Scientific studies of Russian schoolchildren
Since May 1, a competition of popular science works has started on our project “Living Science” . The main subject of the competition corresponds to the subject of the site itself - "Science and technology around us" and "Science and technology with their own hands." Mainly, the competition is aimed at the work of schoolchildren, which they spend at home, at school or some circles.
Before the official launch of the contest, I, as an organizer, had a long thought about whether it would cause at least some interest. Maybe all the circles have collapsed, all the palaces of the young's creativity have been shut down, the teachers work at the school just to hold the lessons, and the children are sitting at the computers all the time? But, fortunately (and to my considerable surprise), everything turned out to be much better!
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Already (May 18th) on my computer there are 15 finished works sent from various regions. 8 of them are already posted on the site, the rest are being prepared. And, judging by the questions asked, the work will come again and again.
You can argue - what can these schoolchildren do there? It is unlikely that something serious and, moreover, something useful ... Wait, wait, wait — did you read them? Of course, there are simple works, but there are also complex ones that can pull on coursework in a university. For example, this one is “Comparative analysis of packaged black tea” . Everyone drinks tea from bags, but hardly anyone thinks about what quality it is. And the students took, investigated and wrote the results. Great practical benefits, in my opinion. A lot of work on ecology and everything related to human health. From those placed - soil analysis in the Moscow region, of those that will be posted in the coming days - drinking water analysis, analysis of well-known aspirin (I never thought that something could be there ...), analysis of dyes in food. Everything is relevant, everything is in demand - after all, we eat, drink and breathe every day.
The work sent is traditionally presented with the requirement of clarity (the presence of photos and video, not just the bare text). I would like to hope that this will help other schools to conduct similar research or somehow develop the topic. After all, it is much easier to look at the picture and immediately understand everything than read 5 paragraphs of text. In general, the ideal option would be chains of research - one experience is being made, it is being discussed, another is being done on its basis, and so on. But this is still a distant and bright future.
The competition held showed some more important points.
First, of course, the involvement of children in some research work, the organization of their leisure time . It turns out that there are still parents and teachers who can interest their children / students, teach them practical skills, tell, explain and show. An example of the work — two homemade works for changing pressure and determining the approaching rain — was done by a third grader with his father. Despite the simplicity, performed well.
Secondly, practicality . I do not know how many times I have said this word, I will repeat it again. We live in the real world, where every day there is a mass of small problems and tasks. And they need to be solved, which is quite within the power of the same students. And if we do not decide - they are piling up like a snowball. It is necessary to arrange everyday life before moving on to more complex things. Why invest in Chubais (ba) nanotechnology, if, excuse me, we have a roof leaking around our house? I will get into politics a bit, but, in my opinion, innovation is like a tinsel for the younger generation. Like, let's make new technologies and live a long, happy and, most importantly, rich. Beautiful fairy tale, but distracts from real things. I was sent here one work on nanotechnology, a clean review based on Internet materials. I ask the student - and, actually, what did you do in this area? The answer was obvious - nothing. That's exactly where the nanotechnology school comes from. It would be better if some device was soldered ...
Thirdly, the perspective . Fortunately, there is a prospect. Such children need to be supported in every way (this is the aim of the competition). Indeed, in 10-15 years they will turn out good engineers, scientists, and just workers with normal, even arms, growing from the shoulders, and not from anywhere. You can rephrase with the words of one person who made a small financial contribution to the competition:
I didn’t even suspect that there were still so many schoolchildren left who were interested not to sit around the clock in cheerful farmers and other WoW, but to do research activities.
So I wish you success and thanks for such a project. Nice to know that our country has a future :)
I think there is nothing to add. With such children, we really have a future.
Before the official launch of the contest, I, as an organizer, had a long thought about whether it would cause at least some interest. Maybe all the circles have collapsed, all the palaces of the young's creativity have been shut down, the teachers work at the school just to hold the lessons, and the children are sitting at the computers all the time? But, fortunately (and to my considerable surprise), everything turned out to be much better!
')
Already (May 18th) on my computer there are 15 finished works sent from various regions. 8 of them are already posted on the site, the rest are being prepared. And, judging by the questions asked, the work will come again and again.
You can argue - what can these schoolchildren do there? It is unlikely that something serious and, moreover, something useful ... Wait, wait, wait — did you read them? Of course, there are simple works, but there are also complex ones that can pull on coursework in a university. For example, this one is “Comparative analysis of packaged black tea” . Everyone drinks tea from bags, but hardly anyone thinks about what quality it is. And the students took, investigated and wrote the results. Great practical benefits, in my opinion. A lot of work on ecology and everything related to human health. From those placed - soil analysis in the Moscow region, of those that will be posted in the coming days - drinking water analysis, analysis of well-known aspirin (I never thought that something could be there ...), analysis of dyes in food. Everything is relevant, everything is in demand - after all, we eat, drink and breathe every day.
The work sent is traditionally presented with the requirement of clarity (the presence of photos and video, not just the bare text). I would like to hope that this will help other schools to conduct similar research or somehow develop the topic. After all, it is much easier to look at the picture and immediately understand everything than read 5 paragraphs of text. In general, the ideal option would be chains of research - one experience is being made, it is being discussed, another is being done on its basis, and so on. But this is still a distant and bright future.
The competition held showed some more important points.
First, of course, the involvement of children in some research work, the organization of their leisure time . It turns out that there are still parents and teachers who can interest their children / students, teach them practical skills, tell, explain and show. An example of the work — two homemade works for changing pressure and determining the approaching rain — was done by a third grader with his father. Despite the simplicity, performed well.
Secondly, practicality . I do not know how many times I have said this word, I will repeat it again. We live in the real world, where every day there is a mass of small problems and tasks. And they need to be solved, which is quite within the power of the same students. And if we do not decide - they are piling up like a snowball. It is necessary to arrange everyday life before moving on to more complex things. Why invest in Chubais (ba) nanotechnology, if, excuse me, we have a roof leaking around our house? I will get into politics a bit, but, in my opinion, innovation is like a tinsel for the younger generation. Like, let's make new technologies and live a long, happy and, most importantly, rich. Beautiful fairy tale, but distracts from real things. I was sent here one work on nanotechnology, a clean review based on Internet materials. I ask the student - and, actually, what did you do in this area? The answer was obvious - nothing. That's exactly where the nanotechnology school comes from. It would be better if some device was soldered ...
Thirdly, the perspective . Fortunately, there is a prospect. Such children need to be supported in every way (this is the aim of the competition). Indeed, in 10-15 years they will turn out good engineers, scientists, and just workers with normal, even arms, growing from the shoulders, and not from anywhere. You can rephrase with the words of one person who made a small financial contribution to the competition:
I didn’t even suspect that there were still so many schoolchildren left who were interested not to sit around the clock in cheerful farmers and other WoW, but to do research activities.
So I wish you success and thanks for such a project. Nice to know that our country has a future :)
I think there is nothing to add. With such children, we really have a future.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/119515/
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