The National Centre for Research and Development

  Project title

DISCOVERING THE WORLD TOGETHER at the Jan Kochanowski Kids University of Kielce

  Name of Beneficiary/Beneficiaries

Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce (UJK)

  Name of programme

KNOWLEDGE EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME

  Competition

The third mission of the University

  Project value

PLN 44,004,322.62

  Funding value

PLN 969,332.50 

  Project delivery period

1 September 2019 – 31 August 2022

Meet our team

 

 

 

 

Barbara Skuza, MA/MSc – Head of the European Funds Department
Marta Gajewska, MA/MSc – European Funds Department 
Grzegorz Baran, Eng. – website 

Associates:

• Izabela Jaros, PhD
• Paweł Garbuzik, MA/MSc

What problem is addressed by the project? 

The goal behind the project is to improve selected skills among its participants aged 6-15 and their parents. How do we achieve this? By developing new teaching curricula and university courses. Our content-related activities and proposed activities address social, economic, and labour market needs, and represent the university's third mission – the social responsibility of science.

The project implemented by the Kids University at the Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce taps into the potential of gifted children who are open to new knowledge, and that of their parents. Not only does it create space for discovering the fascinating world of science at the very core of the academic community, but also helps ensure equal opportunities for children with special needs.

Our goal is to improve the selected aspects of key skills in 80% of participants. And in doing so we focus especially on interpersonal skills (including communication and media), cognitive skills (analytical and heuristic skills, and critical thinking), and organisational skills (designing and creatively approaching tasks, making independent decisions, stress resilience, flexible responses to change). It is also important to develop social skills (ability to collaborate as a team member, creative problem-solving), computer skills, and cultural awareness (conscious participation in contemporary culture).

Who uses the project results? 

For this project, we accepted 441 candidates, including 337 children and 104 parents (258 women and 183 men). There are two separate paths:

• I – for Beginners (Grade 1-3 students);
• II – for Juniors and Masters (Grade 4-8 students).

Parents have classes at the same times as their children. We have divided project participants into the following groups:

• 12 groups of Beginners – 178 Grade 1-3 students, including 97 girls and 81 boys;
• 3 groups of Beginners' Parents – 55 people, including 43 women and 12 men;
• 10 groups of Juniors and Masters – 159 Grade 4-8 students, including 76 girls and 83 boys;
• 3 groups of Juniors' and Masters' Parents – 49 people, including 42 women and 7 men.

All participants take part in interactive open lectures and each of these provides an opportunity to talk to the lecturer, and in workshops in small practice groups. The workshops are where participants are the most active, as they involve shared knowledge building based on specific questions and initial assumptions.

What was the greatest challenge during project implementation?

One of the greatest challenges was to make sure that everyone who applied for the project could actually take part, and to provide them with superior course content and organisation. This is because it turned out during project recruitment that the number of candidates was much bigger than initially anticipated. Our Recruitment Commission received many reasonable requests from children and their parents. 

Having analysed these, and to meet the expectations of the community, the Rector of the Jan Kochanowski University decided that in the academic year of 2019/2020 we would accept all candidates who have successfully made their application, i.e. a total of 441 persons, including 337 children and 104 parents (initially we expected to accept 120 people).

This created a whole new challenge, as it was not easy to meet the expectations of so many people in terms of course organisation. This was challenging in terms of content, i.e. implementing a programme that would address learners' curiosity (group members of different ages, and having diverse development and intellectual capabilities), develop their interests during classes based on scientific methods (inquiry, observation, experiments, mini-projects); and in terms of logistics, i.e. ensuring comfortable conditions for interactive lectures (Saturday lectures), and designing effective ways to monitor and evaluate progress.

We were able to overcome organisational difficulties by introducing two meeting dates, and by dividing some lecture groups into smaller teams. With the effort of the project team and the efficiency and commitment of our lecturers and instructors, and also successful collaboration with UJK's European Funds Department, our actions proved to be effective.

The lectures and workshops we offered as part of several thematic modules, such as  "People and Nature", "People and Culture", "People and Modern Technologies", "People and Society", and "Parents at the University," enjoyed continued popularity. Our courses inspired lively debates, and the spontaneous applause that often followed lectures confirmed that learners were very happy with them.

Our advice for other applicants

In order to prepare and implement a successful project, you might want to follow these few recommendations:

1. Very clearly identify the needs, interests, and specific deficiencies of the target audience. 
2. Make sure your project is original and provides quality content, and attractive in terms of communication and interpersonal value (catchy slogans, posters, logo, etc., identification symbols for participants, community building);
3. Carefully design your promotional campaign in both traditional and social media;
4. Hire lecturers with not only profound knowledge but also great teaching skills, and recruit dedicated instructors who will support the lecturers in class and carefully observe learners' needs;
5. Utilise active and scientific methods to help learners discover things for themselves rather than spoon-feeding it to them, i.e. inspire them to think, discuss, and seek independently, and allow them to present to the community what they have learned;
6. Constantly evaluate and flexibly respond to any problems; 
7. Ensure high-quality content, education, and organisation aspects of all tasks.