Malopolska Science Centre Cogiteon – creative workshops with partners

The Malopolska Science Centre Cogiteon is an innovative cultural institution. Its aim is to educate through play and engage in independent or collaborative science experiments, research and community projects. The institution was founded in December 2017, but started operations in its new premises just over a month ago.

The Malopolska Science Centre is intended to popularise science. To improve its activities, the institution organised creative workshops with selected scientific and educational partners. These took place on 21 June in the institution’s new premises. The invited guests included representatives of the Department of the Environment and the Department of Education of the Marshal’s Office of the Malopolska Region. The aim of the workshop was to develop ideas for joint projects, activities and actions. During a meeting with partners, the Design Thinking method was used to jointly prepare development paths and new directions for the activities of the Malopolska Science Centre. The chosen method allowed the issue to be viewed from multiple perspectives, drawing on the experience of representatives from many fields. In this way, opportunities for collaboration between the various stakeholders were identified.

The organised workshop was divided into three modules:

in module I, participants developed ideas for joint actions/activities,
in module II, participants analysed the impact of the planned activities on their surroundings,
in module III, participants proposed concrete activities that could be implemented mainly within their units. Activities included the implementation of joint workshops, practical classes, training courses, exhibitions and activities dedicated to different target groups.

Suggestions for collaboration included exhibitions, festivals and thematic conferences, or training courses.

In its summary of the workshop, the Malopolska Centre of Science Cogiteon emphasises that it will “(…) make every effort to use the ideas that emerged during the workshop in its upcoming and future projects and to involve the institutions – scientific and educational partners whose representatives participated in the meeting“.