Abstract:

The typical assignments in classrooms are simplified problems and one particular solution is expected from students. There is little opportunity for creativity. In addition, students only need to show their knowledge and understanding of the material learned in earlier lessons. However, the problems in school are often detached from students’ daily experiences and offer quite limited room to showcase creative solutions or for interdisciplinary thinking. It is despite the fact that many curricula and research highlight that creativity is a much desired 21st century skill. And allowing students to solve problems creatively often increases their motivation and understanding of concepts. Creativity, freedom and challenging assignments are especially important for talented students, who need more contesting tasks than their peers to develop their full potential. Otherwise they often remain under-challenged in schools. Keeping these ideas in mind a talent club for gifted students of secondary schools, aged between 10 and 15 years, was designed at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria,. Students participating in the talent club challenge with real-world problems in STEM fields and demand a variety of approaches. According to the JKU project “kids4wearables” on wearable technology students are asked to design their own product. In this club, students work in teams, work on creative ideas, improve their STEM skills and their ability to connect different fields to complete their project successfully. This paper describes the development and implementation of the COOL Talents Club, the didactical framework as well as tasks and some qualitative feedback of students before they attended the club.

Keywords:

Interdisciplinarity, problem-based learning, gifted education, creativity, real-world-problems, STEM education, COOL Lab, COOL Talents Club.