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Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

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<strong>Geography</strong> competitions as stimuli for advanced studentsJüri Roosaare, Ülle LiiberInstitute of <strong>Geography</strong>, University of Tartu, 46 Vanemuise St., 51014 Tartu, Estoniae-mail: juri.roosaare@ut.ee; ulle.liiber@ut.eeAbstract<strong>Geography</strong> Olympiads have been held <strong>in</strong> Estonia s<strong>in</strong>ce 1965. Students from the University ofTartu have been tak<strong>in</strong>g part <strong>in</strong> the Baltic <strong>Geography</strong> Olympiad and <strong>in</strong> 2004 they participatedfirst time <strong>in</strong> the International <strong>Geography</strong> Competition. In this paper we review and analysethe experiences of previous national competitions, results of a questionnaire on op<strong>in</strong>ionsamong participants of the last Olympiad and consider possible means for the further developmentof such competitions.Key words: School geography, <strong>Geography</strong> Olympiad, gifted pupilsThe Gifted and Talented Development Centre and Olympiads <strong>in</strong> EstoniaIf we recognize that some children are more gifted than the others, special attentionshould be paid to enable them to maximise the realization of their talents. Theord<strong>in</strong>ary school system may be <strong>in</strong>sufficient for this purpose and – as <strong>in</strong> arts andsports – also <strong>in</strong> pure and applied sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry; naturalsciences: biology, geology, physical geography; social sciences: sociology, economy,human geography; human sciences: philology, psychology etc.) different activitiesfor gifted students have been started long ago. In Estonia, the first school students’competition <strong>in</strong> solv<strong>in</strong>g scientific tasks took place at the University of Tartu <strong>in</strong> 1950.In the academic year 1953/54 Olympiads <strong>in</strong> sciences started. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to recentresearch, gifted pupils consider the Olympiads as the ma<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>citement to penetratedeeper <strong>in</strong>to science (Sepp, 2002).Similar ideas and activities had been developed <strong>in</strong> the 1960’s among geographers<strong>in</strong> Estonia and this resulted <strong>in</strong> 1965 <strong>in</strong> the establishment of national <strong>Geography</strong>Olympiads. S<strong>in</strong>ce then, 31 National <strong>Geography</strong> Olympiads have taken place andmore than 1,500 students have had experienced the f<strong>in</strong>al competitions. The outcomesand substance of the competitions have been analysed <strong>in</strong> two small books (Raik andBenno, 1981; Mardiste, 1988). S<strong>in</strong>ce 1996 seven Baltic <strong>Geography</strong> Olympiads havetaken place and <strong>in</strong> 2004 Estonian students for the first time participated <strong>in</strong> the 5 thInternational <strong>Geography</strong> Competition <strong>in</strong> Poland.The Olympiads’ movement <strong>in</strong> Estonia has widened dur<strong>in</strong>g last decade and todaythere are 21 different fields of competition for gifted students <strong>in</strong> the homepage ofnational Olympiads (http://www.ttkool.ut.ee/olympiaadid). S<strong>in</strong>ce several subjectshave at their top level output to an <strong>in</strong>ternational competition, or else are look<strong>in</strong>gfor such possibilities, another aspect, the system of preparation to Olympiads hasbeen developed. For that purpose The Gifted and Talented Development Centrewas founded more than 30 years ago at University of Tartu aim<strong>in</strong>g to “give talented79

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