About 13,000 school students took part in STEAM Fest, an online science festival

21 december 2021

About 13,000 students from grades 1 to 11, as well as their parents and teachers, joined STEAM Fest, an online science festival held on December 2 through 12 in three cities: Tobolsk, Noyabrsk, and Pyt-Yakh. The science-themed festival, implemented as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program, comprised about 70 educational events.

The festival was packed with dozens of lectures, interactive training sessions, and master classes focusing on science - physics, chemistry, and mathematics - in addition to other subjects such as public speaking, programming, web design using Figma and Tilda, rope games, puzzles, making tubahedrons ( three-dimensional models of polyhedrons made of tubes), and the art of origami. The students also tried to build an unusual toy - a thaumatrope based on an optical illusion, and, using a variety of techniques, they learned how to assemble a Rubik's cube and solve various puzzles.

For my child, this was a true scientific adventure. Even I was not left indifferent to the accessible format of the classes, interesting lecture topics and surprising discoveries, and I was happy to follow the events of the festival. And if we did not have time to watch a live broadcast of a yet another master class, YouTube recordings were a lifesaver. We had a splendid time and now we have lots of ideas on how to study not in a boring way but with a vivid interest, Pyt-Yakh’s Ulyana Gubina shared her impressions.

For several weeks, our schoolchildren were immersed in an atmosphere of scientific creativity and discovery. Children and their parents were doing experiments, working with ropes, building three-dimensional shapes out of tubes, Anissa Kalimullina, Deputy Head of the Education Department at Pyt-Yakh’s city administration, noted. It's a true joy to see such an interest in science. We are convinced that events like these help kindle children’s passion and awaken their thirst for knowledge, something that will help them realize their potential in life and successfully achieve their professional goals going forward.

Senior school students who will soon have to be deciding on their future careers were able to take part in a series of career guidance and soft skills classes. At the "Professions of the Future" lecture they learned about which professions will be the most sought-after in the next 10 years and what they need to study now to be successful in the future. The seniors got acquainted with different types of professions and prior to that they were offered to respond to the questions of a questionnaire which helped them, under the guidance of experienced psychologists, determine the most suitable type of profession for them. The students got professional advice about how to achieve their goals and talked about ... love - what love is, how it is seen by people and what is the meaning of this emotion from psychologists’ point of view.

The festival is vivid proof that children are actually very much fascinated by science. What matters is how you present it! And, of course, a big value of such events is that they help schoolchildren get their heads around their career aspirations and enhance their personal traits that are going to be useful for their future studies and successful careers, Elena Babchuk, a senior methodologist with the Education Department of Noyabrsk’s City Administration, noted.

Future professionals and engineers are people who learn continually, who are able and willing to tackle unconventional tasks and find solutions at the junction of various disciplines. STEAM Fest is a great opportunity to introduce our schoolchildren to this approach, to show the promise it holds for their future professional development and to entice them into the world of science. We are glad that the festival sparked great interest on the part of the students and their parents, Olga Stolbikova, Head of the General Education Office of the Tobolsk city administration's Department of Education, commented.

Both children and adults showed keen interest in popular science quizzes for families offered by the creators of the Smart Cities project dealing with petrochemistry and popular New Year's Eve attributes.

At one point during the festival, junior and middle school students were offered to be taken on a virtual tour of SIBUR’s PolyLab located at the Skolkovo Innovation Center.

We are pleased to see that science disciplines, that are the focus of the festival, elicit such interest from school students and their parents. We hope that the knowledge they acquire will help them at school, with their vocational and professional choices, and in their further personal development. The ability to think flexibly and creatively, to constantly learn and make informed choices will come in quite handy later on in their lives and in any professional realm in general, especially in our actively evolving and technology-driven industry, Sergey Vinokhodov, Advisor to the General Director of JSC SiburTyumenGaz, noted.

We have been introducing advanced technologies at our existing enterprises while also creating new high-tech production facilities. This is the reason why we find it important to promote science among school students. As a company, we, first of all, need employees demonstrating the broadest range of knowledge of the highest quality spanning various scientific fields, Elena Belskaya, Head of ZapSibNeftekhim LLC’s Department of Government Relations and Social and Economic Projects, noted. By building this critical knowledge foundation now, we expect that in a few years' time we are going to see an influx of promising professionals possessing a new type of mindset and flexible skills.