Mind scouts
The Mindscouts were a pioneering project to promote children with special talents in Switzerland. The Mindscouts were the first youth group in Switzerland where gifted children and young people could meet and exchange ideas on a regular basis. The Mindscouts were not a course system and understood themselves as a supplement to other projects for gifted children. Mindscouts activities focused on social exchange with like-minded people through games, joint writing and art projects, and robotics workshops. The Mind Scouts took children from the age of seven with a skill assessment in at least one talent area to be in the top 2%. The Mindscouts were personally supported by members of Mensa Switzerland.
Origins of the term 'mind scouts'
The name of the group, Mindscouts, is a portmanteau created by Mindscouts founder Beat A. Schwendimann in 2000 by combining the terms 'Mind' (with reference to the intelligence of the participants) and 'Scouts' (since the model of Mindscouts from Youth groups like the Boy Scouts and Cevi ).
philosophy
The mind scouts aimed to offer children and young people with special abilities the opportunity to socialize with like-minded people in their free time. Belonging to a group of like-minded people ( peer group ) is an important step in building social skills . Developmental psychologists have shown that relationships with like-minded people are important for social, cognitive, and emotional development. The mind scouts were inspired by the 'enrichment model' of the psychologist Joseph Renzulli .
features
The Mindscouts differ from other projects for gifted children in the following features:
- The Mind Scouts had no course structure. Activities were initiated and driven forward by the participants. Adult employees did not specify any projects, but supported the implementation of the participants' creative ideas. Ideas often led to projects in the natural sciences, the development of new board games, theater games or writing workshops .
- The main goal of the mind scouts was not on school learning goals or test preparation, but on the promotion of social skills . The Mindscouts offered a place of social contact and exchange with like-minded people of different ages for children and young people with special talents.
- The mind scouts were led by a group of volunteers who offered support as non-authoritarian caregivers. Several of the volunteers were members of Mensa Switzerland. Membership in Mensa Switzerland was not a requirement. The supervision by like-minded adults gave the participants the opportunity to get to know new caregivers, to build their own relationships in the group and to discuss topics which they could not address elsewhere.
- The Mindscouts were a non-profit organization which saw itself as a supplement to existing talent development projects and looked for cooperation with other projects in order to use synergies .
- In contrast to projects that focused on specific talents (e.g. mathematical-logical, musical, artistic), the Mindscouts consciously accepted children with talents in different areas of talent.
- A special feature of the Mindscouts were the supervisors, most of whom had high talent potential themselves. This gave the children the opportunity to exchange ideas with like-minded adults.
Mindscouts activities
Between 2000 and 2009, the Mindscouts met every two weeks on Saturday afternoons in the Zurich area for three hours. Activities included board games , new board game development , robotics , art projects , theater and museum visits . In 2009, the Mindscouts owned an extensive inventory of board games, books and LEGO Mindstorms sets (financed by membership and donation fees).
Mindscouts participants
Participation in the Mind Scouts was open to all children and young people aged seven and over. Applicants had to be able to submit a proficiency test from recognized psychological services. Hochbegabung was defined as skills in at least one talent area in the top 2%. The mind scouts had a broad understanding of talent . An initial trial phase served to determine the mutual sympathy between the child, group and employees. Although some of the Mindscouts employees were members of Mensa Switzerland, membership in Mensa was not a requirement for admission. The number of participants was kept small to ensure a good supervision ratio of 4: 1 (or less).
Organization of the mind scouts
All Mindscouts employees and board members worked on a volunteer basis. The Mindscouts were registered as a non-profit association in Switzerland. The Mindscouts were led by a board of directors whose members were elected annually. The Mind Scouts were financed by membership fees and sponsorship contributions from companies . Financial contributions were used to pay for room rent and purchase of toys and handicraft materials.
History of Mind Scouts
The Mindscouts were founded on November 11, 2000 in Zurich by Beat A. Schwendimann, several members of the cafeteria and child psychologists . A second Mind Scouts group existed in St. Gallen from 2003 to 2004. The Mind Scouts groups met regularly every two weeks on Saturday afternoons. The board of directors decided to discontinue the Mindscouts project in 2009, as there are now enough other projects to support children with special talents. The Mindscouts can be seen as a pioneering project in the field of promoting social skills in gifted children.
Individual evidence
- ↑ NZZ article Intellectual sports club and self-help group June 2, 2005 . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ↑ Education Switzerland 19/2002 . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ↑ Begabungsfoerderung.ch . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ↑ Swiss canteen Mindscouts Link . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ^ Discussion forum for parents' association for gifted children (EHK) . Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ^ Robert Siegler: How Children Develop, Exploring Child Develop Student Media Tool Kit & Scientific American Reader to Accompany How Children Develop . Worth Publishers, New York 2006, ISBN 0-7167-6113-0 .
- ↑ Begabungsfoerderung.ch . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ↑ Parents' Association of Gifted Children (EHK) . Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ^ Foundation for gifted children . Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ↑ Swiss Society for Gifted and Gifted Education . Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
