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Main principles

  •  Environmental compatibility;

  •  Humanity;

  •  Interconnectedness with capacity for self-sufficiency;

  •  Democracy, reciprocity (equality) and accessibility;

  •  Transparency;

  •  Inviolable personal space.

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Models and influences

 UKU is an eclectic mix of long-established pedagogical models and newer theories and practices focused on learning:

  1.  Montessori and Waldorf schools;

  2.  Suggestopedia, the related ideas/hypothesis of the linguist Stephen Krashen and the self-learning practice of polyglot Steven Kaufmann;

  3.  Summerhill and Sudbury Valley democratic schools;

  4.  Paths Learning Space - a Bulgarian democratic school;

  5.  MOOC - massive open online courses;

  6.  Educational IT experiments of Sugata Mitra;

  7.  Career guidance - some ideas and practices;

  8.  John Holt and his How Children Learn book;

  9.  Theories and models of cognition and learning: Situated learning;  Cognition - Distributed Cognition , Embodied Cognition and Extended Cognition; Social Learning, Co-Learning - Collaborative one and Cooperative one ; Appreciated Inquiry; etc.

UKU-formats

 The formats-departments of UKU  are differentiated according to main purpose and participants as follows:

  1.  ORI-format - Orientation in vocations (livelihoods, pastimes and sciences) in an ecological context;

  2.  CORI-format / Bistra Children's Eco-school - Children's socialisation and orientation in life vocations (livelihoods, pastimes and sciences) in an ecological context;

  3.  3.A-format - Socialisation in the third age, i.e. 60+ years old;

  4.  DIVUK-format - The "Diving" format, with maximum deepening in chosen topics, including from vocations;

  5.  ECOMIND-format - Eco-skills and eco-consciousness;

  6.  UKLUB-format - Club socialisation, hobby-learning, pastimes;

  7.  CAN-format - Mutual motivation for self-learning and eLearning in CAN-groups;

  8.  PROFI-format - Orientation in eLearning opportunities for professional development or career change.

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Main UKU participants

Young Kids in Class
Using a Computer
Student with Laptop

Eoll (Aeolus)

Eco-practician and expert listed in the EOL-list of potential Uks

Ukva

​Uk-expert only at the study room of CORI - Children's Eco-school

Learner (Uch)

With format-names: Ori, Cori, 3.a, Divuk, Ecomind, Uklub, Can

Expert-Yk

Expert-practitioner, master, instructor, coach, input-author

Assistant

Group helper, expert in learning, group dynamics and guidance

The Creator of UKU-Bistra

Yora-Bistra has Master's degrees in Pedagogy and in Cultural Historical Heritage and Tourism. She has recently been focusing on:

  •  Eco Experiential Orientation in life vocations - an ecological and broader approach of Experiential Vocational Guidance which includes independent eco-livelihoods as equal to the Professions and Career in the World of Work:  Self-Sufficiency; Excess production income from self-sufficiency; Agriculture and Crafts;

  •  Situated Cognica - Learning as a situated acquisition of cognition, that is, within a specific context and in interaction with the social and natural components of the environment;

  •  Eco-living in practice, eco-commensalism - Eco-symbiosis beneficial  for man and with no harm to ecosystems;

  •  English and Russian in practice.

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