PROTOTÝPCI provides educational events for children, teachers and parents to develop entrepreneurship, creativity and digital competences. Encourages children to be creative and active in their communities and environments, to strengthen their entrepreneurial competences and to motivate them to become entrepreneurs in creative professions. Encourages teachers and parents to be able to foster children's creativity, based on the children's ideas, not on an adult's instructions.
National
Czechia
South Moravian Region, Moravian-Silesian Region, Central Bohemia Region, Vysočina Region, Prague
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
We received support for the programme Supporting the development of creativity and divergent thinking for small schools. Funded with €18,900 from the National Recovery Plan Supporting Creative Learning Projects (Recovery and Resilience Facility) 2022/2023.
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Prototýpci, zapsaný spolek Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Veronika Last name of representative: Šancová Gender: Female Nationality: Czechia Function: chairman Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Nejedlého 373/1 Town: Brno Postal code: 63800 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420 604 344 163 E-mail:veronika.sancova@prototypci.cz Website:https://prototypci.cz/
Our vision is to increase the number of active people in the world who have the drive and courage to change their positively environment.
The primary target group are children, whom we teach
* not to close their eyes to problems
* to look for creative solutions to problems
* have the courage to change the world around them
* to learn from real life
* not to wait for an adult's assignment
* to really jump in and learn new things
* use digital technology in a meaningful and creative way
* and enjoy being creative
We fulfil this vision through direct work with children in schools and leisure activities that we run in our makerspace, which is part of the creative hub KUMST for creative professionals. We run project-based learning, workshops, camps and startup groups that develop real products. Most of the activities are directed towards children aged 6-11, who have the greatest potential to learn habits and competencies and transfer them to further education. In the learning units, children solve real problems in their communities, including environmental ones, identify the needs of their closest surroundings, learn teamwork and train their creativity through simple but effective methods.
The learning outcomes include suggestions for improving a place in the school or classroom, solving an environmental problem in the community, or a prototype product that solves an environmental problem.
We multiply our methods by educating teachers and parents. We have comprehensive training that offers educators best inclusive and sustainable practices that can develop entrepreneurship and creativity in any child.
The content is divided into 10 areas: 1.cherish your ideas; 2.look around you; 3.look beneath the surface; 4.inspire (yourself); 5.tell a story; 6.become a designer; 7.think about yourself; 8.create and redesign; 9.look ahead; 10.create a real project.
We offer variable methodologies, worksheets, recommended digital tools, small challenges and quizzes.
creativity
entrepreneurship
reality
inclusivity
sustainability
* Our programmes are comprehensive and we place the learning content in a wide framework (EntreComp, DigComEdu, European competence framework on sustainability). This approach enables synergies, multi-disciplinary collaboration, and naturally integrates sustainability in all aspects.
* Sustainability is achieved by simultaneously targeting multiple audiences (children, educators, parents), resulting in better transferability and understanding of methods. Particularly the involvement of parents is important, as the development of creativity and entrepreneurship takes place primarily in families, where it is reflected in general educational practice. Through programmes for educators, we spread the content and principles to more pupils in schools. Our goal is to increase the number of participants from all these target groups and to focus more on evaluation by prioritizing effective methods.
* Sustainability is also supported by the fact that the programmes for schools are affordable or completely free (for example for small schools in the Czech Republic). We share examples of good practice, methodologies and concrete activities.
* We offer and develop a wide range of low-threshold and low-cost methods and activities that can be used by multiple target groups without prior knowledge of the topic. It is these methods that are most effective in terms of sustainability.
* We emphasize topics related to recycling, upcycling and the circular economy. In most of our activities, we use materials that are already used, and the children then work with them. The activities also result in real products or prototypes, for example the Eco-Christmas Tree attached. We offer parents and teachers easy-to-understand methodologies for incorporating the topics of recycling, upcycling and emphasising the principle of the circular economy. Related to this approach is our focus on developing design and critical thinking skills.
* Our initiative provides activities that build design thinking in primary school children as young as grade 1 (6-11 years old), introducing them to topics related to art and creative industries. We use simple activities that simultaneously develop divergent thinking and creativity, as well as holistic learning units that lead to the creation of 2D and 3D designs.
* While working with children, we start from the reality that surrounds them and create designs for smart cities and buildings. In addition to the creation itself, children learn about their environment and the needs of specific people. In the startup groups, which are designed for children aged 11 - 15, we create concrete products such as an artificial eco-friendly Christmas tree (in attachment), cat scratchers from waste foil rolls or a public code game with the theme of creativity.
* Using digital apps focused on graphics, animation, AR or working with electronic music, children create digitaly. We use these activities directly with children, but we also offer methodologies for educators who spread them in their schools. Tutorials on digital applications are publicly available on our YouTube channel.
* As an inspiration for children to create, we find it very helpful to locate our creative makerspace in the creative hub Kumst, where we involve professionals from different fields (designers, architects, designers) for discussions and direct help in the implementation of specific projects. Professionals from different disciplines enhance the aesthetic and functional value of the children's creations.
* The basis of our approach is the emphasis on the variability of the assignment, with respect to the individual possibilities and ideas of the children. We have adapted the materials, tools and activities to engage both children who prefer physical creativity and those who prefer digital expression.
The result is then creations that are based on the ideas of the children and not adult educators.
* The principle of inclusion is at the core of all our activities, and we declare it towards all target groups. We translate it into direct work with children, as well as into the methodologies we share with teachers and parents.
* We strive to ensure that every child has the chance to turn their idea into reality with individual assistance.
* We strongly believe that educational content is only successful when it benefits all children and not just those who are naturally gifted or have a better socio-economic background. Our pedagogical practice always includes several variants in order to engage all children according to their individual needs and goals. In addition, all assignments are gradable and based on the long-term gradual development of individual competencies, resulting in the child's ability and courage to implement his or her own ideas. We also incorporate values that support inclusion into the activities. We always strive to ensure safety within the children's group and, especially for disadvantaged children, we take care to increase self-esteem and reflect on achievements.
* We also consider inclusion in the topics of each assignment - for example, working with feeling maps or bringing in topics related to the integration of disadvantaged groups. But also choosing activities that are budget-friendly in terms of materials and tools.
* We are committed to ensuring that our activities for children are not financially unaffordable for socio-economically disadvantaged children and we offer discounted prices for needed families, we participate in programmes where families can get contributions for our activities and we provide activities for some groups completely free of charge (children from Ukraine).
* We offer programs to schools at the lowest possible prices and through the grant funding we can support, for example, small schools that have very limited opportunities to engage in comprehensive education in the field of creativity development.
* We focus on children aged 6-11 years, for whom there are the fewest similar programmes, who are naturally receptive and the potential for development is greatest. We activate and involve the target group of children directly in the programs implemented in schools and also through parents, to whom we spread awareness.
* The parents are the ones to whom we aim most of our voluntary work - we participate in public events at local and national level for families (MakerFaire, Bastlfest, Open Kumst...). We organise educational webinars on our own and in partnership with the national organisation of the Parents' Union, we participate in talks and offer free materials to parents (e.g. worksheets, quizzes, the Parents' Guide How to Develop Your Child's Creativity) and we inform not only about our activities and procedures but also about the activities of third parties through regular newsletters and social networks.
* We engage educators by reaching out directly to them with our educational programmes, participating in professional discussions, conferences and panels.
* We continually evaluate individual content as well as the channels and events through which we engage individual groups and we make sure we are as effective as possible.
* Prototýpci addresses the topics of entrepreneurship, developing creativity, problem solving skills and influencing the places where we live. The organization engages in participatory discussions at internal, local, regional and national levels. Discussion, openness, participation and continuous evaluation are respected principles of the organization.
* We are part of national and regional structures that have a capacity for system-wide advocacy. We are involved in the Regional Entrepreneurship Council, we are founding members of the Association of Enterprising Czechia, we publish on the Entrepreneurial Mind portal and we have participated in the Youth Impact Excellence evaluation programme.
* We are part of the ecosystem of the creative hub Kumst, where we run a makerspace for children. Kumst provides facilities and accelerator programs for creative industry professionals. As part of Kumst, we are involved in organising events for the public (families) and schools. We work closely with specific creative professionals.
* We collaborate with schools and libraries across the country. We work with schools at a local level to develop long-term programmes to develop physical creativity and digital creativity.
* At the regional level, we are involved in the Regional Entrepreneurship Council, a platform that aims to promote entrepreneurship systematically at the level of the South Moravian region.
* At the national level, we cooperate with the Parents' Union, which identifies creative education as one of its priorities. In general, it promotes progressive trends in education throughout the Czech Republic. For the Parents' Union, we provide educational formats in the form of debates and webinars on the topics of The Future of Education, The Future of the Labour Market and Why Creativity is Important.
* At the national level, we are founding members of the Association of Entrepreneurial Czechia. The Association aims to promote entrepreneurship and creativity systematically in the educational curriculum. We are currently involved in mapping and setting criteria for evaluating schools in the field of creativity and entrepreneurship.
* At the national level, we are a partner of educational and innovation agencies in the Moravian-Silesian Region and Prague. We are an educational partner of the O2 Smart School grant programme, where we provide the area of digital creativity. We are also a member of the working group of the Creative Learning Development Programme under the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
* We are a recipient of a grant funded by the National Renewal Plan (NextGeneration EU) for teachers of small school
* Our initiative stands at the edge of three worlds - art/culture, entrepreneurship and education - and we see great added value in this, which is also appreciated by the recipients of our educational programmes.
All worlds are equally involved in the realisation of our activities, influencing each other and providing space for creating synergies. The successful interconnection of the different fields depends on a value grounding, a project vision and a connection to reality. We do not create artificial assignments, but build on real needs and solve real problems as in real life.
* The content of all our activities is clearly based on a stable and competent implementation team. Each employee and trainer brings a certain set of competencies and experience from different fields. We thus complement and inspire each other very well. The experience of the implementation team includes long term engagement in the following fields - professional art and music, architecture, photography, art, CSR, marketing, entrepreneurship, IT, robotics.
* The synergy of people, disciplines and experiences has resulted in programmes such as Become an Architect or Become a Designer, in which children aged 8-10 use more advanced digital tools (emotion maps, questionnaires, quiz tools) to identify the needs of the city's inhabitants and identify problematic or otherwise functioning, aesthetically good places. They then use physical creativity to generate models of places in groups, play role-playing games, and use robotic toys (Ozobot) to drive through the city to complete tasks that relate to a specific target group, aesthetics or sustainable theme.
* We are also constantly linking up with practitioners - builders, architects, designers... We are also heavily involved in the study of creative digital competences and the development of divergent thinking.
* We also strive to be in line with the educational policy of the Czech Republic and European trends.
* The most innovative aspect of our initiative lies in its multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach, which covers physical and digital creativity and works with reality and actual problems.
* We offer both comprehensive assignments for project-based learning and regular training in divergent thinking, which is a necessary condition for the development of creativity.
* We introduce design approach and sustainability to younger school children aged 6-11 and continue to develop them in older age. It is the emphasis on working with younger school children that brings effectiveness and sustainability to the whole initiative and is unique in the Czech Republic.
* The methods are attractive, inclusive, interactive, fun, activating and include a large number of variations and gradations. All materials (worksheets, quizzes, etc.) have a format that is appealing and easy to understand for children. Unique is the Creative Portfolio, which guides primary school pupils throughout the year and gradually reinforces all entrepreneurial competences, see detailed material in the Annex.
* The innovation also lies in the concept of the individual activities and formats of the educational events, which bring specific topics from the field of sustainability - low cost.
* Innovative is also the connection with the activities of the creative hub KUMST - we facilitate and engage specific professionals from different creative industries, introducing children to applied arts.
* Innovative is also the way of transferring methods to educators through a financially and administratively unburdening online program and a comprehensive offer of face-to-face educational events.
By spreading awareness and involving parents, the necessary synergy and interconnection between school, family and practice is achieved.
* The programme is original and reflects the requirements of the National Curriculum while meeting the priorities of EntreComp, DigCompEdu, European Framework for Sustainability.
* We develop all our activities with the intention to multiply them as much as possible. Our process of programme development is as follows - based on various inputs (educational and cultural priorities, needs for the development of a specific competence) we design the content, which is discussed beyond the organisation; then we test the programme with different groups of children and after evaluation and effectiveness assessment we adapt the programme into its final form; then we create methodologies, worksheets, quizzes and mini-tasks that complement the stated intention and offer further development beyond the specific educational format; then we incorporate the methodologies and worksheets into coherent educational programmes for teachers, who further implement them with our support in schools; we regularly collect feedback from both teachers and pupils and further modify the methodologies where necessary. Thanks to this process, we already have hundreds of assignments available within our programmes.
* In disseminating our methods, we then use both face-to-face and distance methods in both synchronous and asynchronous formats.
* Our programs also include supporting educators in developing their own materials and methodologies that fit into their specific educational contents.
* In the future, we would like to translate our content into other languages and offer it outside the Czech Republic - in particular, an online program for educators with methodologies and worksheets, a guide for parents How to support your child's creativity, a Creative Portfolio, quizzes and our product Prototýpci on the Fridge. We would also like to produce video tutorials in English.
* We are developing our own board game to help develop creativity, divergent and design thinking skills, which has the potential to expand methods to families and schools.
* We have a methodology that would enable the creation of makerspaces in other cities in the Czech Republic.
The educational content is divided into 10 areas:
1.cherish your ideas
2.look around you
3.look beneath the surface
4.inspire (yourself)
5.tell a story
6.become a designer
7.think about yourself
8.create and redesign
9.look ahead
10.create a real project
Within these content areas, which cover the themes of developing creativity and entrepreneurship, we address all the sub-competencies that lead to the realization of children's ideas. For each topic we have
* a gradable methodology for the implementation of project-based learning (minimum of 4 lessons)
* worksheets for younger and older pupils
* shorter challenges
* quizzes
* and activities to develop divergent thinking, which we pay particular attention to as it significantly decreases in children aged 5-10 (George Land and Beth Jarman, Breaking Point and Beyond. San Francisco: HarperBusiness, 1993).
The assignments we create are engaging and fun for children and always include an initial discussion with evocation, the work itself, and a final reflection. We offer a balance of activities for individual and group work.
For comprehensive year group work, we offer Creative Portfolios, which is a guide for practising creativity, storing ideas, completing quizzes and self-evaluation. Portfolios allow us to track a pupil's individual journey and build their competencies in a balanced and long-term way.
Physical products and original games are an effective way to complement educational content.
The content of the programmes is original and we develop them based on the principles of design thinking, Human Centered Design, building on EntreComp, DigCompEdu, the European Sustainability Framework and the national Strategy 2030+.
The methodologies for educators always include the necessary tools, learning objectives, recommended digital tools and a value framework. All activities are low-cost, inclusive, variable and gradable.
Samples of the materials are included in the attachments.
The global challenges we are trying to address are promoting active citizenship, protecting cultural and natural heritage, life in a digital world, enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving skills and, above all, the ability to create.
We are responding to the needs of a changing world in which those who search for solutions to problems creatively and effectively will be especially successful. Creative individuals are key to shaping functional local communities and public spaces.
We convey the values associated with the above challenges to children, either by themselves or through educators and parents - courage, the ability to identify problems and solve them constructively, the ability to work in teams, the ability to generate ideas and to grasp them actively.
Along the way, we explore with the children concrete creative activities and techniques, digital technologies, creative professions, art and the cultural richness of urban and rural areas.
Deepening the ability to register the needs of different people and groups, including the disadvantaged, is at the core of our work. We build children's awareness of their own place in the world and the need to creatively influence their local and broader environment.
Themes of recycling, upcycling and the circular economy are linked to this.
In the implementation and dissemination of activities, we are careful to respect high ethical parameters. We believe that by developing creativity through art and entrepreneurship in its complexity, we will achieve a comprehensive development of individuals who will be active in solving social and environmental problems.
During the period of our direct intervention in schools and leisure activities (4 years), we have reached about 3000 pupils, 1100 teachers and 5000 participants in public events (families with children).
In the last two years, 37 primary schools with 260 teachers and approx. 3,200 pupils have been involved in the online program Prototýpci Grow in School. In 2022, we were awarded a grant for a project Development of creativity and divergent thinking for schools with up to 120 pupils (supported by the Ministry of Culture's Programme of Support for Creative Learning Projects). 92 teachers from all over the country are involved, reaching over 1200 pupils.
Over 1500 pupils are already using the Creative Portfolio - a guide to developing creativity.
Several functional prototypes have been created in startup children's groups see attached example of an artificial eco-friendly Christmas tree.
In 2021/2022, we participated and successfully completed an evaluation programme, Excellence Youth Impact, with the aim of conceptually setting up evaluation processes. The evaluations show that the methodologies and activities are highly effective, inclusive and sustainable (conference paper in attachments).
Next year, we plan to facilitate 5 school groups with a focus on sustainability issues around the schools. We'll also create 3 advanced modules on architecture, cooperation and upcycling for the Prototýpci Grow in School program for educators. We plan to establish new makerspaces in Prague and Ostrava. We will be active in the Association of Entrepreneurial Czechia to promote the development of creativity and entrepreneurship at the national level.
In the long term, we aim to multiply as much as possible through programmes for educators, double the number of lecturers and systematic efforts to develop creativity on a national or European level. We plan to triple the number of events, participants of all target groups.
The development of competences that are part of the European competence framework on sustainability is an integral part of our training activities. In particular, the ability to identify environmental and social problems, to think critically and to find effective solutions with respect to nature and the community. We build in children ( as well as teachers and parents) the ability to use design thinking, to be open to original solutions, to verify the effectiveness of solutions and to be adaptable. We focus on increasing modern literacy skills including digital competence with an emphasis on digital creativity.
We actively seek connections between social and environmental issues and the application of digital competencies. We strive to offer formats that can be included in the school curriculum and that link theoretical knowledge with community needs.
When working with students through discussions, reflections and concrete activities, we include social and environmental topics in a way that is understandable and accessible to the children and that they can directly see the results of their intervention once they have solved them.
Our goal is for children to understand and embrace the challenges posed by climate change and to approach them creatively, constructively and with engaged critical thinking. So that they can name and prioritise the challenges and issues and assess the realistic options for influencing them.
Our programmes aim to seek synergies between the child and adult worlds. Between play and free creativity and real-world problem solving.
We teach children participative collaboration, the art of consensus, and the involvement of other groups outside the school and typically children's world. This is why we emphasize Design Thinking, the essence of which is understanding the needs of target groups and problems.
