The importance of empowering children

my name is katia hujak i’m 14 years old

i live in near rotsworth in poland

i’m here because i would like to tell

you about

polish children’s academy and how we’re

breaking

boundaries but first i would like to ask

you when you hear the words children’s

academy what comes to your mind

is that science is not for kids

or maybe university is only for adults

in my mind

is science is for kids

and university isn’t only for adults

what’s the product polish children’s

academy it was created in 2009

by agata hofmann it’s a non-profit

project and the goal of this project is

has as many kids as it is possible

to take part in it and learn from each

other

it’s organized at many universities in

poland

and even abroad because for example in

ireland

or netherlands here

you can see photo of me and i’m

six on this photo this was my first

lecture

our young students and our young experts

are from age six to twelve

we have a little differently view for

education

for example children are given small

gifts

not for answers like in polish schools

but

for questions i think questions

are the most important in science kids

are

learning from kids in my opinion

sometimes

it’s just easier to learn something from

your peer

than your teacher we learn throughout

our

entire lives adults can learn from kids

too

here you can see me as volunteer

and i’m holding a microphone because our

young student

wants to ask questions and on the other

photo

you can see how children are happy when

they are able to ask

questions

so what does this event looks like first

our young students

are walking into the university i think

it’s a big thing for them

because when we hear the word university

often it’s connected with adults other

students

professors but i think university

is a place for kids too

young expert has a lecture about his

passions his

hobby is always very interesting

then questions our young students

are able to ask questions we know the

importance of movement

so after the questions to our young

expert

is dance break

then lecture of our adult expert

it’s only on the same topic as lecture

of our young expert

questions there are always lots of them

too

we celebrate the end of this events with

pizza

you can see here our young students as

pirates eating some pizza

and here is dance break look how much

energy is in it polish children’s

international scientific conference it’s

once a year over 600 children

come from all over poland to take

part in this one day conference

during the main event is a lecture of

young expert

then our adult expert has a lecture

our adult expert is always from abroad

we’ve hosted educators

experts such as workers from nasa

educators from unesco or arizona

after the main event children are

divided into smaller groups

and they have another lectures with

another young

students we celebrating the end of this

event with

pizza of course and chocolate fontaine

you can see here sixth children’s

international

scientific conference and all these

letters were made by kids

now i would like to tell you something

about boundaries

what are boundaries and who makes them

when you hear the word boundaries what

comes into your mind

in my mind are borders between countries

but i would like to focus on boundaries

in our minds because they are created in

our minds

overcoming or crossing these barriers

is often connected with stress or you

can feel

anxiety but

thus familiar means what’s best

i don’t think so so in the project

polish children’s academy

we’re trying to help children to

overcoming

their barriers in plain and pleasant

fun and friendly way

here you can see one of our young

students

with head of university

and here are our the youngest

experts in polish children’s academy in

roswell

because the youngest was six and the

oldest

was eight they were talking about

dinosaurs

their knowledge was really impressive

so how do we break boundaries children

are students

they really want to learn something new

children are experts they can learn each

other

children has different

functions this is not only

academy for kids this is

children’s academy so they can be

volunteers they can be young experts and

when you’re an expert

on the other evening event you’re a host

they can be they are young students and

i am a spokesperson of this project

i know that adults can learn from kids

from kids too

but some of them has to break

their boundaries in their minds

here you can see one class on

the end of the academic year in

public children’s academy in rotsworth

and kids can be scientists you can see

here

two little girls doing some experiments

so why do we do this and what is

important for us

of course the most important for us are

kids

if they weren’t there the project

wouldn’t exist

we do that so that they could have more

experience

so that they can believe in themselves

i know many kids are struggling with it

we’re trying to help them just to

believe in themselves

so that science is something fun

it’s not just boring lessons in school

so that help them to continue what they

love

if there is possibility we’re trying to

help them to continue their passions

to show them that really anything

is possible

here you can see photo from connecting

with

astronauts in space i was that lucky to

in a group of 15 kids and we were asking

them

questions my question was what are

dreams

of astronauts in space and

what do they miss unfortunately the

connection wasn’t that great

and we lost it but i hope

that in near future i will get to answer

for that question

because anything is possible right