130 school students from Kazan took part in educational Science Sessions
31 march 2023
The Science Sessions were held in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. They represent an innovative educational project featuring a series of hands-on experimental classes for school students aged 9 to 12. The idea behind the training sessions is to get young people interested in contemporary science, help school students develop useful competencies and skills, as well as decide on their future occupations. This initiative is being implemented as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.
130 school students from Kazan took part in a course on nanotechnologies developed by top experts of the Smart Cities project. The classes housed at Gymnasium 179 were held every day during the period between March 27 and March 31. Aspiring researchers were not just studying theory but were also actively involved in performing various experiments with the help of their personal kits with consumable materials.
These Science Sessions turned out to be quite educational and exciting. They made us think hard about the kinds of knowledge and skills that will be relevant for our children tomorrow. Back when we were school students ourselves, we studied the physics and chemistry the old-fashioned way. But these days, thanks to innovation, these disciplines, even at school curriculum level, seem to be something completely different! My daughter Yekaterina told me that what she had liked most about the course was to be able to mix the reagents and watch them react with each other. I really want the disciplines of physics and chemistry that our kids will be studying in high school to turn out just as exciting, Anastasia Bassova, mother of one of the project’s participants, noted.
As a teacher, I can confirm that the program of the Science Sessions was put together very masterfully taking turns in presenting theory, hands-on experiments, and games to the attendees. For five full days, the students were fully immersed in the course material working on expanding their knowledge in the field of nanotechnology. They observed the experiments with keen interest, tried to get their heads around their meaning, and by the end of the session they got to present their own inventions, Elena Krymova, a teacher at Gymnasium 179 and one of Science Sessions’ mentors, noted.
One of SIBUR's key objectives is to create the infrastructure necessary for developing future professionals and helping them with their career choices. We are delighted that thanks to the Science Sessions project we have been able to get school students from across the country interested in science, help them delve deeply into it by exposing them to exciting and easy-to-perform tasks, and, perhaps, make them think for the first time about the kind of occupation they would want to pick for themselves, Elena Snezhko, Head of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program, commented.