On october 27th, 60 students from five different countries in Europe arrived in Sundsvall to attend a theme week as a part of the project Entrepreneurship in primary teaching education (EIPTE). The theme of week was value creating learning and the ecosystem of entreprenurial learning.
During Monday, the first day of the theme week, the students received an introduction of the week, followed by presentations from vaious Swedish businessess and organisations that talked about how they were working with the theme.
On Tuesday, the students were approached, once again, with a lot of good examples on how to work with the theme. A number of active teachers, as well as students in the ages 8-11 were invited to Mid Sweden University to share their thoughts, ideas and working methods on value creating learning. During the afternoon, student and teachers were given the opportunity to have a panel discussion to process and ask questions.
During the following day, the students had the opportunity to visit a number of schools in Sundsvall. The students were then instructed to observe one or two lessons based on aspects such as how teachers and pupils interact, what teaching materials were used, how the classroom was furnished and how these aspects affected pupils and teachers interaction. On Wednesday afternoon, the students had the opportunity to share their experiences with each other in different groups.
On Thursday all students and their university teachers visited Technichus, a science center in Härnösand. Throughout the morning, they participated in two different shows about how Technichus´ teachers want to enhance interest in science and technology through participation and by allowing participants to see and try new things. The students was then given the task of developing some element or teaching sequence that they had experienced during their school visits. Techncihus has good prerequisites and is a good arena for practical work. Throughout the afternoon, they were given the opportunity to develop a teaching tool, in both methodology and practice, that they could use as an element of entrepreneurial / value-creating learning.
During the last day of the theme week – Friday, the students presented their ideas for the developed teaching tool in Grönborg, Sundsvall. All active teachers and lecturers who had been involved in various ways throughout the week (as well as other interested people) were welcomed to this presentation in the spirit of entrepreneurial / value-creating learning.