The ‘Big Bang Schools’ is a new educational approach and a new type of schools that are re-designed for an era of exponential technological advance and social change. The project seeks to create innovation labs for real human challenges and the planet, helping shape the future instead of repeating the past. It is considered as a catalyst for a new civilization paradigm of joining forces towards “upgrading humanity”.
We used the name ‘Big Bang’ in a symbolic way to highlight the explosion of new ideas and the creation of brand new knowledge from scratch. A new Big Bang of Creation is about to start at Thessaloniki in the following 2 years (2018) hoping that the idea will expand to other Greek cities and abroad. A school where learning is accomplished experientially, in harmony and interaction with the natural environment, aiming to lead children on a wonderful quest.
Central in our philosophy is that educational activities must take place within the natural environment and the whole procedure must be supported through workshops where pupils have the opportunity to discover and connect with new information. Our educational approach encourages the development of capacities through observation, flexibility, adaptability, evaluation, goal setting and self-confidence in order to create their own path of life.
The Big Bang Schools are furthering the vision of our initial project, the “School of Nature and Colours”. This is an educational role model of creative self-management, in which pupils are taught beyond the curriculum how to learn in-depth, sing, dance, stage theatrical plays, raise funds for their school through a vegetable garden and make their activities and campaigns are known to the public using social media.
In this framework, we organize a unique Creative Centre for our children which we called BIG BANG after SCHOOL’. This is a comprehensive program for elementary school children and kindergarten, where all participants are able to connect with music, cinema, dance, theater, arts as well as workshops in creative thinking, constructions, architecture and engineering. Additionally, we created a specific program for elementary courses such as science, history, philosophy and multilingualism. In this project, everyone is welcome to contribute in different ways besides financial support. This is a project designed to benefit children and parents who seek for alternative educational methods of learning and interacting with people and the natural environment.
My name is Angelos Patsias, an educator on my 30s who aims to launch various innovative activities that will help create a new educational system that will meet the specific needs of each and every place. I started my studies in Primary Level Education at the Democritus University of Thrace and I am currently reading issues for an MA candidate at the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Crete. My philosophy of life encourages me to encounter every difficult circumstance as an opportunity, and at the same time, I strongly believe that returning to the simple meaning of life is an essential action.
My partner, Veta Georgiadou has been a kindergarten teacher in public schools for 22 years. Our collaboration in “Big Bang Schools’ project started when she watched my TEDx speech about ‘Breaking the walls between school and society’. As she usually says: ‘Children are the best tutors because they believe in miracles, the life at a present time, are full of enthusiasm and are creating all the time’. She studied pedagogics, eventually becoming a wife and mother of three children and her constant self-searching voyage with pupils, parents, teachers, who never stop learning and reforming is still ongoing.
The third partner, Yiannis Sotirakos, is a serial entrepreneur developing projects and technologies towards “Upgrading Humanity”, and innovative educational and edutainment platforms to empower the youth.
