When you put together Teja and children, something thought-provoking will happen. Teja believes in teaching science to very young children. So she designed science clubs for primary schools. The first results are promising. Teja will share her experience with teachers in Erasmus+ course Science for primary school children: when complicated becomes fun and easily understandable. Teja Bajt is a biologist with a master of research degree in molecular and cellular biology, awarded from University of Birmingham, UK. In years working in different research institutes in Slovenia, Italy and United Kingdom she gained valuable knowledge in how the research world works and obtained a first-hand experience in conducting scientific experiments. Now she uses this knowledge to inspire young children. We spoke with her about the science clubs for children and about myths connected with teaching science to young learners.
This year you started with your science clubs for 6 to 10 years old children. I heard that even parents want to join this club. What are the first results of this project? Yes, even the parents said they would be more than happy to learn about science and STEM in this way, through practical hands-on experiments. When they come to pick up their children, after the lesson is over, children often go out of the classroom to bring the waiting parents inside and show them what they were doing that hour and they make their parents try the experiments by themselves. Usually, the children are then amused, because their parents do not do so well as children did. Of course, the reality is they were doing that for the past hour and they got skilled by practicing. The first results can definitely be already seen. One of our main goals of this science clubs was to show children that STEM is not difficult, if only presented in an interesting manner and that children can do the difficult experiments entirely by themselves. At the beginning, when they started the programme, they were shy and unsure in themselves, but with a lot of encouragement, positive teaching approach and with increasing the difficulty of experiments from lesson to lesson children started to believe in themselves. How does your science clubs look like? In our science clubs there are children from 6 to 10 years of age. The science club takes place once a week, for one school hour. Well, at least theoretically the science club lesson should take one school hour. But children get so excited, they do not want to go home and therefore, we usually stay for longer. In each group there are up to 12 children and there are always two instructors (teachers) present, who are there to help them during the experimental procedures. At the beginning of each science lesson the young scientists are confronted with a problem to which we need to find a solution to or to test, if something will or will not work. After that, the children conduct the experiments, by the help of instructors. The experiments are all hands-on practical experiments with basic outline mimicking the real methodology and scientific techniques used in a real “adults” science. The experimental work and the lesson course is adapted from scientific world and that is something special for children, as they do not meet this kind of work flow in their everyday life. Through practical experiments the young scientists gather results, leading to the scientific conclusions, enhancing their knowledge of the topic. The lesson wraps up with the summary of the results, like in the real science world. What exactly do you teach such young children? We teach them about different aspects of science from physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, geology, etc. But most importantly, we are trying to make them realise, that the science is all around us and inside of us, so there is nothing difficult about that. We also teach them that, if you work towards your goals you always get the result. Can you share one experiment with us? I will share the last experiment we did in this school year. In Slovenia we have a nice warm weather and for the last science club lesson we wanted to make it special for the children. Therefore, we decided to make an ice-cream in a scientific way. We did not use the refrigerator or freezer. When confronted with the idea of making the ice-cream without using the refrigerator or freezer, the children were very sceptical, if it is going to work. They said, it is a shame, because they would love to eat it. Therefore, we started mixing cream with cocoa, vanilla etc. Than when the mixture had the perfect taste for each child, we took ice cubes and place them into a plastic bag. Than we added a lot of salt. The children fast grasped, that we added salt, because the salt will melt the ice cubes faster, like in the winter, when the roads get sprinkled with salt so the ice does not form. And this is what we wanted. We wanted that they connect their knowledge interdisciplinary to other things they already know – ice-cream making to icy roads in the winter. In this way, they remember more. When they were eating their ice-cream, we had a discussion about the freezing point and what does that mean and what does the salt really do from a scientific point of view. At the end of the lesson each child successfully made and eat his ice-cream and went home with the new knowledge about the freezing point of water. Do you teach them or they teach you? Well, that is definitely an interesting question. We teach them, but they definitely teach us too. It is highly interesting to see how such young children engage in such scientific tasks and to see how even such young children get their own result and hypothesis by themselves. They are definitely able to think in a scientific way, if you only let them. But I must say, they have taught me a lot. The most important confirmation I got during this time, was that do not underestimate the children’s mind and capabilities. If you let your mind open and you treat them as if they were adults, you will be surprised of how much they can achieve. How children change across the set of sessions in science clubs? How they act on the first and the last session? They become more self-confident, they believe they can do even the hardest things. They do not fear to talk in public anymore. Few of our young scientists had an issue of speaking in public, meaning they were afraid of reading in from of the class in school. When they had to do it, they froze and nothing came out of their mouth. After few months being the part of science club these children are so confident they volunteer by themselves to report results to the class and that includes speaking in front of the science club classmates. That is something I personally take as an achievement of this science club. At the beginning of the science club they were shy and unsure. They have given up quickly when they were given tasks, they were impatient. Now the story has changed. I was amazed to see children sit and observe the experiment, while taking notes, for 20 minutes. For 20 minutes they sat in silence and watched carefully, what it is going to happen to their experiment. My assistant Tanja and I, were a little bit sceptical, if we can make 6 and 7 year olds to sit and observe for so long. But then I said to Tanja, we must try and see, as I believe they can do it and they did. With the correct motivation you can achieve miracles with them. Now the biggest issue of our young scientist is, that the school is ending and they go on the summer break. Meaning, the science club is going on a break too. They want to come to the science club in the summer as well, as they said, 2 months is way too long period to be without science club. Why science matters for young children? Science matters for such small children as they develop a different mind-set. They get use to the critical way of thinking, the scientific way of thinking that is. They do not take things for granted, they think things through by themselves and do not get bothered by others opinion. Moreover, they start to understand that without science our world today would not exist, as science gave us a lot of inventions we know today. At the first science club lesson, when we asked children, what has science gave us, they usually say the light-bulbs and then they cannot think of something else. Now, they understand that science gave us thing we use every day such us: computers, phones, cameras, microwaves, health treatments, medicines, etc. So science matters for young children so they develop a different perspective of a world around them. In your experience working with teachers, what are some of the common science myths which prevent schools from engaging more in teaching science such young children? The biggest myth is that the children are too young to understand science phenomenons and that science is way too complicated to be learnt at this stage. That is a myth that has to be confronted and erased from our way of thinking. Children can learn science at this age, any age basically, if it is only presented in appropriate manner according to their age. Children can easily understand science, because this science clubs have a different approach that is an experimental, hands-on approach. And by doing things by yourself you learn more, you remember more and you understand things. Like Albert Einstein said: “Anyone can know, the point is to understand” these children at this age understand, they do not only know. And my heart sings when parents come to me and explain in what details children go when explaining scientific facts of that day’s experiment at home. I believe schools should overcome such myths and start teaching children science very early on. In January 2017 you also lead an Erasmus+ course entitled Science for primary school children: when complicated becomes fun and easily understandable. The course is intended for teachers. What will they gain out of the course? The teachers will get an insight in our science clubs and can take home all the knowledge we have gained so far working with our young scientists. My assistant Tanja is a primary school teacher by education and heart, and when I asked her to join the science club team, she was very happy to have this opportunity, as like she said, she has learned to work with children in completely different way. Different way than she was thought in the university and she also believes this knowledge is transferable to teaching approaches in schools and I could not agree more. Therefore, I think teachers will benefit from this course by learning new approaches from someone whose mind is set to more of a scientific way of thinking and who wants to pass that way of thinking to everyone willing to learn. Besides the new knowledge, the teachers will also receive a lesson plans to take to their school with them and to maybe try the experiments with their children in class. Maybe, if I am lucky enough, I will inspire some teachers to start their own science clubs themselves and start the new generation of scientists themselves in their own countries. A story how some participants in mobility projects do not speak English and survive. Not only survive but learn intensively and make new friends.
7 advises for improving accessibility of international courses for teachers. In all those years of providing international courses for teachers we came to a conclusion that a low level of foreign language skills need not prevent teachers from attending mobility projects. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sometimes participants with low foreign language skills can benefit even more comparing to other participants. If all the stakeholders (participant, course provider, fellow teachers) put an effort into helping them, those experience can be really unforgettable for all. Here are some best practices and advices for improving accessibility of international trainings for teachers with low levels of English. #1 Watch your thoughts. “I do not know English so I will only observe” or “I do not know English but I will put all my energy in and take something out.” It is such a big difference if a participant says the first or the second statement. The first statement leads him to passive position, the second statement gives him the courage to find different creative strategies for active participation. #2 Proactive participant. Here are some strategies our participants use to understand as much as possible: drawings, body language, Google translator, language apps, pre-reading about the topic in their national language. The worst thing you can do is to isolate from group and say “I cannot learn because I do not understand the language”. Anything else is better. Even if you just sit together with the group, watch the members in the eyes and smile. #3 Uncle Google helps me to learn. Ask the trainer to give you all the material in electronic version. You can use Google translator during the course to translate the necessary inputs. The translation is not perfect, of course, but it is enough to give you key ideas. #4 Mobile phone is really handy. So many language apps for smartphones with immediate translation. It is not necessary to speak. You can write your messages when communicating. #5 Go abroad in pairs. Together we achieve more. When you go abroad do not go alone. Take your fellow teacher who speaks English with you. It is so much fun learning together and share experience. And your colleague can help you to overcome the language barrier. Besides when you get home you will have more power to change things at your school because you will not be alone with new ideas. #6 Peer support. Maybe you will have luck and one of other participants will speak your language. Ask for help and do not forget to give your colleague a present at the end of the course since translating is not an easy job and requires a lot of concentration. #7 Also trainer is your ally. Ask your trainer to adapt some of the activities. Sometimes it is possible and sometimes it is not. But you do not know if you do not ask. Maybe trainer can prepare some of the materials in your language. Perhaps the trainer is able to prepare more nonverbal activities. Or she can arrange group work in national languages. If there is a will, there is a way. These are some of our experience and also findings of the international partnership IQAIST – Improving Quality and Accessibility in In-Service Trainings for Teachers in which our STEP Institute participates. We are proud to organize a course on Preventing early school leaving for group of curious teachers. For the first time we have been educating curious people about Preventing early school leaving. We had a pleasure to spend last week in April in the company of 12 great participants. We hosted participants mainly from Turkey and Estonia. Our trainer Ksenja Kos did a great job of passing the knowledge and experience to the eager and engaged Erasmus+ group. This course was also special, because for the first time we hosted translator from Turkey, who did an amazing job with almost simultaneous translations from English to Turkey.
Course was oriented into developing a systemic approach that includes simultaneous activities on multiple levels: work with teachers and counselling service, work with parents and work with pupils. Dropping out is linked to the feeling of being powerless, of senselessness and extreme lack of motivation. Through various working methods and practical exercises participants have learned how to empower pupils, teacher and other school workers to get the feeling of security, identity, belonging, purpose, and competence, which helps to increase motivation and find the meaning of education. The establishment of a secure relationship is the best protection against early school leaving, so the first two days were dedicated to development of relational competences. For the next two days we were discovering pupil’s perspective through different practical activities, which can be transferred to professional practice for better understanding, motivating, working with, treating and managing emotionally vulnerable children and adolescents. Participants stated that they would really like to see Ksenja work at her school. According to the participants’ wishes we also organized quick trip to primary school in Medvode, where we could attend special activity in 2nd grade developed by Ksenja. Thursday was reserved for study visits. We were hosted at Andragogic centre Slovenija, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training and Institute Bob. We were also visited by Greta Bratovš from the Institute R.O.K., coordinator of Slovenian Self-Esteem programme, who introduced us the Robert Reasoner’s preventive programme of self-esteem in schools. Of course we didn’t forget about more relaxed and fun parts of the mobility experience. Participants enjoyed surprisingly moody weather in Ljubljana. On the one hand they were enjoying sunny day and right the next day they could throw snowballs at each other. That was a very interesting experience especially for Turkish participants. Our guest were also really enthusiastic about exploring other countries around Slovenia and they decided to visit Trieste as well. We also visited mysterious Postojna cave and we ate at Skuhna, where we were taken away with such a good atmosphere and we didn’t just eat, but we also danced and sang with our host – the owner of Skuhna from Zimbabwe. According to smiley faces evaluation and fulfilled expectations we can conclude that we organized another successful event and we promise we will put all our efforts into providing courses that are worth every minute of your time and help you make your lives better. We are excited and happy to announce that we will hold another Preventing early school leaving in July 2016. We hope to meet you soon. The story how Ljubljana, rain and four groups of Erasmus+ participants became best friends3/27/2016 Primera courses team is happy to look back at successful and exciting second week in May. We are proud to be able to organise four different courses in our beloved Ljubljana. Once again we combined exploring Slovenia with developing diverse and useful skills. Our participants were learning and improving their skills in the scope of four different topics: Building Relationships & Effective Conflict Management, Developing Effective Communication Skills, Peer Coaching and Teaching Creativity in Schools.
49 eager participants came from all over Europe to attend courses held by our awesome trainers Janja, Ana, Nastja, Blanka and Andrej. According to feedbacks on the evaluation sheets trainers did a great job. Nastja got straight 6 on evaluation scale (1 – bad, 6 – excellent), one participant wrote down “I love Blanka”, Ana was perceived as a very helpful person, and most of participants stated that trainers were really well prepared and approachable. Participants were also satisfied with how trainers passed quality knowledge, provided information and worked on practical examples. Participants from the course Developing Effective Communication Skills wanted to improve their communication skills, learn some techniques and change inefficient communication patterns and strategies. They haven’t only learnt about it, but also got additional information about transactional analysis as a base for more effective communication. One of the participants wrote down: “I learned that in every person could be 3 different ego states: parent, adult and child, and it’s my decision which ego state I choose in every moment.” During the course we were practicing how to stay in adult ego state more often and consequently have more effective communication. Teaching Creativity group led by Nastja brought creative restlessness. Mind set of each participant was challenged by various creative exercises. It was interesting to see how participants were doing their homework on the bus on the way to Bled lake. They had to collect ideas what a simple sketch could mean and they were able to gather 100 different ideas. Similar exercises during the course helped participants to broaden their minds and get new ideas, learn about innovative methods and think in a more effective way. The best way to show the satisfaction of participants attending Peer coaching course is through their comments at the end of the course:
In the fourth course, Building Relationships & Effective Conflict Management, participants learned about Relationship Awareness Theory with the help of SDI questionnaire. Questionnaire and additional lectures gave participants an insight into their motivational system, relationship strategies and managing conflictsstyles. By raising awareness into dynamics of relationships and interpersonal conflicts participants could contribute to their personal development. Additionally, participants were engaged in various exercises and creative discussions to transfer theoretical knowledge into other everyday contexts. What all four courses had in common were interesting and useful topics, new and creative ideas for work and life, innovative teaching methods, quality materials, excellent trainers, meeting new people, getting familiar with different cultures and sharing of the ideas, knowledge and experiences. “It was a nice experience – good blend of learning and enjoying time” said one of the participants. Of course! Because during the week we haven’t forgotten about fun and pleasurable activities. For the start, we were seeking hidden “treasures” in Ljubljana through scavenger hunt and concluded the evening in Poligon creative centre. We also visited Bled where the rain couldn’t ruin the amazing landscape and relaxing afternoon, Postojna cave where we met the human fish and some of us also managed to climb a loooot of stairs to experience true Slovenian nature at waterfall Savica near lake Bohinj. We look back to this exciting week with joy and positive feelings. It truly was an awesome experience, filled with knowledge, ideas, meeting new friends and simple little pleasures. We are grateful to all our wonderful participants for their active participation, great atmosphere they created and new friendships. And an added value of the week was not only our colleague Tina whose assistance was much appreciated, but also the fact that Ljubljana managed to impress our guests although despite the rain :). The May is not yet over, but we already look forward to June, July and our next Erasmus+ courses. Impact and dissemination bring you almost one third of scores in assessing the quality of your mobility project. So it is worth to put an effort to this part of your project. As we already wrote about dissemination, this time we take o closer look to the impact.
The impact of the projects is related to the learning outcomes. Concrete learning outcomes lead to impact and this logical link has to be clearly demonstrated in the application form. But not just that. It is equally important to consider, how your mobility project will effect stakeholders outside your organisation. Different levels are important: institutional, local, regional, national and/or international levels. By tips below we aim to provide some ideas for effective arguments in the impact part of the application form for KA1 mobility projects. Show concrete competencies. Ask your course provider to prepare a list of competencies that you will acquire during the mobility project. With a list of competencies your task will be easy, because you will be able to show that the training programme addresses the proposed competencies, learning outcomes are reflected in the higher levels of those competencies and the project will have an impact on individual level of the participants through increased quality of their teaching activity. If your course provider can also give you some information on how you can integrate competencies into your work, you can also use those arguments and connect them with your specific subject. In our case we prepared a list of competencies and ideas for integrating competencies into work for every single course. You can find them under the course descriptions. Remember the impact on your students. Even if the participants of the mobility are teachers only, the project will have an impact on students as well. You can write how many new activities for students you aim to implement upon your return from the mobility. What kind of activities? Be clear, how those new activities will increase their skills, strengths, or knowledge. For instance, after the creativity course I aim to organise creativity circles for students as a structured course consisted of 30 pedagogical hours. With this new course students will increase their level of constructive and creative thinking skills resulting in more new ideas, considering different perspective in decision making and providing high quality arguments in expressing their thoughts. Also, provide an answer for how long will you exploit the results of the project. From the sustainability perspective it is better to structure your mobility project in a way that you will be able to exploit the results even after the project is already concluded. Your project documentation will have a higher quality if you are able to deliver some ideas on how to exploit the results after the formal end of the project. Show, how your mobility project will contribute to European dimension of your organisation. How many new contacts will you establish during the mobility? How will you use new contacts? How will you promote your institution during the mobility? Present concrete numbers. Will your students get more information about Europe based on your mobility project? Will the project results be incorporated into the management of your organisation? OK, I understand. What about regional, national and international level? This is a little bit more tricky, but not impossible. Remember, that sustainability is also a part of the impact of the project. Maybe you can organize some new activities with your parents, based on the competencies that you acquired during your mobility period. If you are able that, this can potentially strengthen your local community. Also, some activities with other schools may add some additional quality to your mobility project. On the national and international level you may focus on creating new projects from the topic of your mobility. In the project documentation be concrete. It is better to list one project idea and justify it properly that enumerate ten different ideas without any clear logic. For instance, you can say that you would like to create a multicultural project, but currently you need to increase your competencies in multiculturalism. So based on your acquired competencies from multicultural training abroad you plan to create a new international (with schools from different countries) or national (with other schools from your country) project addressing the multicultural challenges in your organisation. Note the difference between dissemination and impact. Dissemination is for instance if you prepare a brochure and send it to teachers from other schools in your community. By a brochure you spread around the word about your project. Dissemination is all about spreading information about your project. Impact on the other hand comprises activities which aim to increase competencies of people. For instance, impact activity is if you go to entrepreneurship course and upon your return you organize a workshop for teachers from other school in which you share pedagogical material and show them how they can use it with students. You may write this activity under the impact because you help teachers to increase their competencies based on your learning outcomes from Erasmus+ course. Good luck with your application form. I wish you lots and lots of ideas for an excellent quality of your project. Blanka Tacer Following the quote by Proust we will be looking for new perspectives in a new location. Cambridge, UK, is our choice for one of our Erasmus trainings. Teaching entrepreneurship course promotes experiential approach and we cannot promote experiential approach unless we live it. Cambridge is an example of lively entrepreneurial ecosystem. We will include those stories in the session in Cambridge and also visit successful start-ups there. Kindly invited to join us through Erasmus+ programme.
Teaching entrepreneurship in schools course in Cambridge will be from 25. 06. 2017 to 01 .07. 2017. Convincing Erasmus+ application form is the only thing that separates you from participating in your chosen mobility. However, filling all fields in honest, coherent and logical manner takes some time. Since your answers in the application form will be an object of evaluation, we prepared a short introduction to the most important chapters.
European development plan is probably the most important part of the application. Here you need to show clear link between needs of your organization, course objectives and implemented activities after your mobility is already finished. To make things easier for you, we dedicated special blog post to this topic. Description of the project includes more than just presentation of your training. You should focus on the objectives that are accomplished during the whole project: preparation of mobility, participating in the course, dissemination of material, integration of new knowledge and newly developed outputs in your organization. We recommend you to show that partnership with course provider is strong and serious. You may want to mention intensive adjustments via e-mails, Skype calls, meetings at contact seminars or previous cooperation in KA2 projects. Participant profile is dedicated to participants of KA1 mobilities. If you already know the names of persons who will go abroad, present their expertise and training needs. Some national agencies prefer that people from the same organization visit different courses, so they can bring back complementary knowledge. Learning outcomes chapter is about development of competencies during the mobility. This output should be provided by course organizer. Every course is unique, so we wrote 9 special sections for 9 special courses. You can find some very useful contents below the title “Which competencies will you acquire…?” near the bottom of each course page. European Union likes to hear that you’ll present certificate as a proof of newly acquired knowledge. Please keep in mind that Primera Courses can assist you in filling up the Europass certificate documents. Preparation for your mobility includes description of your travel plans, accommodation, insurance, safety, visa (for Turkish citizens), mentoring and preparatory meetings. We’re happy that we live in one of the safest European countries that lies in the middle of important transport corridors. You agency would also like to hear something about preparatory Skype calls, assigned mentor of the group and booklets with detailed information about the country. Project management should describe practical arrangements between course provider and course participants. We recommend you to sign special agreement with course provider before you visit the course. This can help you to avoid unpleasant situations with not getting what you paid for. Normally similar document contains learning agreement between coordinator and course participants. Here you can specify course schedule, payment details, dissemination obligations and activities for implementation. Preparation of participants is mostly done by coordinator of mobilities. You can think about quick language courses or buying special books that are connected with course topics. If you visit us, you should mention rich preparatory material and additional information gathered via our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/erasmuspluscourses). Main activities chapter contains description of all planned mobilities. There are also other fields to fill, where you should mention Skype meetings with course providers, frequent contacts between coordinators from hosting and sending organization and regular updates about your mobility with apps like WhatsApp. You should look for the courses that dedicate enough time to transfer of learning contents to your workplace. At Primera courses we organize something like short team coaching session, where you talk about development of competencies and implementation of findings into practice. Impact and dissemination are two very important chapters. You should dedicate a lot of time to present everything you can do and everything you want to do. Some additional hints can be read from our informative blog post Dissemination in KA1 projects. One very important media to consider is our Facebook page. During your mobility we regularly publish interesting and highly visible posts that you can use for your dissemination needs as well. Evaluation chapter comes the last, although not the least in importance. Here you can focus on evaluation of the course. As we are curious about the quality of our courses, we always dedicate a lot of time to qualitative and quantitative feedback at the end of the course. If you wish, you can receive the results of our evaluation questionnaire. You should also consider wider measurements that are resulting from the project. Among the things to consider is number of students that enter new curricula, number of newly initiated projects, level of satisfaction with new teaching methods and numbers of people you reached with your dissemination activities. You can also write about more distant criteria like competency assessment or special peer appraisal. Winter is coming and we look back to autumn with pleasure and satisfaction. In October and November 2015 Primera team organised three Erasmus+ courses: Building Relationships & Developing Effective Communication Skills, Teaching Entrepreneurship and Teaching Creativity. We had a pleasure to spend three weeks in the company of 38 great participants from 13 different countries from all over Europe. We are also very proud that we hosted participant from Philippines for the first time. Our trainers Janja, Ana, Nastja, Blanka and Tine did a great job of passing the knowledge and experience to their eager and engaged Erasmus+ groups.
This time we decided to use the evaluation forms of participants to give you a feeling of our courses. In Teaching Creativity group we have heard that for some participants creativity is a personal passion, so they decided to learn about new methods and new perspectives on creativity. Others already knew a bit about de Bono methods and they wanted to improve their skills. Our guests were happy to find out that creativity is not only something intuitive you already have or don’t have, but a skill you can learn. Participants from Teaching Entrepreneurship group wanted to develop skills on how to make their teaching more entrepreneurial and how to be better in developing and coordinating entrepreneurial projects with their students. They liked the practical cases and experiential approach – they got the chance to test their ideas “out of the building” – in the field. The course was very interactive, atmosphere was great (all participants and both trainers created their own WhatsApp group and are still in contact :)), teaching methods were innovative and valuable. Some teachers are already implementing new knowledge and skills in their work with students: they are developing prototypes for having their own lottery business and a stand. Participants form Building Relationships & Developing Effective Communication Skills got the chance to get to know two topics in one week and they were satisfied with new insights into their communication and relationships in private and work life. What all three courses had in common were interesting and useful topics, new and creative ideas for work and life, innovative teaching methods, quality materials and excellent trainers. Of course we didn’t forget about more relaxed and fun parts of the mobility experience. Participants enjoyed surprisingly sunny and warm Ljubljana, spend “alternative” evening at Metelkova, saw the “restaurant in the sky”, visited mysterious Postojna cave where they met the human fish and tasted different cuisines (not only Slovenian, but also Bangladeshi). Let us conclude with a few thoughts of our participants: “Ljubljana is a cute place”, “Creativity is a necessity for better life” and “The course could be longer” :). We can confirm Ljubljana really is cute, we promise we will put all our efforts into providing courses that are worth every minute of your time and help you make your lives better. We are excited and happy to hear and read such positive feedbacks and we kindly thank to all our participants – or to be more precise – our colleagues and friends. In September 2015 four curious members of Primera team went for a learning “road trip” Gran Canaria. This time instead of being trainers and organizers, we were eager students and participants in a course “Lean Startup for STARTUP Erasmus +“. Alltogether 21 participants coming from 7 countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and Slovenia) were learning about entrepreneurship and gaining or improving skills to pass this knowledge to other trainers, teachers, future successful start-ups and entrepreneurs. Our host was one of the partners in Spread The ART of going UP (STARTUP) project – Sociedad de Promocion Economica de Gran Canaria (SPEGC). The training and workshops took place at INCUBE, the business incubator of SPEGC, lead by Mr José Manuel Sanchez who was also our trainer.
At the training we gained new knowledge and insights into entrepreneurship concepts such as Business Model Canvas and Lean Startup Methodology. We also had the opportunity to learn and try out new didactic games and approaches to teaching entrepreneurship. In groups of 4 we had a chance to work on our own business ideas that one day maybe can become a reality. The training was intensive, but participants and trainer were proactive and creative and the atmosphere was relaxed, so we had a great time together. And we weren’t all the time in the classroom: we also did 2 study visits to coworking spaces in Las Palmas where we met local entrepreneurs. 9 exciting days of learning and fun went by quickly and even though we wouldn’t mind going back, we are ready for new challenges, especially for new courses on entrepreneurship. Don’t forget – November 2015 and our next Teaching entrepreneurship in schools course are almost here 🙂 If you are curious and want to find out a bit more about our training, STARTUP project and our experience at Gran Canaria you can read about it here. Start-up is not a small version of a big company. Yet entrepreneurship education in the past focused on teaching how to prepare a good business plan. The assumption behind teaching to prepare a business plan is that the future is predictable and that we can plan accurately if we have the right knowledge about marketing, finance and the product.
By our Erasmus+ course “Teaching Entrepreneurship in Schools: Experiential approach” we promote including business modelling, design thinking and customer development into the curriculum. The words are fancy indeed, but the work with students based on this approach is much more interactive comparing to teaching business planning which is structured through the chapters of a business plan. Our first Erasmus+ course on this topic was held in the first week of July 2015. Here is a short report about the structure of the programme. We started with comparison of traditional and contemporary approach to teaching entrepreneurship. After the introduction the participants associated current world challenges (e.g. ageing population, knowledge based society) with trends (e.g. 3D printing, sharing culture) and proposed business ideas they had developed during the whole week. Development of business ideas started with researching users’ needs by going to the field. Participants conducted interviews with different people in Ljubljana. After the analysis of different information about users they defined users’ needs and opportunities for innovation. Creativity techniques followed, i.e. brainstorming, random entry and SCAMPER. Then participants materialized ideas by rapid prototyping with Lego bricks and drawings. The first prototyping phase concluded with presentations and feedbacks followed by the second prototyping phase and creating a business model for the idea. Is this all? Of course not, we visited a coworking space riiba and start-up company Tok Tok furniture. Also, we explored Slovenian capital Ljubljana, enjoyed a small coastal town Izola, go around another coastal town Koper, and have fun on the beach. What did we learn? A lot of insights, but we would like to highlight two of them. First, despite strong promotion of entrepreneurship teaching in Europe there is still lack of material for using directly with students. So we need to develop much more material for students in the future. Second, as teachers of entrepreneurship we need to develop additional skills for effective entrepreneurship teaching. |
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