Lodz Children University for Teachers

The main aim of the project “Lodz Children University for Teachers” was to increase the competences of teachers during the three years of the project duration as well as mutual learning. The participants became experts who further spread the acquired knowledge among the workmates in the working place and their pupils. The teachers became more open to educational novelties and eager to cooperate with the Science Centres which were being created at that time in Poland. The application process, based on the children’s evaluation, made each teacher proud of themselves to be nominated by children and increased their motivation to work.

To encourage children to learn science.
To encourage to conducting experiments on one’s own.
Implement non-standard teaching methods. Independence in decision making on education.
Supporting the passion for teaching among the teachers.
Increase the teaching skills by introducing new teaching methods and ideas. Increase the self-evaluation of teachers.
Increase the desire to expand the horizons of children, teachers and parents.

The project reached its sustainability. It is implemented longer than 5 years. It can become an example to follow. In case of Miniphenomenta it is necessary to contact the author of the project.

In order to become a training participant, a teacher is selected by a pupil. A child has to prepare a justification why a given teacher was nominated for the project. Then, the appointed teacher has to fill in a survey and undergo an interview.

In the first year of the training the accepted teachers took part in 10 workshops at Lodz University of Technology which were conducted by the scientific teachers.
They concentrated mainly on teaching science and science-related subjects with such research methods as: DT, problem-based learning, new media, question-based education.
The first year of training ended with a visit to a selected Science Center.

In the second year, the teacher had to conduct four “mini trainings” in their schools. The aim of this training was to inspire other teachers to use innovative teaching methods and develop their working methods.
The second stage consisted of class workshops. The teacher who participated in the training was allowed to use workshops for class children at Lodz University of Technology.

In the second year of training, the teachers participated in two-day workshops (Miniphenomenta (M), mini centre of science for school corridor conducted by professor Lutz Fisser. Later, M was taken to schools for two weeks. Children could decide whether they would like M to be present in their schools in order to conduct individual experiments. Each school obtained a book with instructions how to create their own M.

It is financed by Boeing company.

The main aim of the project was to increase the competences of teachers during the three years of the project duration as well as mutual learning. The participants became experts who further spread the acquired knowledge among the workmates in the working place and their pupils. The teachers became more open to educational novelties and eager to cooperate with the Science Centres which were being created at that time in Poland. The project has definitely enriched their workshop. The application process, based on the children’s evaluation, made each teacher proud of themselves to be nominated by children. This kind of application made every teacher increase their motivation to work.

A collection of good practices was the second result. The teachers were obliged to make notes which at the end were collected and transferred to all the participants. Furthermore, during the first classes, each participant got a task to share the good practices which allowed the teachers to get new innovative ideas worth of copying since the very beginning.

The translation of 52 instructions into Polish and the creation of mini science centres in schools created jointly by parents and teachers were also important results. They serve to conduct experiments during breaks and to discuss physical phenomena during the lessons.

Thanks to the cooperation with Copernicus Science Centre in the framework of the project- Clubs of Young Discoverers- the new clubs were opened at schools.

During the training, the atmosphere of friendly cooperation was observed, the teachers were eager to execute the tasks and conduct experiments.

While drafting the project, the aims were defined, and people were invited to become engaged allowing to go further than expectancies.

The motivation of the participants is also very important where the process of selection played a major part. Hence, the role of the lecturers and the topics of the trainings were also significant. As it was mentioned, part of the training was getting to know the Science Centres, which made the trainings richer.

Lodz Children University for Teachers is a diverse project which involves many stakeholders, addressed to many generations, which allows every stakeholder to make their own decisions which is oriented on common and mutual learning. It is also a project which uses scientific and institutional potential.

The new media were also used (the mobile application for telephones). Furthermore, the methods of drama and co-creation were also applied.

The project was divided into four parts:
I- Training for teachers conducted by scientists,
II- The teachers are the trainers for other teachers at schools,
III- The students of the participants participate in the workshops at the university,
IV- To the school where a teacher-participant works, a mini centre of science is taken.

Starting from one teacher who is nominated by a child, the training is practically extended to all the teachers in the school. Thanks to one person participating in the training the whole school becomes a beneficiary.

Teachers together with children and parents build experimental stations at schools.

Each participant decides individually or within their group about the level of engagement and the engagement of its environment in certain activities.

Mutual learning is one of the project’s aims. The participants of the projects are the teachers. The mutual inspirations for other participants are the elements of the project. One training block is prepared by the participants who are supposed to share the good practices selected by themselves with other participants.

The main groups engaged in the project are teachers but also parents and children.

The project puts emphasis on teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Taking into account all four parts of the project, it is transdisciplinary.

At every level of the project, the cooperation is needed.

In the project, the local possibilities of education were used. The classes took place at the the local university and at the local science centre.

At every stage of the projects, the decisions are taken together.

Coaching towards teachers was present at every stage of the project´s implementation. They received support both in the substantial and practical aspects which was adjusted to the project stage.

At the stage of organizing Miniphenomenta at schools, the regular meetings both with teachers and pupils were organized. Their aim was a smooth implementation of experiments as well as motivation of teachers and pupils to take further actions.

Each of the partners was starting the project full of engagement and enthusiasm. The project gave a lot of freedom e.g. regarding the days of workshops for children and level of engagement in Miniphenomenta. Each participant could also decide to what extent they would get engage, and how their working environment could be engaged whether to resign after the first year, or start Miniphenomenta and lend it to their own school, whether to organize the process of building the mini science centre in their school or not. The project evaluates and gives at every stage more and more freedom, engaging the participants more and more in the creation of the results. It also allowed to observe all the engaged stakeholders starting from the partners, through the teachers of the participants, teachers at schools, headmasters, children and parents.
Miniphenomenta is a very good end which integrates the environment around the educational events. At the same time, it gives a lot of satisfaction from observing the children while experimenting on their own and provokes to discussions and reflections.

How does the communication between the partners in the project take place? How are decisions made?
The cooperation between the project partners was very smooth and no major problems were detected.

Experts conducting workshops with teachers,
Centres of science, which prepare the visits and workshops for teachers,
Copernicus Science Centre which introduces the teachers to KMO project (Club of Young Discoverers) and invites them to the project
- Schools that implement Miniphenomenta- which hosted mini science centres for two weeks and later proposed building their own Miniphenomenta to parents and pupils. In case when Minipehnomenta is
created, schools manage the experiments, conduct classes with children

Each project serves the development of both the participants and organizers. In this project, our daily activities were combined with brand new ones, which required institutional solutions on our side, mainly in the area of implementing mini centres of science to school corridors.

The project was prepared by the staff members of Children University of Lodz University of Technology in close cooperation with scientists of Lodz University of Technology. The main idea was to train a group of teachers who would further transfer their acquired knowledge to pupils in their schools. In this way, the trained people would become a team implementing the change in the local environment.

The project was coordinated by the Director of Children University of Lodz University of Technology, Anna Janicka.

The professors of TUL who were conducting the workshops for teachers were also members of the project team.

However, taking into consideration the character of activities, the activities related to project management were reduced to an absolute minimum and no work packages were distinguished.
The activities were regularly evaluated by the headmasters of schools who were assessing by the project itself and the changes in the work of the teachers.

Every participant who wanted to continue the training, was assigned specific tasks to be conducted at single levels. In order to proceed further, the positive evaluation was required.

The elements of the documentation of the learning process in the area necessary for the proper implementation of the project were prepared, in the opinion of the implementation team.
They include:
- the teachers' surveys,
- lesson plans prepared by teachers,
- descriptions of experiments conducted during workshops,
- the list of schools where Miniphenomenta was implemented.