SIBUR Supported Intensive Training Courses for Teachers in Voronezh

29 september 2025

170 teachers from Voronezh attended a series of intensive training sessions led by practitioners from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Thanks to the support that had been traditionally lent to the project by SIBUR’s Formula for Good Deeds social investment program, teachers of mathematics, physics, and chemistry got introduced to the most advanced educational practices.

The main objective of the intensive training sessions was not just to expand participating teachers' professional knowledge but to also help them provide their students with the skills that would turn them into them competitive specialists in our digital era.

Attendees of the interactive lecture titled "A Kilogram for Physicists, Chemists, and Mathematicians" explored different approaches to measurements that had been adopted by various exact sciences. The session was led by Vladimir Golovner, a chemistry teacher from Moscow’s School No. 1259, a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, and a veteran of the project. The lecture ended with a genuine scientific quest with the attendees being asked to "save" one of the fundamental units of measurement, the kilogram, for the benefit of mankind.

Olga Illina, a physics teacher at School 70:
“This was my first time at an event like this, and I loved it. Zero boring theory: it was engaging from start to finish. It's a different, and better, way of passing on knowledge and information, something my colleagues and I will definitely talk about and try to bring into our physics classes. The speakers were top-notch, and a big thanks to the organizers. This project really helped expand your professional horizons."

A lecture by Nikita Otstavnov, Deputy Head of the CIFROMED MIPT Laboratory and a researcher of fundamental mechanisms of working memory, was dedicated to memory errors and strategies for avoiding them. It featured a detailed overview of key mechanisms behind memorizing information and their most common failures. In addition, the attendees discussed cognitive limitations and ways to integrate various mnemonic techniques into teaching practice.

The topic of Who Needs Math in Today’s World, and Why? was proposed for discussion by Georgy Volfson, a mathematics teacher from St. Petersburg’s Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 366, academic director of the private Snegiri School in Moscow, senior Unified State Exam expert, and author or co-author of about a dozen mathematics textbooks and workbooks, as well as a multiple winner and runner-up of various national and city-level teachers’ contests. At his class, participants talked about many important matters: from whether school curriculum is truly outdated to how mathematics is connected to our day-to-day lives.

The approach to physics, however, is different. It's most interesting to study it through live experiments and mini-projects, as demonstrated by Sergei Lovyagin, a physics and project-based learning teacher at Moscow's School No. 2086, an Honored Teacher of Russia, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, and winner of the contest of Russia's best teachers, one of the project's regular speakers. He used his master class to show how using hand-made instruments and devices can help spark an interest in a subject like physics among ordinary children, not just those attending specialized physics classes.

Nikolai Belyavsky, a math and computer science teacher at School 74:
«I'm only in my second year of teaching, and I'm into everything that has to do with the latest trends in education. SIBUR's intensive training sessions are a big and fascinating event. Frankly, I hadn't expected to see something of this caliber in our city. I would be hard pressed to pick one specific highlight because everything we heard and got to try out hand at was extremely useful, no matter what discipline it is that you teach.”

The Intensive Classes For Teachers project has been under implementation for the fifth year in a row in SIBUR's cities of presence as part of the latter’s social investment program. The project's objective is to introduce schoolteachers to state-of-the-art teaching methodologies, strengthen their instructional skills and competences, and help adapt standard school curricula to the demands of the contemporary labor market and the rapidly improving level of technological development.

Nadezhda Korneva, Business Partner of the HR Department of Voronezhsintezkauchuk, SIBUR's Voronezh plant:
«SIBUR isn't just a major petrochemical company and industry leader. We're at the forefront of advancing social initiatives in every city where we operate. In Voronezh alone, working together with local and regional authorities, universities, schools, non-profits, volunteers, activists, and residents, we've implemented over 70 local projects and dozens more that transcend regions. A core part of our Formula for Good Deeds social investment program is education. We focus on projects that guide kids early on toward their future careers, give teachers new knowledge and tools, and help make subjects like chemistry, physics, and math both popular and relevant.»

Background:

The Formula for Good Deeds, SIBUR's social investment program, was launched on February 1, 2016 in all key cities where the company operates. It is being implemented across seven focus areas covering all essential social sector domains: urban development, education and science, sports and healthy living, environmental protection, culture, inclusion, and volunteering. Further information about the program is available on the program’s website at www.formula-hd.ru.

[TYPE] => HTML ) [~DESCRIPTION] => [DISPLAY_VALUE] =>

)

Warm Hearts Despite the Weather: SIBUR Volunteers Support the "Nekrasovka" Shelter

Moscow, 5 March

Over 3,000 residents of Nizhnekamsk visited the "The Age of Plastic" exhibition

Nizhnekamsk, 2 March

Results of the "Good Deed Parcel" Campaign at ZapSibNeftekhim

Tobolsk, 20 February