Fri 19.09.2014 - 10:30-12:40 - Plečnik 4

Project Work as Enrichment for Gifted Pupils  Paper  Presentation

Presenter: Urška Repinc
Author(s): Urška Repinc (Primary School dr. Janez Mencinger Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia), Primož Južnič, (Faculty of Arts Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Carefully planned school projects can be welcome enrichment for gifted pupils and whole school community. They can also be seen as an opportunity for different gifts and talents to be expressed, encouraged and cultivated. Different profiles of professionals can be challenged for this kind of work, among them also the school librarian. Collaborative culture among school staff is necessary and impacts well to collaboration among pupils. The one who coordinates and leads the whole school year long project is supposed to be flexible enough to adjust to concrete school situation and opportunities available outside the school: local community events, state and international calls, competitions, festivals. Through this kind of the project pupils usually investigate something in their surroundings, collect information, interpret information, present results to different audiences. Researsh literature offers different models of school proffessionals' collaboration; usually it is welcome if one of proffessionals comes from an institution outside the school. Preferred teachers' competences are: to empower pupils with inquiry strategies (information literacy), ICT (use of information communication technology), presentation skills (art, creative solutions), skills connected to project theme (science, ecology, natural and cultural heritage…). When considering creative solutions about concrete task in school environment, we could sometimes speak also about first steps to developing entrepreneurship thinking as a way of promoting innovation. One of opportunities in Slovenian school system is to participate in the State festival Tourism and its initiatives. In this paper a case study of one project at Primary school dr. Janez Mencinger Bohinjska Bistrica is presented. The methods used are interviews and focus groups. In presented project the theme is to think about what to offer to young visitors in two days in hometown. Infusing inquiry into the process is one of the goals,so instruction starts with questions rather than content.

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