The Innovation Center of the Ústí Region (ICUK) organized from November 18 to 22 2024 as part of its educational activities, a five-day intensive ICUK Bootcamp, aimed at supporting the inclusion of entrepreneurship in teaching at II. grade of primary schools in the Ústí Region. Four students from different faculties of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP) were tasked with designing innovative educational tools that would help teachers and pupils develop key skills in an unusual way.
ICUK Bootcamp offered four students not only space for creative work, but also intensive theoretical and practical training, which helped them understand entrepreneurship concept, to get new knowledge and skills that they can apply to specific challenges. Kristýna Došková and Jakub Verner from Faculty of Science, Filipp Grigorev z Philosophical faculties and Lea Sýkorová from Faculty of Education they combined their strengths, knowledge and experience to work intensively on the assignment all week. They formed teams of two, where each team had its own mentor - Karolína Macková and Fabiána Bytyqi from ICUK. They were then accompanied through the entire ICUK Bootcamp by Matouš Kostomlatský, who in addition to management is also behind the entire creation and preparation of the ICUK Bootcamp content.
ICUK Bootcamp was divided into several thematic blocks. First day with students introduced to the concept of entrepreneurship as key skills of the future. Under the guidance of the project manager of the RUR project, Tamara Klein, they graduated several practical exercises, in which they were shown how entrepreneurship can be integrated into teaching at primary schools. These exercises served as examples of activities that promote creativity, independence, and problem-solving skills.
The next day the students visited Elementary and Kindergarten SNP in Ústí nad Labem, where they worked directly with the pupils. They asked what they were missing in the teaching, what would help them become more involved and develop their skills, and thus gained valuable insight into the needs of the target group.
This feedback became an important basis for their subsequent work.
On the third and fourth day, the students were fully immersed in the process designing solutions. First they graduated lectures dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in education and presentation skills. All activities were carried out under the guidance of ICUK experts of the RUR project, Matouš Kostomlatský, Karolína Macková and Fabiána Bytyqi using the Design Thinking method. This method encourages creativity and focuses on the user's perspective when solving problems.
Students went through five stages: empathy (understanding the needs of pupils and teachers), problem definition (identification of the main challenges in teaching entrepreneurship), generation ideas, where they brainstormed innovative solutions followed by phases prototyping and creating the first drafts of educational tools. The fourth phase was followed by another visit, this time to two primary schools, Primary school Palachova and Primary and Kindergarten Nová in Ústí nad Labem, where they verified their initial proposals.
They included the feedback in their projects and the last day of the ICUK Bootcamp was dedicated to the fifth phase, i.e presentation of results. The students presented their proposals in front of an expert jury consisting of a representative of ICUK, a teacher from ZŠ Palachova in Ústí nad Labem, Mgr. Ludmila Laubová and the parents of Ing. Jana Prchalová. In addition to expert juries, the audience, consisting of mentors and other students, participated in the presentations.
Each group proposed a different tool for including entrepreneurship and individual skills in teaching II. elementary school grades:
• Mobile application for pupils and teachers, which supports entrepreneurship in the form of interactive games and tasks.
• Web subpage, where future teachers (e.g. UJEP students) and current pedagogues could add ideas for activities that develop entrepreneurship in individual subjects.
"The students came up with great ideas that have real potential to help teachers integrate entrepreneurship into school teaching. I rate them as really innovative and useful, with high potential for practical use. Both propositions deserve further elaboration. A great result of the ICUK Bootcamp is also that the students themselves decided to continue working on these projects." he said Matouš Kostomlatský, who led the camp.
It is also necessary to mention the excellent cooperation of all three faculties of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. The deans of the faculties were informed about this activity, and they allowed students to participate in the ICUK Bootcamp even during their regular studies at the university.
"The need to integrate entrepreneurship into teaching in primary schools is currently growing. We want to give teachers the tools to make this process easier for them and introduce students to skills such as creativity, independence and the ability to find solutions to problems in a fun way. ICUK Bootcamp showed that UJEP students have the potential to bring innovative solutions and their outputs are an excellent basis for further work," she added Tamara Klein, project manager of the RUR project.
The results of the ICUK Bootcamp will be further elaborated in cooperation with ICUK, UJEP students and regional partners. This initiative thus contributes not only to the development of entrepreneurship in schools, but also to the transformation of education in the Ústí Region.
The event was funded by the RUR project – University Region, university of the region, registration number CZ.10.02.01/00/22_002/0000210.
ABOUT THE RUR PROJECT
RUR project – University region, university of the region is financed from the Operational Program Just Transformation. The aim of ICUK as a partner of this project is to support entrepreneurship education and pre-incubation. ICUK connects the academic sphere with the business and public sector and with the practical challenges of the region. With its educational, motivational, competitive and other activities, it aims to ensure that young people, starting from elementary school, are self-confident, educated and enterprising, so that they stay, study, work or do business in the region and thereby participate in the transformation of the Ústí Region into a modern and sustainable region.
