Community Action for Children's Science Learning

The Community Action for Children's Science Learning project was implemented in partnership with Babes - Bolyai University Cluj - Napoca, Cluj County School Inspectorate, Windesheim University Zwolle Netherlands.

Donor: MATRA KAP / Dutch Foreign Ministry

Duration: 2006-7

Target groups: 20 community members (mostly parents or grandparents of school children) in one of the following neighbourhoods in Cluj: Someseni, Dambu Rotund or Iris; at least 20 volunteer university students; at least 50 schoolchildren from Cluj; at least 3 science teachers from Cluj.

Project goals:

- develop and promote the vision of a pro-active community learning centre hosting a “simple science” workshop

- promote scientific culture and children’s hands-on learning by providing access to a variety of real-life small scale model gadgets to experiment with

- develop community spirit and promote pro-activeness by engaging volunteer members of the community in preparing the space and the gadgets for the simple science workshop.

Types of activities:

- Community meeting, training of volunteers, setting up the workshop, operation / maintenance of the Workshop.

Deliverables and outcomes:

-          First simple science workshop set up in the city of Cluj, in a disadvantaged area.

-          increased community participation for the benefit of the children and of the entire community;

-          children’s experiential learning and life skills improved;

-          students’ and community members’ availability for volunteering increased.