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Gifted education - helping the most able

Gifted education - helping the most able

http://offtopicarium.wikidot.com/v2:gifted-education
at 2nd Offtopicarium, 4-6 Jan 2013, Słomczyn near Warsaw

Piotr Migdał

January 05, 2013
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Transcript

  1. Outline Why school can’t do it? How it can be

    done? What we have learnt from teaching?
  2. School is standarization avoiding failures forcing to learn socialization: people

    of same age, similar background, ... developing special talents one-one interactions taking advantage of natural curiosity encouraging risky or out of the box activities good at bad at
  3. Problem with gifted children Hard to deal with systematically (few

    of them, requiring individual approach) Important for others (they will shape science, economy, culture, ...) Important for them (self-fulfillment, contacts with like-minded people)
  4. Primum non nocere (first, do no harm) Curiosity is natural

    The only thing you can do is to polish a gem But doing nothing is not the worst possibility
  5. Krajowy Fundusz na rzecz Dzieci (Polish Children’s Fund) NGO, since

    1981 Scholarships, around 500/year No money given, but opportunity to attend specialized workshops and camps Qualification not related to school grades Meeting: fellow enthusiasts, academic students, distinguished scientists and authors
  6. Example topics Quantum algorithms Computer graphics Physics of music Measuring

    fractal dimension Practical introduction to phylogenetics Ordinal numbers and Goodstein’s theorem Political rhetorics in 16th century Poland Keynes vs Hayek - a US hangover? ...
  7. Wakacyjne Warsztaty Wielodyscyplinarne (Summer Scientific School) started independently in 2006

    each summer, 10 days, around 40 participants + 20 tutors 20 courses (3 x 3 h), each participant chooses 5 (mathematics, computer science, physics) informal, geeky atmosphere (discussions, board games, library, coding) demanding qualification (mostly based on problem-solving)
  8. Lessons learnt (teaching) Qualify according to skills & motivation, not

    formal credentials Inspire and provide starting point, rather than push knowledge It’s fun to teach people smarter than you... ...and to learn from them
  9. Lessons learnt (organizational) A lot can be done starting from

    scratch (no institutional or financial support) Seed of 3-5 core organizers is essential Many more join as volunteers We would have reached nowhere, if we had stopped at complaining at the educational system
  10. Other things in a similar vein event series at Univ.

    of Warsaw 12 talks, each 5 min on any topic it is as you see it