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Educational programs of Hellenic Mensa 2022-2023: Scientific Thought Problem Solving: Human Nature & Environmental Technology

Educational programs of Hellenic Mensa 2022-2023: Scientific Thought Problem Solving: Human Nature & Environmental Technology
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HELLENIC MENSA

MENSA is a global, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose purpose is to

recognize, support, research and promote human intelligence as a means of expression

but also as a means of progress. Hellenic MENSA is active with many actions of its

members that reach a wide range. In collaboration with scientists, it undertakes

pedagogical actions through the innovative gifted educational programs, with scientific

research regarding the behaviors and needs of intelligent people.

The Gifted Educational Programs of Hellenic MENSA are designed to cater to the age

group of four to seventeen years, with the aim of strengthening their socio-emotional

needs that are not met in traditional school classrooms, as well as encouraging

them to experiment and explore. interests of students.


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Objective Action

Through the participation of children in the educational program of giftedness, by teaching them the way they learn, they develop their skills and open their horizons, trying to solve problems at the local and global level and become good and useful citizens.

As Antonio Guterres has stated, "The Sustainable Development Goals are the path that leads us to a fairer, more peaceful and prosperous world, and to a healthy planet."

 

Target Audience

Gifted and Talented students are a group of the population with special educational and socio-emotional needs. In the last ten years, the Hellenic MENSA through differentiated weekly educational programs, which it designs and implements, identifies Gifted and Talented children with the use of reliable Global Psychometric tools, offering them, through the specially designed cognitive framework, the appropriate socio-emotional education with the aim to highlight and develop their skills for the benefit of themselves and society.

 

Duration

The giftedness programs of the Hellenic MENSA are implemented at the beginning of the school year (October) and are completed at the beginning of June, including projects included in the Sustainable Development Goals (Climate Action (Goal 13), Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Good Health and Well-Being (Goal 3) and aiming for Quality Education (Goal 4).


Description

Throughout the academic year, gifted students participate and excel in competitions related to technology, philosophy, rhetoric, theatrical performance, society, the environment and climate change. In addition to the successful participation of the students of the giftedness program for the third year in a row in the 26th Pan-Hellenic Student Creation Competition of the High Commission for the school year 2022-2023, entitled "Tomorrow is now! Climate crisis and forced displacement", where the students expressed through art (sketches, posters, collages) their views and proposals for change and action on the topic of climate change and its effects on refugees and internally displaced populations, it is noted and the also successful fourth participation in Vodafone's Generation Next competition with two teams, under the supervision and guidance of teacher Despoina Korentini. In the form of a project and once again highlighting their knowledge and empathy for societal problems that are inextricably linked to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, the TECH-DEPENDENTS & STEAMers teams designed a smart application and technological system to reduce waste food and solving the train tracking system to avoid collisions respectively.

As part of the thematic unit Human Mind & Body - Biopsychology/Biotechnology, discovering the human body, the students of the Gifted & Mindset program aged 9-12 together with their teacher Despina Korentini, were introduced to human biology and explored DNA, the structures and functions of the brain while in order to gain experiential experience on fundamental scientific principles and modern technological achievements they visited the interactive science and technology exhibits of the Science and Technology Center of the Eugenides Foundation. Through the interactive exhibits, students were introduced to and familiar with the world of science and technology and deepened scientific principles and mathematical concepts by interacting and operating laboratory machines and technological constructions.

The gifted students of the giftedness program successfully participated in the 1st Student Competition entitled: "SHOW MY PLACE" THE LITTLE TOURISTS co-organized by the Ministry of Tourism and the Museum of School Life and Education of the National Center for Research and Rescue of School Materials. The students had to choose a cultural monument, attraction from their area and create visual compositions, advertising trailers, podcasts, posters and digital applications to present it to Greek and foreign visitors. Also, like every year, this year we celebrated International Museum Day 2023 - "Museums, Sustainability and Quality of Life", by visiting the Museum of Greek Children's Art, understanding the role of museums as custodians of cultural and natural heritage but also as agents of social change. Climate change, sustainable development and biodiversity protection were the focus of the creative workshop attended by parents and students from the Gifted & Mindset 6-8 years program. To the question of how we can design a sustainable future with better infrastructure for human living, protecting nature, restoring the ocean, cleaning the air and tackling climate change, teenage gifted students submitted a video to the global challenge " Slingshot Challenge” by the National Geographic Society with support from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.


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Impact on Society

The experiential activities that are created aim to develop basic skills to achieve healthy social and emotional development, such as the following five: a. self-awareness (recognition of emotions, accurate self-perception, recognition of skills, development of self-confidence and self-efficacy) b. self-management (regulation of emotions and behaviors, stress management, self-discipline, organizational skills) c. social awareness (empathy, appreciation of diversity, respect for others) d. relationship development skills (active listening, communication, collaboration, building healthy relationships, team spirit) e. responsible decision-making (identifying and solving problems, evaluating, responsibility).



Initiative Location

The Gifted Children Education Programs of the Hellenic Mensa, which is a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the aim of recognizing and developing human intelligence, are designed to cover the age groups of 4-17 years, with the aim of enhancing the cognitive and social-emotional skills and their self-esteem, exploring students' interests and encouraging the expression of ideas and experimentation. The giftedness programs of the Hellenic Mensa are known to provide motivation and constantly new challenges in the learning environment for students to deal with scientific topics that are of interest to them, upgrading their knowledge levels.


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Working with Organization

As part of the participation in Vodafone's Generation Next competition with two teams, under the supervision and guidance of the teacher Despoina Korentini, the student group TECH-DEPENDENTS, designed and implemented an application for mobile phones through the educational tool MIT App Inventor, which through a map it shows in real time the food left over in bakeries, schools, hotels and supermarkets, which after consultation with the Municipalities will be redistributed, as food waste is a vicious cycle that severely affects the economy, the environment and society and must be significantly reduced. For the project, the team contacted the Municipalities of Nafpaktos and Methanon-Troizinia.


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Workers Participation

The specialized staff, educators of various specialties and teachers of special fields, apply internationally recognized models, providing all the guarantees for the effective outcome of the programs. This continuous support to gifted children, their parents and teachers, has made Hellenic Mensa a pioneer and point of reference for Giftedness in Greece.

*In the context of extroversion, among the educational external actions it is worth mentioning the participation of Despoina Korentini with Hellenic MENSA for the third year with the workshop Cities in Transition for children and adolescents (6-18 years old) held in the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens, in context of the Athens Science Festival 2022, the most scientific festival in Athens with many young and old participants.

The Hellenic Mensa participated with actions in the Riddle Festival 2022 which, beyond Kastellorizos, this year took place in Patras 21-23 October 2022 and in Athens 16-18 December 2022. In Patras, it was presented by MENSA member Andreas Tsimbouris and the Robotics Workshop Robotica.gr the interactive topics: "Puzzles and robotics." From education to application" with a parallel action by the educator Despoina Korentini, the "STEAM PROJECTS: "Geometric Green Sustainable Cities", "Golden Section & Fibonacci Sequence". The action of STEAM PROJECTS by Despoina Korentini was repeated at the last stop of the festival in Athens, while Iliana Gounalaki, Thanos Darkadakis and Dimitris Tsatsaronis, members of Mensa and members of the National Sudoku & Puzzles Team. https://kastellorizofestival.com/2022/kel/mensa-gr/ https://kastellorizofestival.com/2022/kel/mensa-athens/

The educator of the Hellenic MENSA, Korentini Despoina, had the pleasure and honor to participate online with videos Life & Health: Education & Children's Welfare & Well-Being at the Mediterranean Researcher's Evening 2022 through Mednight TV at Expert Voices. MEDNIGHT seeks to show the importance of Mediterranean Science, especially to young people, to inform them that the problems concern Mediterranean Europe. MEDNIGHT takes place as part of the European Research Night, a science dissemination project promoted and funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement. https://mednight.eu/mednighttv/

Also, the gifted educator of the Hellenic MENSA, Despoina Korentini was an official guest speaker at the Greek Women in STEM 2022-She STEMs symposium in the Special session II: STEM in education, which took place at Serafio in Athens on December 17-18. The title of her talk was “THINKING OUT OF THE BOX: USING STEAM & PBL IN EDUCATING GIFTED STUDENTS”. Through interactive speeches and scientific panels with Greek women scientists in the fields of science and STEAM, scientific achievements were communicated to the public during the symposium.

Despoina Korentini has been selected as the Winner 2022/23 Gifted Educator of the Hellenic MENSA Educational NPO of the Year for Southern Europe by the Prestige Awards in Birmingham, UK.

The giftedness program was nominated for the Bravo Awards, having won the Ambassador of Sustainable Development Badge. Despoina Korentini as an educator of the Hellenic MENSA and an educational consultant participated in Bravo 2022- Best Practices Meeting Points of QualityNet for the presentation of good practices - initiatives and the strengthening of the National Dialogue of the Bravo Institution of the QualityNet Foundation for the creation of a wider culture on the issues of education to raise the awareness of the new generation around environmental issues and to form correct attitudes and behaviors and sustainable development in our country.


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Benefits for Οrganization

As participants in Mensa's giftedness programs, students have proven and consistent benefits from them, while working on a growth mindset, cultivating a high-level analytical, critical, practical and creative thinking, and manifesting positive emotions. The educational processes followed in the giftedness programs used with the aim of increasing the learning experiences in depth and breadth, contributed so that the students:

  • To recognize elements of themselves and gain self-confidence, through experimentation.
  • To develop a growth mindset, changing the mindset of fixed perception.
  • To strengthen the ability of critical thinking and academically finding effective solutions to achieve a goal.
  • Cooperate effectively in teams and manage their roles within the team and internal conflicts.
  • To mobilize internally, setting their own goals.
  • Creatively apply previous or new information or patterns to new situations.
  • Recognize their emotions and develop self-regulation strategies.
  • Create and maintain social bonds and make decisions as problem solvers.

Applying collaborative forms of teaching (projects), students through group work (projects) feel emotionally involved in their learning experiences, reach higher levels of learning and understanding. As members of a supportive community, students unleash their creativity and develop critical thinking.




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