ORONO — About 170 students and 40 adult volunteers and educators from 31 Maine schools will gather at the University of Maine Tuesday through Thursday, May 19-21, for Teen Summit ’92, three days of exploring and developing ideas for better schools.

“Schools for the Future” is the theme of this year’s Teen Summit, the leadership component of the UM Aspirations Project. The project’s programs involve schools, parents, state and local policy makers, communities, businesses and service organizations, helping students recognize their potential, define their options and reach their goals.

The Teen Summit provides leadership opportunities and training for grades seven-12 who are not ordinarily identified as leaders, to work in partnership with teachers, administrators, and representatives of existing school leadership programs to improve their schools and make them more representative and reflective of the contributions of all students.

This year’s summit will focus on cooperative learning and the latest instructional technology to make education more exciting, relevant and participatory. Students will work with UM education majors who will be advisers and stay involved in the school improvement plans during the coming year.

A scavenger hunt and other activities on opening day will set the pace for team building, leadership development activities and creative problem solving during the rest of the summit.

On the second day, students will be bale to attend one of seven schools that fit their individual talents and interests. These schools, where students may find success by doing what they do best, are based on the concept of multiple intelligences as espoused by Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner.

Gardner contends that schools tend to focus on two intelligences — linguistic and logical-mathematical — while there are at least seven intelligences where students may excel, including musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. The summit has expanded on that framework to create seven learning environments for participants to experience academic success by drawing on their areas of strength and interest.

The final day will be devoted to work sessions and presentation of goals and plans for school improvement.

Over the past four years, Teen Summit student teams have established clear, workable goals for improving their schools in the general categories of improving teacher-student and student-student relationships, learning opportunities, and enhancing student self-esteem.