The nanoworld on top of a school desk: SIBUR Launches its Science Sessions in Kazan
20 march 2023
On March 27 through March 31 the capital of Tatarstan will be hosting Science Sessions, an educational project implemented by SIBUR. The project will feature a series of hands-on Nanotechnology classes for schoolchildren aged 9 to 12 years old to be held during this year’s spring break at Gymnasium 179. The project that is expected to engage 130 students is implemented as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.
The course was developed by top further education experts representing Smart Cities, an advanced and hugely successful PopSci project focusing on several topical areas all at once including nanotechnology, physics, and chemistry. An out-of-the-box edutainment concept, Science Sessions will be of interest not only to school students but also to their teachers for whom this will be an opportunity to get introduced to state-of-the-art methods of teaching and to a lot of exciting ideas for delivering knowledge through experimental instruction.
The course’s lecturers and their teaching assistants who had been hand-picked from among the ranks of Kazan’s teachers will receive additional training before the launch of the project and will attempt to perform the same scientific experiments that they will be teaching to the children later on.
The classes for school students each lasting two and a half hours will be held every day of the week except weekends. The aspiring researchers will have to take theoretical classes before they are cleared to conduct a series of unique experiments. Each student will be issued a personal kit with consumable materials for the classes.
The program’s participants will be introduced to nanotechnologies, learn about their great potential and their current uses in various industries (a heads-up - they are nearly ubiquitous). Once the students are through with attending their theoretical lectures, they will be invited to carry out a series of scientific experiments that will include trying to produce iron nanoparticles, try out different methods for synthesizing nanomaterials, and use one of such materials to grow nanofilm on the surface of a test tube. The students will also have a chance to engage in such an exciting activity as setting up a microscope to study the resulting fractal structures.
The most far-reaching scientific breakthroughs tend to occur precisely at the interface of different scientific disciplines. Nanotechnology is an apt testament to that as this is the kind of a field of research where physicists, chemists, biologists, and representatives of other sciences are working closely by each other’s side. Potential applications for their inventions are even broader in their reach including such fields as medicine, agriculture, automotive industry, the energy sector, and many others, Mikhail Kneller, one of the course’s developers and an expert working with the Smart Moscow project, commented. That said, nanotechnologies are not only promising but also very exciting. We have put together a program that will introduce school children to what stands behind that "nano-" prefix and let them build their own nanoworld on top of an ordinary school desk. This is the kind of an atmosphere that gives rise to the love of science and curiosity.
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Support and development of education and science as well as popularization of research are among the most important areas of SIBUR's activities under the Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. Every year, dozens of educational institutions and scientific organizations in the cities where the company operates take part in the company's educational programs.