An extra-curricular gifted support programme in Hungary for exceptional students in mathematics

Abstract

Research conducted on nurturing talent and thus the literature on the subject are predominantly about the gifted people themselves, and those educational programmes that support them in optimising their abilities during the stages of their development. Thanks to relatively popular research projects a number of lists of varying accuracy are available of the cognitive, professional and personality traits as well as other important characteristics of qualified teachers working with gifted children in gifted development programmes, while significantly less is known about those people who, despite not having formal pedagogical qualifications and not receiving regular training in this area, are able to nurture the development of gifted individuals (often generations of them) with outstanding success. Examples include sports coaches, arts teachers who run extracurricular activities for their students in the areas of music, dance, painting or other branches of art, professionals working in a range of non-profit and for-profit organisations, and many others. These people are the same in certain respects: they all work with a high degree of efficiency (many of them produce great results for decades or throughout their whole careers); entire schools of methodology are built around many of them; and they are surrounded by educators dealing with gifted children who want to learn from them, continue and further develop their methods. However, they each differ in regard to whether they themselves were ever active in the given area -i.e. whether they were outstanding sportsmen, artists or scientists at any period of their lives -or they have the ability to achieve something extraordinary and lasting in the development of those gifted in a given area without being outstandingly talented themselves in the same area.

The Pósa method with ATD lenses: Praxeological analysis on math problems in Hungarian talent care education with ‘recursion’ in their logos blocks<br>La méthode Pósa avec des lentilles TAD: analyse praxéologique des problèmes mathématiques dans l’enseignement hongrois de soins aux talents avec «récursion» dans leurs blocs de logos

“…Lajos Pósa has been organising weekend mathematics camps for 12-18 year-old gifted students in Hungary since 1988, using the now called 'Pósa method' (Győri & Juhász, 2018).…”

Guided Discovery in Hungarian Education Using Problem Threads

“…According to Győri and Juhász (2017), after completing his own education, Pósa founded his first weekend camp for mathematically gifted students in 1988; these camps still continue today. Meant to be independent from the regular mathematics education children receive in school, these camps focus on gaining a deeper understanding of concepts and ways of thinking studied in their math classrooms, as well as fostering creative and persistent thinking.…”

“…In addition to Győri and Juhász (2017), Katona and Szűcs (2017) decribe the Pósa Method that will be the source of the following paragraphs. The Pósa Method relies on a web of problem threads; this is how students experience the guided discovery of mathematics.…”

“…Teaching mathematics should always aim to foster in students a deep understanding of the content presented. One method that strives to this end is the Pósa Method, developed by Lajos Pósa for advanced math students in Hungary since the 1980s (Győri & Juhász, 2017). This method utilizes problem threads, which are series of problems that students complete, discovering mathematics from different topics simultaneously (Katona & Szűcs, 2017).…”

Inquiry based mathematics education and the development of learning trajectories

“…Lajos Pósa is an outstanding teacher especially engaged in the nurturing of Hungarian mathematical talents (Győri & Juhász, 2018). Born in 1947, he was a child prodigy and silver and gold medalist in International Mathematical Olympiad in 1965 and 1966.…”