The Talent Centre in science at Oslo Science Centre

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The Talent Centre in Science

The Talent Centre is an offer for students in grades 5 to 10 in primary school.

Pupils with great learning potential can receive adapted teaching in science at The Talent Centre . The offer is suitable for those who need extra professional challenges, are eager to learn and/or are bored because they quickly master the tasks they are given.

The teaching is based on mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology, and the practical use of theory through, for example, technology and prototyping.

The Talent Centre at Oslo Science Centre accepts applications once a year, and students who get a place participate in one school year at a time.

The application portal for the coming school year opens on Monday 10 March 2025. The deadline for applying is Friday 25 April 2025.

Application period 2025/2026

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Student and parent page for participants in the 2024/2025 school year:

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Practical information for applicants

Facts about the talent program

Interdisciplinary and process-oriented
Focuses on practical experiences
Individual arrangement according to interests

Teaching at The Talent Centre is based on the knowledge centre's core values of exploring and experimenting with head and hands. The program must be interdisciplinary and not focus on individual subjects.

The students themselves work to define problems they want to solve within specific themes. We facilitate the student's own interests and skills.

Throughout the teaching, students will work with hypothesis drawing (design thinking), prototyping and experiments. Social activities and teamwork are ongoing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply for a place?

All pupils who have the right to education under the public school system, whose year of participation is in 5th grade to 10th grade, have the opportunity to apply for participation at the talent centre in science.

How do you apply?

The application is submitted via three digital application forms, one for the student, one for the teacher/school and one for the guardian. Applications where forms are missing will not be considered.

Read more about the application process for the talent centre .

When/how often do the lessons take place?

The Talent Centre normally has four gatherings a year. Each collection lasts two to three days. All teaching takes place during school hours.

A detailed plan for meetings and times will be sent out to all students who are offered a place at the end of May/beginning of June.

Do students get absences from regular school?

The Talent Centre is an offer of adapted training under the Education Act. This means that students who participate in the talent centre will not be absent from their regular home school.

For primary school students, participation is regulated by the 25% rule in the Education Act. For students at upper secondary school, the classes the student attends at the talent centre are entered under the code "other training".

Does it cost anything to participate?

Talent center in science is a public offer for students with great learning potential and it is free for everyone to participate.

The Talent Centre covers the cheapest travel route according to the same rules as the public school system.

Where does the teaching take place?

The teaching takes place primarily at one of our branches in Oslo, Larvik or Lillestrøm. There will be excursions to companies, research environments and professional environments, but information will be provided about this in good time.

Our branches:

The Norwegian Museum Of Science And Technology , Oslo
Bjerke upper secondary school, Oslo
Hersleb upper secondary school, Oslo
Persbråten upper secondary school, Oslo
Haugenstua school, Oslo
Sophie Radich School, Lillestrøm
Thor Heyerdahl upper secondary school, Larvik

Can students from outside Oslo apply?

Yes, they can. The Talent Centre in Oslo accepts students from all over the Eastern region.

For questions or inquiries, This email address is protected from programs that collect email addresses. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

What characterizes students with great learning potential?

There are different terms to refer to students who are academically at a higher level than other students, for example gifted students, talented students, strong students, highly intelligent students, high-achieving students and students with academic talent.

Personal characteristics

Students with great learning potential have a number of characteristics that distinguish them from other students.

Have an inner motivation to learn that means they don't always care about grades
Is very interested in "why" things happen
Acquires new knowledge quickly
Thrives with complex tasks
Can criticize fellow students and the teacher's decisions and conclusions

What is the difference between good at school and great learning potential?

Pupils with great learning potential are not necessarily the pupils who are good at school. Some may have a high IQ, others have a special talent in one subject, while others again have extraordinary talent in several subjects. Some children also have dyslexia and ADHD, and may have difficulties with low motivation or social functioning.

Good at school

know the answers
is interested
is attentive
have good ideas 
working hard
answers the questions
is at the top of the age group
listening with interest
listens easily
6-8 repetitions before mastery
understand ideas 
like peers
understand the meaning
completes tasks
is receptive
copies precisely
like school
takes in information
technician
remember well
prefer simple "straight forward" presentations of the subject matter
is conscious
are satisfied with their own learning
behave as one should
likes routine

Great learning potential

asks the questions
is very curious
is mentally and physically involved
has wild and strange ideas
is playful, and occasionally loses focus if not interested
discusses in detail, expounds
is past the age stage
shows strong feelings and opinions
already know
1-2 repetitions before mastery
builds abstractions
prefers older children/adults
draws conclusions
starting projects
is intense
creates new
likes learning
processes information
inventor
good guess
thrive best with complexity
is a keen observer
is self-critical and critical of others
is often shut in or the class clown
can fight routines

How many students have great learning potential?

Pupils with great learning potential make up 10 – 15% of the pupil population. They are not necessarily the brightest students in the class with top grades, but they have great potential to achieve fantastic results in one or more subjects, and at a level much higher than their peers if they receive the right tailored training and support in school (NOU, 2016)*.

Do gifted children always get good grades?

Pupils with great learning potential are rarely motivated by grades. Their motivation comes from their inner need to learn, discover and wonder. Grades are therefore a poor measure of pupils with great learning potential. Grades are based on the reproduction of knowledge, which these students often dislike.

About The Talent Centre at Oslo Science Centre

We are one of six knowledge centers that operate a Talent Center in Science

The Talent Centre at Oslo Science Centre has branches in Oslo, Lillestrøm and Larvik

What is a talent center?

The establishment of talent centers in science is a follow-up to the science strategy "Close to science", which was put forward by the Ministry of Education in the autumn of 2015. The Talent Centre in science is an adapted training offer for students with great learning potential.

In the spring of 2019, the talent center program was established as a permanent training offer for students with great learning potential, subject to the Education Act, commissioned by the Ministry of Education. The Talent Centre is an offer for students in grades 7 to 10 in primary school, and students in the first two years of upper secondary education.

The talent centers must

Provide an academic offer based on mathematics, science and the science program subjects for students who need greater challenges.

Contribute to more children and young people performing at a high and advanced level in mathematics, science and in the science program subjects.

Contribute to students with great learning potential making contact with other like-minded people through organized student networks.

Included in ordinary teaching

The pupils' participation is included as part of ordinary teaching. This is regulated by the Education Act under the condition of reallocation of up to 25 per cent of the number of hours in subjects for individual students.

In the Ministry of Education's guide on the organization of pupils, they have mentioned redeployment on page 7. Here it says, among other things

"[…] The reallocation of hours requires that the student receives training in all the competence targets in the curricula for subjects. This cannot therefore lead to some competence targets being selected completely, but it will be permissible to have some reduced target attainment within the individual competence target if there is reason to believe that the student's overall target attainment will nevertheless improve. As long as it must be assumed that these prerequisites are met, this exceptional access can be used for academically weak as well as academically strong students. […].”

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