Schoolchildren Club YES ™ as a scientific and educational initiative

It so happened that a year after graduating from one of the best physical and matt lyceums in Russia, I began to work there as an additional education teacher (however, I did not interact only with lyceum students). This made it possible to take a closer look at the problems of current schoolchildren and the ways of solving them, which I am going to tell you now.

From my own experience I can say that the current Russian schoolchildren (not all, but for the most part)

• they are poorly aware of what engineering and scientific activity is, they consider it boring, uninteresting and unpromising;
• seldom meet in the course of training the knowledge that is interesting to them in the desired volume;
• do not know how to use basic IT for business purposes (exceptions: calculations of tasks in software packages instead of paper and pens, search for ready-made solutions on the Internet);
• extremely rarely work as a team on something (exception: homework assignment teams);
• are passive (they will rather get into a “cool” get-together with beer and cigarettes than into a circle of additional education in the direction they are interested in).

All this leads to

• Ignorance of where to go next / where to go => random enrollment and the transformation of higher education in the production of crusts (crusts - if we take into account the Bologna process);
• Ignorance of how and why to work in a team, how to use standard IT for work purposes (mail, calendar, ...) => lack of competitiveness in the modern labor market;
• the shortage of highly skilled engineers and scientists => man-made disasters, the final transformation of Russia into a raw materials appendage.

Conclusion : the interest of schoolchildren in science and engineering should be raised, teamwork and the use of IT in their work should be trained.

How?

If you are not indifferent to the topic - please read this article. I need your help in developing an interesting undertaking.

Unfortunately or fortunately, we are not officials of the Ministry of Education, and therefore possible initiatives should come from the bottom, in the form of additional education.
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Beginning, which in varying degrees, solve the above problems and which can be implemented "from the bottom" (I will be glad if you add to the list):

• reading popular science lectures on technical topics (=> popularization of scientific and engineering activities);
• conducting engineering-directed competitions / competitions (=> popularization of engineering activity, acquaintance with it);
• creation of scientific engineering clubs / communities (=> training in teamwork, development of scientific and engineering projects by schoolchildren).

Now, actually, about how I (with the support of many people) created a science and engineering club for schoolchildren and in which direction this club is planned to be developed. There are developments and engineering competitions . If interested - ask.

YES ™ Club

Young Engineers and Scientists in Theoretical Mechanics (club of young engineers and scientists in the field of theoretical mechanics). The idea to create a club was born according to the results of 3 years of work as an additional education teacher at the Physical Center at FML No. 239 under the guidance of N. Kumacheva. and after Sergey Dmitriev’s introduction to the IT industry to the wiki-course, now GameChangers (the course had a great influence on the format and content of the club), for which I thank them.
For the title Thanks to Vitaly Kuzkin and his beloved department .

The club was established in late September 2010. on the basis of two institutions: FML №239 and the Department of Theoretical Mechanics SPbGPU (Polytech) .

Set

Target audience - high school students (grades 9-11) of St. Petersburg. At the first iteration, 10 schoolchildren and schoolgirls from FML No. 239 were recruited to the club. The de facto selection to the club was not due to late campaigning and poor PR (the club was conceived as interschool). During the work, several people lost their activity, but others took their places (through the recommendations of friends from the club), which can be considered a successful result, because experience suggests that educational initiatives over time mostly lose participants.

Training

Within the framework of the club, two-semester training was conducted, during which schoolchildren studied

• correctly set a goal and go to it;
• work with technical literature and scientific articles;
• write abstracts to their scientific / engineering research;
• correctly present your work to an audience.

Communication format, educational process

Before the start of training, a working list was created, through which information was sent and in which time and place of meetings were discussed, as well as a VKontakte group , where non-standard tasks were laid out for solving.
Subsequent work revealed the need to create an “informal” newsletter, in which it would be possible to share interesting links, discuss something not on the subject of the club, etc. Also in the course of the work, the first version of the library library was created.

Club meetings have been held since October 2010. to May 2011 once a week at FML No. 239 or at the Department of Theoretical Mechanics of the Polytechnic University (after the end of lessons + time to eat and get).

The format of meetings varied: lectures, master classes, general discussions, problem solving; however, there was one similarity - a tea party in the middle of the class. Sometimes, after meetings, anonymous feedback was collected (using Google Docs).

The stated duration of the meeting: 2.5 hours. Why stated? Because we often stayed for a few more hours, and once we were even closed at school!

Course content

The first semester students were given lectures on various scientific and engineering topics, schoolchildren solved non-standard problems in physics and mechanics, logic problems.

Specificity:

• lecture on the history of mechanics (B.A. Smolnikov);
• a lecture on bioinformatics (Nikolai Vyakhi);
• lecture on the design of unmanned aerial vehicles (Igor Vereninov);
• lecture on the modeling of physical processes by interacting particles (Igor Asonov);
• tasks from the book by Ya.I. Perelman “Do you know physics?”

By the end of the first semester, the students had to choose an interesting scientific and / or engineering direction (most likely, this was the subject of one of the lectures given to them). Then they formed teams of directions and invented a project for themselves or received a project idea from the head of the direction (= lecturer on relevant topics).

Projects :

• "Designing and programming of the tricopter";
• "Modeling of a hydrogen molecule on the basis of the Rutherford atom model";
• "Launching a homemade balloon into the stratosphere";
• "Verification of the law of Mendeleev-Clapeyron for a model of a gas whose particles interact through the Lennard-Jones potential";
• "Creating a three-dimensional physical model of the Solar System";
• "The study of the dependence of the mechanical properties of two-dimensional close-packed lattices on the used interparticle interaction"

In the second semester, schoolchildren worked on projects and, in parallel, they lectured on project management. Also, schoolchildren held a master class on making presentations.

The “final exam” was a presentation at the XXI International Scientific Conference of Schoolchildren “Sakharov Readings” (it was decided to abandon the initial idea of ​​assessing students for attendance points, d / s, etc.). Before speaking at the conference, all projects were presented at the Department of Theoretical Mechanics, where they received valuable advice and comments.

During the training, the schoolchildren were implanted with the culture of “electronic” communication through email, knowledge and ability to use task planners, calendars, etc. About this I am preparing a separate article ("The use of basic IT in the educational process").

Results of the first iteration

After the end of the course and the school year, students had a cup of tea and told them that they liked this activity very much: they rallied, spoke at an international conference (where they met Singaporeans), completed interesting projects. So the experience was a success! Therefore, the club should be improved and expanded!


Briefly tell about the two most striking project.

"Launching a self-made balloon probe into the stratosphere"

I oversaw this project and deadlines burned here in a terrible way (not really because of me, really). What is it worth launching a balloon probe three days before the conference starts! I and my friend had to search for equipment, because it flew away far away, there is no weekend in the reserve, but schoolchildren should learn ... Also, this project is remarkable for being a budget (10,750 rubles) and really commanding. Everybody took part in it (even a few people are not from the club: the father of two club members and my friend, Boris Karkanov - Thank you)! It was possible to implement the project thanks to the support of the director of FML No. 239 Pratusevich Maxim Yakovlevich (Thank you!).


More about the project: equipment and description of the construction , photos of the launch preparation, video testing of the parachute and launch of the balloon, searches for photos, photos from the atmosphere and the stratosphere .

In the future, it is planned to carry out another launch, adding to the equipment a tracker capable of measuring altitude, temperature and pressure sensors.
This project was awarded a special diploma at the Sakharov Readings "for a large-scale experiment."
If you are even more interested - tell me. I will write.

"Designing and programming trikopter"

Supervised and supervised the project Igor Vereninov , helps him in the implementation of Mikhail Verkhovykh . Mikhail contributed to the implementation of the stabilization algorithm (based on the PID controller), and now he is working on solving the problem of finding the horizon from video in real-time. The project was implemented with the support of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics.

More about the project: description of the structure and block diagram, programming of the tripcopter , the first flight of the tripcopter .

In addition to finding the horizon line by video, in the future we plan to create an adaptive (self-adjusting) PID controller.
This project was awarded a special diploma at the Sakharov Readings "for the successful promotion of work on a promising topic."
If you are interested in more details - tell me. Michael, with pleasure, will write.

Let's go back to the club. Prospects for development, ways to improve.

Problems identified during the first iteration

Though not all by far, but much of it was a lump in the first pancake ...

There were few lectures - the guys wanted more (this is due to my insufficiently large social circle and high employment). It is necessary to increase the number of lectures on interesting scientific and engineering topics (especially if the student can independently deal with the topic and get a new result in it).

There were lecture notes , but the result, as a rule, turned out to be weaker than expectations. Those. I don’t want to show it to the public. A pity, the translation of interesting lectures into digital format is a promising, in my opinion, direction.

There was one attempt to record a lecture , but then it was practically not watched (poor quality, due to inexperience). An interesting lecture by Nikolai Vyakhha on bioinformatics: part 1 , part 2 .

Work with literature was bad (my fault - I myself work poorly with literature).

Weak PR , which means not so many students and curators as we would like.

The lack of relevance and the need for projects , therefore, less motivation among schoolchildren to complete them. This problem stems largely from the lack of curators.

The rate of the teacher in addition education is small, therefore, it cannot be the main occupation (something turns out like a hobby).

The future of the club - the second iteration begins now

The main difference from the first iteration: changed the logic of recruitment to the club.

From today to the end of September, curators are recruited , then a list of projects is compiled and schoolchildren are recruited for these projects. As the club works, the recruiting of curators and schoolchildren will take place. Otherwise, everything is about the same as in the first iteration: more about the plans for this academic year ( structured plan ).

The curator is a person who has the idea of ​​a project implemented by the efforts of the student (s), or who is simply well-versed in some unknowing field of science and technology (“not clever” = a high school student can figure it out). It is desirable to have charisma and experience working with students. The call to the curators is primarily related to those living in St. Petersburg, but options are possible for remotely curating a group of schoolchildren. The main thing is that the project was interesting!

The themes of ideas / projects may lie in the following thematic areas and their intersections:

• Mechanics;
• computer science;
• physics;
• maths;
• biology.

Most likely, more emphasis will be placed on modeling and / or design.

The club works on a voluntary basis, so the motivation to become a curator is the ability to:

• meet and work with interesting people ( smart, motivated students and other curators);
• implement conceived projects for which there is not enough time;
• develop leadership skills;
• make a contribution to the development of the younger generation.

Those wishing to become a curator - fill out the form .

Total

Club activities directed

• on the involvement of schoolchildren in adult life;
• on rallying creative teams.

It seems to me that such undertakings must be created and developed. If you think so too, then tell about this undertaking, copy it and improve.

If we talk about the YES ™ club, then it needs people (curators, lecturers, schoolchildren, journalists), as well as constructive criticism, ideas and advice . I would appreciate any information aimed at the development of this undertaking.

And you need approval - only it motivates for this activity.