20.11.2011.
By Daniel Wargin ( Adults – Children, Poland)
On Saturday, November 20, the last movement workshops for young people took place in Sępólno as part of the international project the Key to Connection, in which the Adults – Children Association has been participating for over two years.
The project assumed the development of methods and techniques in the field of kinesthetic education, which will diversify and make the acquisition of knowledge by children and adolescents more attractive. Kinesthetic education, i.e. education through movement, is an element that is not paid special attention to in the process of formal education, and many scientific studies indicate the salutary impact of movement on the development (not only physical!) of children and youth. The originators and implementers of the project, through the implementation of specific activities, also wanted to answer the question of where the title “key to connection” of non-formal education with formal education, which we deal with every day, at school, is located. The task turned out to be not easy, because it is not easy to introduce the movement elements into the rigid framework of the traditional school curriculum, but this is not an impossible task. A school that cares about the student is one that cares not only about the assimilation of rules, patterns and concepts, but also about broadly understood development. Such a chance is provided by the introduction of elements of movement into classes.
During the workshop on November 20, instructors Marta Zawadzka and Małgorzata Skusa in cooperation with the Center for Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń (a partner organization in this project) offered participants to participate in various movement tasks, based on the creativity and improvisation of people taking part in them. Seemingly “strange” positions, bending the body, observing other people, giving in to their own feelings and reflecting them in movement, were to open the participants not only to their own sensations and accompanying emotions, but – in a broader perspective – to openness to other people, understanding and accepting the behavior and needs of other people and their own. The opinions expressed by the participants of the workshops gave a picture of minor changes in their activities, which – perhaps – are the beginning of some greater change, greater openness, boldness and self-esteem, without which nowadays it may be difficult to find and achieve the set goals. And this is the greatest value of these workshops and the project in general. The fact that young people themselves are aware of the changes that are taking place in them and know that they can have a positive impact on their actions in the future, and if such conclusions appear, it means that such projects make sense and it is worth going in this direction.
The project financed by the Erasmus + Programme, which for years has been the leading program of the European Commission supporting educational activities in a form that is limited only by imagination, so if someone would like to try their hand at obtaining a grant for unusual international projects, they should definitely look at the website of the www.erasmusplus.org.pl
