archival inquiry. Suggested activities include formulating research questions, classifying documents, tracing relationships between records and comparing evidence from different sources. Students could use these tasks to examine how data acquire meaning within a specific institutional context and how incomplete documentation limits interpretation. The relevance to science education lies in practising the evaluation of evidence, the assessment of data quality and the construction of reasoned explanations. The contribution is a conceptual approach that connects the digitisation of local documentary heritage with the design of learning activities centred on data and evidence. It identifies requirements for preparing contextualised archival resources, including clear descriptions and preservation of documentary relationships. The proposed educational application provides a basis for future classroom implementation and evaluation.

Keywords: Municipal archives; CRAS; Digitisation of cultural heritage; Semantic structuring; Administrative history

Bilyarski, Ts. (2010). Istoriya na balgarskite arhivi (1878–1944) [History of Bulgarian Archives (1878–1944)]. Sofia: Darzhavna agentsiya „Arhivi“.

Gruev, M. (2009). Darzhavnata administratsiya v Balgariya (1879–1912) [State Administration in Bulgaria (1879–1912)]. Sofia: Ciela.