Page 70 - IFIA Magazine 7
P. 70
IFIA Mag azine Se p t ember 2018 IFIA Mag azine Se p t ember 2018
BOOSTING YOUTH
CREATIVITY & INNOVATION:
TESLA’S INVENTIONS WORKSHOP
IN CROATIA
On 5th of March 2018, in Karlovac, the Republic of Croatia, the Union of
Croatian Innovators (UCI) held a workshop “Tesla’s Inventions – The Mak-
ing of the Induction Electromotor”, intended for kids and youth.
In compliance with the IFIA guidelines and the recognition of specific tar-
get groups when incentivizing and promoting creativity and innovation, a
significant part of UCI’s activities are aimed at youth. In that context, UCI has
designed a framework program “Technical Innovation and Youth” which this
year, the second of its existence, consists of 5 workshops.
The framework program as a rule doesn’t just involve kids and youth, but also
parents, mentors, and educators, in order to equip them with skills of better deal-
ing with challenges in the promotion of creativity and innovation in children. Since
the program is multidisciplinary, and the approach to execution regional, UCI is im-
plementing the program in collaboration with its members the regional associations
of innovators, as well as independent volunteering experts and other stakeholders.
The workshop “Tesla’s Invention – The Making of the Induction Electromotor” took part
on this occasion in the “Dragojlo Jarnevic” elementary school in Karlovac, since the target
group was elementary-school age children. In the first part, the pupils got acquainted with
the electro-technical principles and prominent names from the history of the field (Oersted,
Faraday, Volta, Lenz, Tesla) and had the opportunity to experience hands-on work with basic
electrical components and measurement instruments, as well as to perform simple experi-
ments.
In the second part of the workshop the pupils, helped along by the workshop facilitators, pro-
duced their own model of the induction electro-motor.
About two dozen highly excited elementary-age children were beaming with delight with newly
acquired knowledge and skills, and the workshop fully met its goals: development of cognitive abil-
ity, motor ability and skills, and of creativity, and the direction of gifted pupils towards a deeper inter-
est in STEM.
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