Children’s education
Since 2015, every year I participate in the expert panel of the national finals of the E(x)plory science contest, organized by the High-Tech Foundation in Poland . It is the largest science contest and fair in Poland addressing youth (14-20 years if age) who want to create scientific projects, develop their interests and broaden their knowledge. Every year, the contest has a twofold increase in applications, and in the years 2012-2017, over 800 young scientists participated in E(x)plory. The E(x)plory contest supports talented youth in the realization of innovative projects, as well as promotes these projects internationally. Since the inception of the E(x)plory contest, 57 laureates represented Poland in international science contests, winning many awards (including the prestigious Intel ISEF contest). E(x)plory is supported and creates a community of innovators, scientists and innovative business, of which I am proud to be a member.
Children’s book: “Secrets of the Web”
Whether we like it or not – we are immersed in the web, and depend on it more and more. While we are familiar and confident in the use of the web, our children are less so. We expect them to be born as digital natives, and if they aren’t, then we can only offer them basic IT lessons at school. Children are supposed to somehow pick up on their own the essential skills needed to use the web: effective searching, critical credibility evaluation, protection of one’s data and well-being on social media. Wouldn’t it be better if our children could learn all of these skills in one place, from a comprehensive practical guide that also explains how the web works, how to put your own content on the web, and what are the most interesting web applications? But how to avoid boring your child with all this techno-stuff? Here’s the answer: “Secrets of the Web”, a book that can explain web technology and teach web skills to any child – or grown-up. Learning about the web is much more fun while interacting with the chatbot, doing the exercises or writing comments on the reader’s blog on the book’s webpage.
“Secrets of the Web” is a popular science book about the World Wide Web, its technologies and applications. The book focuses on practical skills and can be seen as a guidebook for children or adults. The book cannot be clearly classified as non-fiction: it contains a fictional plot that is used to guide young readers through various topics, starting from Web search and critical evaluation of Web content credibility, through publishing on the Web, Web technologies, to social media and crowdsourcing. The plot focuses on three children: Sophie, Jake and Alex, who must write a report for their biology class about extinct animals that once lived in their area. Looking for information for the report, they discover a book that guides them to a webpage containing a chatbot: the Virtual Professor who can answer any question about the WWW (readers can interact with the chatbot on the webpage of “Secrets of the Web”). The kids start preparing their report while asking the Virtual Professor questions about the web. It is then that Jake finds out that a bird described as extinct on the Web looks just like the one he saw in his garden…
“Secrets of the Web” has been published in Poland by Helion, a leading publisher of technical books for children. The book has received very positive reviews and awards from educators and children’s literature critics. Learn more about the book here: http://tajemnicesieci.com.