The YEC Forum is the annual meeting of the international community of facilitators and partners who, together with the Copernicus Science Centre and the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, develop the Young Explorer's Club program in Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Romania, and Ethiopia.
The essence of the Young Explorer's Club program lies in building a learning community. On a daily basis, we usually see just a small segment of it: our club, and sometimes clubs from the nearby area or region. Meanwhile, the YEC Forum is an opportunity to view our community from a broader perspective and feel part of a greater transformation. During this event, individuals who may not know each other personally come together, united by shared values and a common mission: supporting children and youth in developing essential skills for the modern world, such as critical thinking, creativity, openness to the world, readiness to face challenges, and problem-solving abilities.
The Forum is a place where diversity, creativity, and potential come together.
13th YEC Forum ‘(F)All Together’
29–30 November, 2024
Do you run a Young Explorer’s Club? Do you want to inspire confidence in your students, encourage them to explore the world around them more boldly, and increase their courage in facing challenges? Be sure to take part in the 13th Forum of Young Explorer’s Clubs at the Copernicus Science Centre. During this year’s edition, we will be rethinking mistakes and falls, discussing their role in the learning and discovery process.
A mistake – an unwelcome companion of school days, signalising that we don’t know something or aren’t good enough. We associate it with red ink, lower grades, and an unpleasant feeling of shame. The fear of making mistakes can be paralysing and frustrating, draining time and energy and hindering our pursuit of goals.
Productive failure is not an oxymoron.
What if we treated mistakes as a tool that drives creativity, teaches us perseverance, and leads to a better understanding of the world around us? Research confirms the truth behind the saying, ‘we learn from our mistakes’. Professor Manu Kapur, the creator of the ‘productive failure’ concept, discovered that tackling difficult tasks – even if they initially result in failure – can ultimately lead to deeper understanding and more lasting knowledge. His research shows that when students have the chance to make mistakes, their brains work more actively, seeking answers to why a particular solution doesn’t work. In these moments, they learn more than when they receive ready-made answers. Making mistakes leads to reflection, compels us to think, and encourages us to analyse problems from different perspectives. Attempting to find solutions – even if unsuccessful – helps build flexible cognitive frameworks and teaches resilience.
Mistake as a driver of scientific progress
In the natural, social, and physical sciences, mistakes are a natural occurrence and an important source of knowledge. They enable researchers to gain a deeper understanding of certain phenomena and to improve their working methods. Judgement-free mistake analysis encourages open discussion and reflection on the research process, allowing for the refinement of measurement techniques and the elimination of potential systematic errors. This in turn leads to more precise and reliable results.
How can we make mistakes without shame or regret?
Since mistakes play such an important role in science, why are they so unwelcome in the classroom? How can we, in the Young Explorer’s Clubs, demonstrate the value of mistakes? What is needed to create a safe environment where making mistakes is not only allowed but even expected – a place where errors can be analysed, utilised, and even celebrated – without fear, shame, or a sense of failure; a space where not only the club members but also their mentors can freely experiment and err?
This year’s Forum is an opportunity to reflect on your own approach to mistakes, make new friends, share your experiences and gather inspiration to enrich your future work. This year, we are expecting participants from Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Ethiopia as well as Cuba, Israel and Kenya, which will enable an even wider exchange of knowledge and experience.
Let’s (F)All Together, striving for constructive acceptance of every stage in the learning process and fostering understanding – for ourselves and for others. After all, it’s through wandering and falling that we reach true discoveries and growth – intellectual as well as personal.
13th YEC Forum ‘(F)All Together’
29–30 November, 2024
Do you run a Young Explorer’s Club? Do you want to inspire confidence in your students, encourage them to explore the world around them more boldly, and increase their courage in facing challenges? Be sure to take part in the 13th Forum of Young Explorer’s Clubs at the Copernicus Science Centre. During this year’s edition, we will be rethinking mistakes and falls, discussing their role in the learning and discovery process.
A mistake – an unwelcome companion of school days, signalising that we don’t know something or aren’t good enough. We associate it with red ink, lower grades, and an unpleasant feeling of shame. The fear of making mistakes can be paralysing and frustrating, draining time and energy and hindering our pursuit of goals.
Productive failure is not an oxymoron.
What if we treated mistakes as a tool that drives creativity, teaches us perseverance, and leads to a better understanding of the world around us? Research confirms the truth behind the saying, ‘we learn from our mistakes’. Professor Manu Kapur, the creator of the ‘productive failure’ concept, discovered that tackling difficult tasks – even if they initially result in failure – can ultimately lead to deeper understanding and more lasting knowledge. His research shows that when students have the chance to make mistakes, their brains work more actively, seeking answers to why a particular solution doesn’t work. In these moments, they learn more than when they receive ready-made answers. Making mistakes leads to reflection, compels us to think, and encourages us to analyse problems from different perspectives. Attempting to find solutions – even if unsuccessful – helps build flexible cognitive frameworks and teaches resilience.
Mistake as a driver of scientific progress
In the natural, social, and physical sciences, mistakes are a natural occurrence and an important source of knowledge. They enable researchers to gain a deeper understanding of certain phenomena and to improve their working methods. Judgement-free mistake analysis encourages open discussion and reflection on the research process, allowing for the refinement of measurement techniques and the elimination of potential systematic errors. This in turn leads to more precise and reliable results.
How can we make mistakes without shame or regret?
Since mistakes play such an important role in science, why are they so unwelcome in the classroom? How can we, in the Young Explorer’s Clubs, demonstrate the value of mistakes? What is needed to create a safe environment where making mistakes is not only allowed but even expected – a place where errors can be analysed, utilised, and even celebrated – without fear, shame, or a sense of failure; a space where not only the club members but also their mentors can freely experiment and err?
This year’s Forum is an opportunity to reflect on your own approach to mistakes, make new friends, share your experiences and gather inspiration to enrich your future work. This year, we are expecting participants from Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Ethiopia as well as Cuba, Israel and Kenya, which will enable an even wider exchange of knowledge and experience.
Let’s (F)All Together, striving for constructive acceptance of every stage in the learning process and fostering understanding – for ourselves and for others. After all, it’s through wandering and falling that we reach true discoveries and growth – intellectual as well as personal.
