Gifted education helping the most able Piotr Migdal, Marcin Kotowski 

Outline Why school can’t do it? How it can be done? What we have learnt from teaching? 

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 

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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) 

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 

unfortunately, not possible better not! it’s who you are: 

Solutions Competitions (e.g. Olympiads) Mentoring Gifted programs (NGOs, independent camps) Self-learning (outside formal system) 

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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 

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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? ... 

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) 

https:/ /picasaweb.google.com/113619927238435344700/SummerScientificSchool 

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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 

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 

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 

Thanks! Further stuff: http:/ /warsztatywww.wikidot.com/en:indie- camp-for-hs-geeks http:/ /www.ted.com/talks/ ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html Piotr Migdal ([email protected]) Marcin Kotowski ([email protected])