More than 2,500 school students took part in SIBUR’s Educational Festival in Tomsk

20 february 2023

On February 17 and 18, Tomsk hosted STEAM FEST, an educational festival for school students, that brought more than 2,500 students attending the city’s schools. They took part in hands-on and lecture-based classes on a broad variety of topics including physics, chemistry, and programming. The students also got to observe a number of unique experiments demonstrating the nature of various physical and chemical phenomena. In addition, they attended career guidance classes and master classes focused on developing one’s "soft skills". This interregional project has been going on for the past six years as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

The goal of STEAM FEST is to introduce school students to the world of science, acquaint them with the essence of key scientific notions using a simple and easy-to-understand language, while also helping future school leavers navigate the realm of occupations of the future. The festival’s core program included activities designed to help with the development of the schoolchildren’s engineering and technical competencies. All of these activities were split up into several topical areas. Instead of traditional classroom lessons, the students were offered to take part in exciting and fun quests, interactive lectures, puzzle-solving games. The audience particularly enjoyed the format of open labs and science shows.

While attending the Battle of Sciences show, my students tried to film as many videos as possible of the experiments that were being demonstrated on the main stage so that they could then share their excitement with their parents and show them how entertaining and exciting science can really be. And after the show’s end, they gave the scientists a standing ovation, Maria, an elementary school teacher, noted. For them, physics and chemistry are truly new areas of knowledge, something they do not understand yet because they have not yet started to study these subjects under their current curriculum. But their genuine interest in these disciplines has already been awaken! And for that alone we are very grateful to the festival’s masterminds and organizers.

The festival’s program also featured events intended specifically for schoolteachers who became acquainted with out-of-the-box teaching methods and innovative techniques designed to get children involved in extracurricular educational activities. In addition, unique and useful knowledge and experience were passed on to high school students and future school leavers involved in volunteering.

As part of the Formula for Good Deeds program and SIBUR's sustainable development strategy, we have been strong supporters of educational projects in the regions where our company operates. By using relevant formats and new approaches to working with children, we have been able to nurture students' interest in natural sciences and show them opportunities for making a career in our sector. We hope that the festival has made many subjects clearer and more attractive to these school students and that everyone who attended it has learned something new, Elena Snezhko, head of the Formula for Good Deeds social investment program, commented.