We formed a strong partnership where all three partners can add special value to the project.
The Hungarian partner has put forward the concept. It is a very relevant proposal, because in our days Hungary has been suffering badly from the lack of science teachers. Rogers Foundation focuses on the development of emotional intelligence and ecology in its two working areas: in the Academy and in the Project group also. The Academy is a non-accredited, school-like project. We work with 20 kids mainly with special needs of many kinds. The project is basically to help their life. In the Academy teachers are all prepared to work with social competence questions, the whole institution is based on it. At the same time science teaching is lagging behind. We have two science teachers in part time jobs, but we have no modern conception on the teaching of science. So we are designing something really innovative. The project team working also with EQ matters in projects finds this concept relevant is their life because teaching and ecology are in their focus too. They have had several projects already on this topic and are quite an expert in this field.
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Csizmazia Katalin is a language teacher. She is the founder of two person-centred foundations and one concerning organizational development. She also founded Rogers Academy after having worked for Rogers Person-centred School for 15 years. She participated in FLOW Erasmus+ project recently.
Valovics Ágnes is a Budapest-based freelancer. She studied chemistry at the University of St Andrews, dance and choreography at Charleroi Danse in Brussels and now has been working with Rogers Foundation since the beginning of 2021. She used to hold English classes at the Academy (learning group of the organsiation) and facilitated chemistry/science occasions in a form of personal mentoring, thematic-based initiatives and activities bringing together science and creation. She has been involved in several Erasmus + projects and has organised exchange/travel-abroad programs for students.
Orsolya Etelka Suhajda is a counselor and mental health professional. She holds degrees in several different fields: humanities, linguistics, theology, and mental health, counseling and family care. For more than two decades, he worked as a pastor with people of all age s. She taught RE in primary school, gained experience in tender writing, accounting, and economic management. In addition to personal pastoral care, she led a bereavement group for years, dealing with loss and bereavement processing, learning support, and children and families living in extreme poverty. To this day, she still holds self-help sessions in nursing homes for the elderly, as well as weekly sessions and summer camps for teenage groups.
The Polish partner, Gedania 1922, is a sports club that includes an alternative primary school with around 80 children and a non-public kindergarten with 150 children. Gedania 1922 was a partner organisation in the CAPS free play project. In the school and kindergarten, scientific stimulation are part of the children's creative activities. They specialise in teaching science and have know-how in this area with children up to 15 years old. Children use ICT tools. The priority is not to impart skills and knowledge, but to promote young people's intellectual autonomy, as well as the creative and scientific use of ICT tools. The children also use many recycled materials to create their own art projects and toys. They learn scientific rights in a series of activities that covers twelve sections each year. They learn to work together, which can give different values to the implementation of concepts. What distinguishes them is their innovation in pedagogy. The project team:
Dr. Agata Hofman - a mother of 5 children, author of innovative program and the director at Gedania 1922Kindergarten and the educational institution creoGedania. She is also the author of 3 books and over 40 publications on preschool and early school education. In 2009, she initiated the project Polish Children's Academy - theworld's first university run by children, awarded the Science Popularizer 2013 by MNISW and PAP. She isalso a reviewer for the British Journal of Educational Technology and Homo Ludens, as well as a boardmember of the Polish Society for Game Research. Since 2016, she has been implementing projects ininternational cooperation as part of the Erasmus+ activities.
Karolina Melańczuk- deputy director of the Gedania 1922 Kindergarten and the creoGedania educational institution. Teacher of Italian language and early childhood education in kindergarten and primary school. Mum of two teenagers.
The University of Jyväskylä (JYU) (http://www.jyu.fi) is an internationally renowned research university and an expert in education. JYU is a multidisciplinary research university with 6 faculties: Education and Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Information Technology, School of Business and Economics, Mathematics and Science, and Sport and Health Sciences. JYU is strongly linked to top national and international research, business and innovation communities. The Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER, https://ktl.jyu.fi/en) at JYU conducts internationally esteemed multidisciplinary research on education. The research ranges from early childhood education to university education as well as adult learning to the relationships between education and working life. The aim is to support teachers, educational establishments and decision-makers in the promotion of learning and development of education. At FIER, the Innovative Learning Environments research group’s (https://www.jyu.fi/it/ile) research activity includes especially user-driven design and study of learning technologies and spaces for enhancement of learning and wellbeing, analyses of innovative teaching and learning practices, technology-enhanced learning, STEAM education, as well as evaluation of ICT use in education.
Kristóf Fenyvesi, Ph.D. is a researcher from Finland specializing in STEAM education, multidisciplinary learning, and cultural studies. He is a Senior Researcher of University of Jyväskylä’s Finnish Institute for Educational Research, and the founder of Experience Workshop Global STEAM Network (www.experienceworkshop.org). He is a member of various research groups, including the University of Jyväskylä's Research Group for Innovative Learning Environments, Tampere University’s Research Group for Education, Assessment & Learning, and also a visiting researcher of Tallinn University's Educational Innovation Collaboration Cluster, STEAM4EDU. Associate Professor of Indonesia University of Education (UPI) and Visiting Researcher of Hong Kong Metropolitan University. He is a Full Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Currently, he is working on the co-creation of the new Learning Opportunities in European Commission's DigiEduHack program. He is the Community Events Director of the Bridges Organization, globally the largest education community for mathematics and the arts. Fenyvesi has written numerous articles published in prestigious journals and edited math-art-education handbooks. He is an active organizer and contributor of international scientific events, education programs, exhibitions, STEAM workshops, and festivals worldwide. He was invited by the European Commission to serve as the STEAM expert evaluator of various H2020 and Erasmus+ projects. Contact: kristof.fenyvesi@jyu.fi
Matias Mäki-Kuutti, Ph.D. is a Doctoral researcher/Project Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä. He is an Education expert with specialisation in Language (English and Spanish). He has worked in international research projects regarding STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. He is most experienced in technology-enhanced learning, educational problem-solving, international communication management and English-Finnish-English translation. His previous projects include EU-funded international STIMEY-project (Science, Technology, Innovation, Mathematics and Engineering for the Young), and LUMA2020-project, in which he worked at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä.
Contact: matias.m.j.maki-kuutti@jyu.fi
Orsolya Tuba is a Project Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä (JYU). She did her MA in Development, Education and International Cooperation, at the Faculty of Education and Psychology in JYU. Her research interests are in global education development, capacity development in higher education, sustainability education, and STEAM education. Currently she is involved in multiple international projects related to teacher training in sustainability, social-emotional learning, STEAM education. She is the founder of Finn minta, an organisation aiming to promote practices of Finnish education in Hungary. She co-leads a national level teachers' forum in Hungary, which aims to promote teachers' wellbeing and professional development inspired by Finnish practices of education.
contact: tubors@jyu.fi
Takumi Yada (Ph.D., education) is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä. His research topics are shared leadership, prosociality, teacher efficacy and collaboration among educational professionals. He is currently involved in many international and national (Finnish and Japanese) research projects on how teachers collaborate with each other in multidisciplinary education.
Contact: takumi.t.yada@jyu.fi