The EUCU.NET Weblog

Publishing a blog for EUCU.NET has many reasons. First of all we want an easy way of getting your feedback and your ideas. The blog is the place to inform, get informed, raise topics and bring in new thoughts.

Second a blog is a very convenient way of tracing new activities without being forced to check our website every day. Providing a RSS-feed saves us from this daily routine and sends recent information directly to the web browsers, feed-aggregators or online readers of your choice.

All contributors shall try to keep their posts clear, simple and most of all good readable. EUCU.NET is an international project and we communicate in english. Please keep the inhibition threshold low (is this english… LEO is continuously running on my computer!) - the weblog is a rather casual platform and nobody will focus on english syntax, grammar or orthography.

The Mental Layout

The EUCU.NET blog is something like the preamplifier board of the EUCU.NET community platform. Since we all hold out for the official launch of the community platform in february the blog will ease waiting a little bit.

What you will find on the blog is up-to-date information on various topics related to EUCU.NET and the idea of Children’s Universities. We will try to link the information as good as possible with other resources in the net so you get more out of the articles.

The weblog shall also be a place of inspiration and stimulation. Please keep this in mind when you write a comment or propose a new topic.

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great projects.
(loose translation after Demosthenes)

What’s This All About and Tutorials

For those who have little experience with blogs and RSS here are a couple of useful and consumer friendly internet videos or tutorials:

What’s a weblog? (Blogs in Plain English, 2:58 min)

What’s RSS? (RSS in Plain English, 3:44 min)

A 5 Minute Intro to RSS (blog subscription & syndication)

Subscribing an RSS-feed via Internet Explorer (4:05 min).

Subscribing an RSS-feed via Firefox (1:56 min).

Subscribing an RSS-feed via Bloglines (5:51 min).

On February the 13^th and 14^th 2009 the 1^st International Conference on Children's Universities will be held in Tübingen / Germany under the motto "Children's Universities - The Idea captures Europe". The conference is directed especially towards the networking of institutions, organizations and persons who up until now have never organized a Children's University but who are planning to set-up one in the near future.

Even one month before the official start of the EUCU.NET community platform the European Children's University Network is already well presented in the world wide web.
Currently searching Google for EUCU.NET brings approx. 1760 hits and sites from all over the world.

Photographer: Mykl Roventine

 

From Alpha to Omega

The ideas and goals of the EUCU.NET project are already spreaded not only in the latin alphabet but also in greek or even standard mandarin. This shows us promise because the EUCU.NET community platform on the web will be open to all interested organisations and people. Though founded as an european initiative EUCU.NET is not going to limit the discussion to europe. The project is interested in all aspects of running Children's Universities and the worldwide diversity of experiences.

J oin the Initiative

There are many possibilities to support the idea of Children's Universities or even to criticize these projects within EUCU.NET. The very first step is to fill in one of the online-questionnairs on our website or to register for the newsletter. At the beginning of 2009 - during the 1st International Conference on Children's Universities in Tübingen - the EUCU.NET community platform will be officially launched. The platform will combine many features for registered members like calendar functions, discussion forums or sharing documents on the topic.
So stay in touch with EUCU.NET: register on our website and don't forget to subscribe the EUCU.NET-Blog.

Further reading (international response):

• EUROPE: New network of children's universities, by Geoff Maslen, Source: University World News

The European Children's University Network proudly announces the formation of an advisory board - the Scientific Board. It's a group of "critical friends" that shall accompany the EUCU.NET within various stages of the project and is composed out of five international scientists from different fields of research.

As a multi-disciplinary and international body, the Scientific Board will support the consortium members over the course of the project with exchange of ideas and feedback. Their thoughts will accompany EUCU.NET. The Scientific Board is called upon to formulate current questions and to offer stimuli for all members in the network.

(Image: "Science Board" at a on the wall of a former classroom of an abandoned boarding school in eastern Cuba. Photographer: Paul Keller)

 

International Expertise

The five members of the Scientific Board possess expertise in the areas of knowledge and science communication and science events and function as external monitors and counsellors for EUCU.NET.

Anja C. Andersen is an astrophysicist with a specialization on cosmic dust particles. She works in the Dark Cosmology Centre hosted by the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. Anja Andersen is winner of the Descartes Science Communication Prize and published books about astrophysics for children.

Ulrike Felt is professor of social studies of science at the University of Vienna. She is a researcher in the field of science communication, public engagement with technoscience as well as governance and public participation. She already evaluated projects of science communication.

Hans-Ulrich Grunder is head of the center of school as a public education area and professor at the University of Applied Sciences North-western Switzerland. His main fields of study are amongst others school pedagogy, general pedagogy, evaluation research in education research and media pedagogy and didactics.

Phillippe Guillet is Director of the Museum of Natural Science in Orleans, General Secretary of ICOM France, specialist of scientific mediation in museums and science communication with children. He is also in charge of a French network "museums and society".

Tricia Jenkins is head of the Educational Opportunities Team at the University of Liverpool. There she concentrates on developing innovative ways of enabling the University to maximise its role in developing the potential of young people and adult learners, who traditionally would not have gone onto higher education.

The 1^st International Conference on Children's Universities in Tübingen / Germany was fruitful, inspiring and here are the pictures:

All pictures taken by Antonie Knierim and Ruth Soppa for EUCU.NET

During the 1^st International Conference on Children’s Universities in Tübingen a lot of new connections have been made and first ideas of international collaboration at the field of Children's Universities have been developed. EUCU.NET supports those cooperations with the establishment of a Mentoring Partnership program.

(By the use of a turntable you can move heavy objects quite easily; Photo: Leonard John Matthews)

The Concept

Since we all tend to loose contact quite fast - I would like to remind you on the aims and possibilities of our Mentoring Partnership program:

• Transfer of Knowledge between the Mentoring Partners
• Informal Guidelines for those who want to establish a Children's Universities project
• Role Modelling
• Encouragement to start with an own project and to be curious oneself

EUCU.NET wants to widen and intensify the already existing network with this project. We want to provide insights into other approaches for those who are interested. This shouldn't be limited to impulses for starting projects but also to help reflect the own aims and methods.

The Terms

The European Children's Universities Network will support such Mentoring Partnerships with funding of travel and accommodation expenses. Applying persons must act as part of an institution, follow our reporting and accounting conditions and sign a Memorandum of Understanding. Partnership projects have to be developed by partners from different countries and with different native language.

Application deadline is the 14th of April 2009. All documents have to be submitted in English. Projects period shall between 1st May and 30th November 2009.

If you are interested in building a Mentoring Partnership or if you are searching potential cooperation partners contact your "Mentoring Turntable" to receive more information via e-mail:

mentoring[at]eucu.net

Application deadline for the EUCU.NET Mentoring Partnerships is in approximately one month on the 14th April 2009. For those without a Mentoring Partner to this day: one can still find absorbing projects that are also searching for cooperation. To support your search for a congenial partner you are invited to scan the EUCU.NET Mentoring Map.

EUCU.NET map of Children's University organizers interested in establishing a Mentoring Partnership

If you found an institution that draws your interest please contact me at mentoring[at]eucu.net and I will connect you promptly.

Promoting the program at the EUCU.NET conference in Tübingen, I said "take your time" to develop and establish your Mentoring Partnership project. True to the motto we let time lapse and thought over some interesting starting points for partnerships.

Application deadline is coming closer - we have only three weeks left - and maybe some of you are still keen to establish a mentoring partnership but don't have the right idea as to what to do. To stimulate some brainstorming I would like to propose a couple of sample "mini projects". (All names and locations are fictional : ))

(Brainstorming with notebook and cup of chocolate; Photo: Lost in Scotland)

Project Proposal Nr. 1 - The traditional mentoring partnership

Well, this touches the very heart of the program. Of course, one of the basic ideas of EUCU.NET was the support of newcomer Children's Universities. There is a lot of experience within the established projects and it's definitely not necessary to reinvent the wheel a hundred times.

So let's invent Borin Poolarms, staffer at the public relations department of the University of Moria who read a lot about the phenomenon of Children's Universities. He convinced his magnifice rector to start his own project with the precondition of a concept that makes sense. Before stepping into the various pitfalls he luckily discovers the EUCU.NET Mentoring Partnership program and searches for an adequate partner to help him develop a conclusive concept.

Jane Loge on the other side, member of the PR-department of the University of Hicksville and practised organizer of the Hicksville Kids University, searches for new inputs for her heart's blood project.

Borin and Jane met at the EUCU.NET conference in Tübingen and have now decided to help each other: Borin is going to Hicksville to learn as much as possible about the local Kids University. As a counter performance mentor and mentee discuss both projects organising a mini workshop at Moria. Issues will mainly cover the going to be Children's University of Moria but there should also be room for discussion about the time-proven project structures of Hicksville too. This will help both partners.

Coming tomorrow in the EUCU.NET blog: Part 2 of "What can I do in the Mentoring Program?" with three more project proposals.

Yesterday I proposed a classical mentoring project within our EUCU.NET programm. This proposal addressed the cooperation between well established Children's Universities organizers and institutions who are reconciling with the idea of a Children's University. The following three proposals are directed to already experienced partners.

Project Proposal Nr. 2 - The critical friends

We've already experienced a lot of established projects within Europe. Projects with a lot of tradition and with well approved if not seasoned form of organization.

Yet I think we are all followers of the lifelong learning and there is always room for change and adaption of point of views. At the end of the day often the necessities of project funding demand revisions of our concepts.

The Mentoring Partnership Program invites also established organizers to search for reviewers or "critical friends". Look out for a questioning mind to evaluate your project in an amicable atmosphere.

Project Proposal Nr. 3 - The study visit

You are looking for new inspirations to improve your project and broaden your horizon? Search for different approaches. What can we learn from each other? Are there aspects you never thought of? How are target groups addressed? Are there the secret recipes to widen the participation we have always searched for?

Form your own opinion and search for your congenial partner. Write in your application why you have chosen your Mentoring Partner and what both parties are expecting to gain from their study visits.

Project Proposal Nr. 4 - The didactical approach

There are definitely "stars" teaching at Children's Universities - not only "science celebrities" but also really good teachers. Such as those that are able to awake enthusiasm and make children bright-eyed. In the majority of cases this will be a mixture of personal fascination and natural talent.

Nonetheless some Children's University organizers may have collected important hints for teachers or provide important training for their lecturers. In other cases this is sheer impossible because of the mass of lectures and involved teachers, but the quality of the performances is still very high.

Are there essential rules? How can the organizational institution facilitate the best general framework for didactical rookies - especially in relation to science communication with children?

Learn new ways of didactical approaches and take a lecturer with you.

These proposals are only few suggestions that came into my mind - please be creative! EUCU.NET is the community network and the Mentoring Partnerships will help you to extend your own personal network.

Last weekend, at the 13th and 14th February 2009, the 1^st International Conference on Children’s Universities took place - "Children's Universities - The Idea captures Europe". For the very first time, more than 120 organizers of Children's Universities, practitioners, researchers, sponsors and journalists from all over Europe and even from overseas got together and participated in this event at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen / Germany. Two days full of lectures, workshops and vivid discussion depicted an inspiring image of the diversity of Children's Universities.

By showing kids at early age that learning is exciting and relevant to their lives, the Children's University represents a new way to reveal that even for a very young age-group a broader horizon of education could appear.

Before the creation of the concept in 2002 in Tübingen, lost of universities had already similar outreach activities, but the children’s university goes beyond allowing children to get to know their local university and to establish a relationship with it.

During the 1st International Conference on Children’s Universities in Tübingen, we had the opportunity to discover different types of children’s universities sharing same aims: to inspire a new generation of young scientists and to stimulate children’s curiosity and give them a better understanding of the world they live in. Moreover, the children’s universities initiative is able to combine the curiosity of children with the curiosity of working researchers.

All over the world, Children's universities are diverse in shape and size. In most cases, the CU represents a summer’s flexible program of fun and learning on the university campus. For children, the planning of the day recreates an exciting dive in student life, changing for a day children into junior students.

Organisers of children’ s universities bet on ingeniosity and diversity to propose new activities. Some examples:

-    The Vienna University Children’s office organizes the Children’s University on tour composed of mobile auditorium, info point, hands-on experiments. It stops in various public spaces in the suburbs to reach children from periphery and underperforming groups;
-    The Kinderuni of Karlsruhe offers bilingual classes on science in French and German ;
-    The UA summer academy, a program of the University of Aveiro, combines academic enrichment with social activities such as sports or games…

More information on: http://eucu.net/childrens-universities