How it all started
In October 2014, an international course for teachers on (European) project management took place in Porto. There were participants from all over Europe: Estonia, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Germany, Belgium… During one of the workshops, some Belgian and German teachers found out that the profiles of their schools were quite similar, and that they also had to face similar challenges. Both schools often had highly intelligent students who, they noticed, had particular needs, which the schools had difficulties accommodating. The grains of a project focusing on finding new ways of learning and teaching for highly intelligent students were planted there. The Belgian and German teachers thought it would be great to be able to exchange theory and best practices on how to accommodate highly intelligent students.
In October 2014, an international course for teachers on (European) project management took place in Porto. There were participants from all over Europe: Estonia, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Germany, Belgium… During one of the workshops, some Belgian and German teachers found out that the profiles of their schools were quite similar, and that they also had to face similar challenges. Both schools often had highly intelligent students who, they noticed, had particular needs, which the schools had difficulties accommodating. The grains of a project focusing on finding new ways of learning and teaching for highly intelligent students were planted there. The Belgian and German teachers thought it would be great to be able to exchange theory and best practices on how to accommodate highly intelligent students.
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The project taking shape
After the course in Porto, the German and Belgian teachers decided to go for it: they wanted to submit an application for a European Erasmus+ project. First, they needed to find some more project partners, so they would be able to exchange more ideas and good practices. Of course, all of the participating schools should have a similar profile, experiencing the need to find new ways to work with highly intelligent students. The Belgian team had contacts in Sweden through an earlier Comenius exchange and managed to get a Swedish school onboard. The German team participated in two more international courses, where they got in touch with teachers from Poland and Slovenia who were interested in joining the project. With five partners participating, a small network had been formed. The partner schools agreed on the main outlines of the project: there would be five project meetings in total, in three of which students from each of the schools would participate. At the beginning and the end of the project, there would be a teachers’ meeting to organize and evaluate the project. The project meetings with the students would each have a different focus: science, languages and human sciences. The teachers decided that the project would be called ‘Brains in Action’ and submitted an application for an Erasmus+ project. |
Time to get some ‘Brains in Action’!
After a few months of anxious waiting, the teachers were informed that their project had been approved. Now, it was time for action!
Unfortunately, right before the actual take-off of the project, the Polish team informed the other teachers that they would not be able to participate in the project after all, due to radical changes in their education system. This was a setback, which forced the other teams to make some changes in the project timetable and to take over the tasks that were originally assigned to the Polish team.
The Belgian, German, Slovenian and Swedish teams met up for the first time in Slovenia in September 2016. During this first meeting, no students were involved yet. There was a lot of work to be done on the planning and organization of the further project. When would the project meetings take place? Which activities would be done? How would the participating students be selected?
At the end of a fruitful week in Slovenia, it had become clear what the project would look like and how it would be carried out in the following two years. If you are interested in the different project meetings and the activities, you can find out more by visiting the project meeting page.
And now what?
The ‘Brains in Action’ project has now reached its final phase. The participating students and teachers were able to exchange ideas and good practices. However, they do not want to keep all of this knowledge for themselves. One of the goals of the project was to create a network of schools and teachers interested in the matter of working with highly intelligent students. This is why the information and knowledge gathered throughout the ‘Brains in Action’ project will be made public. On this website, you can find information about our Erasmus+ project and about its outcome. We hope that it might inspire you as a teacher, student or parent.
After a few months of anxious waiting, the teachers were informed that their project had been approved. Now, it was time for action!
Unfortunately, right before the actual take-off of the project, the Polish team informed the other teachers that they would not be able to participate in the project after all, due to radical changes in their education system. This was a setback, which forced the other teams to make some changes in the project timetable and to take over the tasks that were originally assigned to the Polish team.
The Belgian, German, Slovenian and Swedish teams met up for the first time in Slovenia in September 2016. During this first meeting, no students were involved yet. There was a lot of work to be done on the planning and organization of the further project. When would the project meetings take place? Which activities would be done? How would the participating students be selected?
At the end of a fruitful week in Slovenia, it had become clear what the project would look like and how it would be carried out in the following two years. If you are interested in the different project meetings and the activities, you can find out more by visiting the project meeting page.
And now what?
The ‘Brains in Action’ project has now reached its final phase. The participating students and teachers were able to exchange ideas and good practices. However, they do not want to keep all of this knowledge for themselves. One of the goals of the project was to create a network of schools and teachers interested in the matter of working with highly intelligent students. This is why the information and knowledge gathered throughout the ‘Brains in Action’ project will be made public. On this website, you can find information about our Erasmus+ project and about its outcome. We hope that it might inspire you as a teacher, student or parent.