Association for youth, science and technology, AMAVET, is a nongovernmental, non-profit, civil organization for children and youth. It was founded in 1990 by establishing 300 clubs and joins more than 3200 members in villages and towns throughout Slovakia now. Club members develop their skills in the fields of astronomy, robotics, computer science, biotechnology, Earth science, and various other disciplines.
AMAVET cooperates with Slovak schools and universities, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and with the Slovak Ministry of Education. A lot of volunteers, including scientists, high school and university professors and students work for AMAVET.
AMAVET actively cooperates with other organizations on an international level. It is a member of the youth organization MILSET (Mouvement International Pour le Loisir Scientifique et Technique), which resides in Paris. It cooperates with a lot of national organizations in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland as well as with organizations outside Europe.
The members of our association are mostly young people up to 26 years old, who use their free time for research activities and for the development of club activities in a particular region. They are interested in communicating with similar groups in Europe. They are trying to develop communication methods between youth and science by getting in touch with the young having common interests and hobbies.
AMAVET plays a very important role in the process of forming the personalities of young people through informal education that becomes a crucial part of the whole-life educational process. The active participation of children and the young in youth organizations is the most effective form of education towards active citizenship. It enables them to naturally develop their skills, talents, and successful life in adulthood.
The European commission acknowledges the importance of non-profit organizations, such as AMAVET, because they actively help to spread information about youth politics and science society, which is called the “civil dialogue” in the “European language”.
Our aims and their fulfilling
The development of collective and individual activities and the improvement of the skills of children and the youth in their free time are the main goals of our association, which fulfills the aims of informal education of youth in the fields of science and technology by:
- creating conditions for club activities intended for children and youth with the focus on science, technology, and ecology;
- organizing camps for children and the youth with the focus on education and purposeful and creative usage of free time;
- organizing nationwide and international trips and assemblies, international youth exchanges;
- publishing periodic as well as non-periodic literature and software in order to make science and technology more popular;
- preparing and organizing seminars, workshops and expositions for children and youth focused on science, technology, and ecology.
The main aim of AMAVET is to support young people not older than 26 to take part in the process of development of science and technology and to encourage them to develop their interests and extracurricular activities that may affect their personal career later. These activities lead to the better understanding of relationships between science, technology, and the public (especially young people). In doing so, AMAVET contributes to the dialogue between science and society, whose main goal is to accelerate the process of bringing the results of science and technology closer to ordinary people, but above all, to make scientific and technological jobs more attractive for the young.
AMAVET clubs
AMAVET clubs are being established in villages and towns throughout Slovakia. They represent the fundamental organization units of our association and their main task is to carry out free time activities for children and the young in the field of informal education focused on science, technology or ecology.
These clubs encourage children to spend their free time rationally. Their activities are very varied: from modeling, through science, up to the arts. AMAVET clubs organize various events, such as regional science and technology fairs, trips, seminars, exhibitions for the public. Their activities deserve our gratitude. Its members often represent Slovakia at international events and competitions. In 2009 there were 243 clubs registered.
Join us 🙂
The strong motivation of the association AMAVET is to help fulfill plans and ideas of young people, to support the area of informal education, and to enhance the interest in scientific disciplines in Slovakia. Rich knowledge secures the individual’s long-time development and prosperity.
If you have the courage to do something similar or if you are interested in the work with youth and you want to enrich this society, help create democratic and active society, lead youth towards active citizenship, join us!
Help children and the young take part in the development of their towns and villages! Increase and enrich their knowledge! Organize international youth conferences! New ideas and plans are always welcomed! Undergo educational and social activities and contribute thus to the development of the young and to their positive and successful membership in society!
Do not be afraid of this challenge! On the contrary, become visionaries! You can be supported by a firm group and become one of us!
There are 75 million young people at the ages from 15 to 25 in the European Union today. To invest in youth means to invest in the fortune of the whole society. This is valid not only today, but tomorrow as well.
Become the part of creating future!
AMAVET events
Program of science and technology – AMAVET consists of clubs whose members are young people under the guidance of volunteers – experts. These clubs enable all members to work on various scientific projects in the fields of astronomy, ecology, biotechnology, robotics, information technology, modeling, etc.
Robotics – the program is intended for two age categories: children not older than 14 and the young not older than 21. This program represents a club activity, where its members construct simple and more complicated models by hand or robots that are computer-controlled.
Days of scientific youth – this program creates space for exchanging experience and ideas and provides good environment for cooperation. These days serve for presenting clubs and their activities to the public. In their history the days of scientific youth have created space for club communication with the association, room for communication with one another and with the public. There are always some fun and free time activities during these days.
Summer and winter camps of AMAVET – we have been organizing summer and winter camps for children and teenagers at the ages from 5 to 18 for 15 years. These camps are primarily focused on the development of science and technology. Besides typical camp activities we prepare a special program for children, through which they can comprehend science and technology better. These special activities include simple physics experiments or the work with robotics toy blocks called Merkur or the building of a city out of paper. We attempt to make use not only of skills, but also of fundamental children’s knowledge of physics, chemistry or biology.
International exchanges – during the whole year we organize international exchanges or we participate at them. These exchanges are parts of projects with different themes, which we want not only our clubs to join (and to encourage them to organize their own exchanges), but also the public. Through these projects we make an effort to increase the awareness of society. The organization of exchanges helps to obliterate young scientists’ prejudices and stereotypes. It creates space for further cooperation of the young and helps them gain useful skills in the area of informal education with the focus on science and technology.
Science and Technology – nationwide
AMAVET Science Fair – Festival of Science and Technology
Every year, our association organizes a very attractive competition that at the same time represents an exhibition of scientific and technological research projects of young scientists up to the age of 20 . Young people usually present their works on a very high level in the form of posters, ppt presentations or three-dimensional models.
The nationwide Festival of Science and technology is attended by winners of regional science fairs. There are usually more than 150 participants presenting unique research projects from various areas of interest, such as astronomy and physics, mathematics, robotics, ecology etc. About one thousand visitors, such as scientists, teachers, pupils, or just curious people, attend the festival.
The Festival of Science and Technology gives us a possibility to communicate, create, innovate or do experiments. Young scientists’ works are presented every year in November at a national round during the European week of science.
A commitee consisting of scientists and experts has to choose the best and the most interesting projects, which will represent Slovakia at prestigious nationwide and international competitions and events, such as ESE (Expo Science Europe), ESI (Expo Science International), I-Sweep, and Intel ISEF.
During the festival all participants may talk to professionals and discuss their projects. They can also attend workshops, trips, and expositions and they have a free internet access. The representatives of our partner organizations abroad (France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary) gladly accept invitations to the festival. Good conditions are thus formed for the exchange of experiences and for forming friendships among young people.
JuniorInternet
JuniorInternet is the project intended for the young up to the age of 18, who are actively interested in the internet. Such people can sign up with their websites, internet projects, services, and texts about the internet. All of them will be invited to the conference, where a rich program about the internet consisting of lectures, presentations, discussions, and competitions will be prepared for them.
Winners will receive valuable prices and they will also have a possibility to present their own projects to public. The project itself was founded seven years ago in the Czech Republic, but today it is organized in Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland as well. This project is run by young people themselves, while adults’ help is minimal. JuniorInternet takes place in March, which is called the month of the Internet.
In Slovakia, JuniorInternet is organized under the auspices of Ivan Gasparovic, the president of the Slovak Republic. The conference itself is opened in a celebratory fashion by Milan Istvan, the director of the citizen organization “Partnerships for prosperity”. In 2007 the project was awarded a memory letter from the chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic Premysl Sobotka.
“The Internet is becoming not only an important source of information and a means of communication, but it is also becoming a significant means of education. I appreciate your project JuniorInternet and I consider it to be a chance to show talents and interesting ideas that are the basis for deeper knowledge and for further ideas and plans,” said Jan Figel about the project JuniorInternet , a Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth.