Give Them a Problem Before You Give Them the Answer

Talent Does Not Always Show Up in Good Grades

In recent days, discussion of Polish schools has focused mainly on children’s safety. Now, in mid-October, an initiative is launching to address a very different question: how to recognize a student’s talent and create the conditions for it to develop.

That is the aim of Ogólnopolska Strefa Talentu, a nationwide talent development initiative that teachers can join free of charge. Those behind it include Sebastian Szubartowski, the son of renowned teacher Ryszard Szubartowski. The project will draw on the experience of an educator who has spent more than 30 years developing his own approach to working with gifted young people.

You need to create a situation in which a student has a chance to show what they can do. Give them a variety of tasks and observe what interests them, what they can spend longer working on, and what questions they ask when tackling different challenges.

Szubartowski recently described his method in these terms during an interview with Patrycja Krzeszowska for Holistic News.

How to Recognize Student Talent

Ryszard Szubartowski is a computer science teacher best known for his work at Gdynia’s Secondary School No. 3 and with exceptionally gifted young people. His former students include Jakub Pachocki, now OpenAI’s chief scientist, Szymon Sidor, and Filip Wolski, one of Poland’s most decorated competitors in international informatics competitions.

Computer science itself, however, is not the essence of his approach. Szubartowski has developed his own method of teaching young people. The respected educator believes that a teacher’s role goes beyond passing on ready-made knowledge. Teachers should give students problems to tackle, observe how they think, help only when necessary, and allow them to learn from one another.

Instead of showing students the solution straight away, you can give them a challenge. One will start in one way, another in a different way. Someone will suggest an incorrect solution. Someone will find a solution the teacher did not expect. That is when real learning begins, because students can ask a classmate: Why do you think that? What is your reasoning? Could you do it differently? How will you check whether you are right?

Szubartowski explained this approach in Holistic News.

Beyond Computer Science

The project plans to admit up to 100 teachers to its first cohort. At least 60 percent will teach subjects other than computer science. Teachers of Polish language and literature, history, biology, geography, physics, foreign languages, and the arts can therefore apply too.

The organizers are particularly keen to involve schools outside major population centers. At least half the participants will come from towns and communities with fewer than 25,000 residents.

The first cohort will attend workshops, then test the method with their own students and provide feedback on which approaches work and which need adjustment. The project ultimately aims to establish 100 local groups involving around 1,000 students, creating more opportunities to recognize and develop student talent. Participation in Ogólnopolska Strefa Talentu will be free of charge.

Read this article in Polish: Małe szkoły, wielkie zdolności. Tak chcą szukać talentów w polskich szkołach