Science Across the World in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), Russia

A series of activities around Science Across the World took place in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), Russia from November 13-22^nd , 2005. Krasnoyarsk is situated in Siberia, half way Moscow-Wladiwostok.

1. Young Ambassadors for Chemistry Russia in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), 14-18^th November, 2005 hosted by Prof Natalya Gapanovitch in the Pedagogical University, Krasnoyarsk.
2. The British Council, Krasnoyarsk hosted a follow up meeting for teachers of English in the Krasnoyarsk region on Science Across the World with the theme ‘Taking the programme forward’ on Saturday 19^th November 2005.
3. The British Council Krasnoyarsk hosted a two-day workshop, 'Introducing Science Across the World' from November 21-22^nd, 2005, for subject teacher trainers from IPKRU – the Krasnoyarsk Institute for In-service Teacher Development.

1. Young Ambassadors for Chemistry

The Young Ambassadors for Chemistry project was hosted by Prof Natalya Gapanovich and colleagues at the Teacher Training Institute of Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), Russia.

43 teachers came from all parts of the Krasnoyarsk region for the 5-day YAC workshop. Svetlana Salkova acted as our unsurpassed interpreter!

Young Ambassadors for Chemistry is funded by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (www.iupac.org/projects/2003/2003-055-1-050.html) through the Committee on Chemistry Education. The main aim of the YAC project, as you may already know from postings on previous events in Taiwan and Argentina, is the popularisation and raising the public awareness of Chemistry by employing young people as ‘Ambassadors of Chemistry'. On the picture participants preparing YAC day with YAC balloons.

On YAC day, students of the participating teachers mediate between the public and the Chemistry activities explaining what is going on, answering questions and also gaining valuable feedback from the public on their opinions on the Chemistry they witness happening in front of them. The activities involved to build a long DNA molecule from sweets and to design and produce a new cosmetic line with three products. On the pictures (left) the teachers group 'Cosmetics' preparing the students activities and (right) students  joining all pieces to the long DNA molecule on YAC day.

At the end of the day we saw creative students' presentations with song and dance and chemistry theatre! 80 teachers, students, parents, University students and colleagues from the Pedagogical University were counted.

Of particular significance in Russia is the preparation of the Science Across the World  materials ‘Chemistry in our Lives’ and ‘Talking about Genetics around the World’ in the Russian language. Additionally this week of workshops saw Science teachers working alongside language teachers discussing collaboration on the Science Across the World programme in their schools.

2. Taking the Science Across the World programme forward

The British Council, Krasnoyarsk hosted a follow up meeting for teachers of English on Science Across the World with the theme ‘Taking the programme forward’ on Saturday 19th November 2005. 15 teachers of English at various levels of education from primary through secondary to tertiary University education in interpreting and language pedagogy were brought together to discuss the development of the programme in Siberia.

Half of the group had been introduced to the programme in June 2005 and the other half were newcomers with two colleagues joining us from Yuzhno-Sahalinsk in the afternoon with a view to maintaining links with networks in Eastern Russia.

This workshop builds on the YAC week in Krasnoyarsk from  November 14-18^th, 2005 which produced the two Russian language packs ‘Talking about Genetics around the World’ and ‘Chemistry in our Lives’. We carried out an activity on Genetics: a survey in the group about genetic variation (on the picture: super tasters) and presentations of the results. A second activity was on Domestic Waste (Russian translation available): participants as waste detectives. The group with the best presentation received a book: 'Horrible Science'! On the picture the winning group broadcasting about the waste offender.

A key issue arising from the workshop was that of restricted internet traffic for teachers. A copy of the Science Across the World website was left with colleagues so that they could get easy access to all of the programme materials.

3. Introduction to the Science Across the World programme

The British Council Krasnoyarsk also hosted a two-day workshop, from November 21-22^nd, 2005, for subject teacher trainers from IPKRU – the Krasnoyarsk Institute for In-service Teacher Development. A wide variety of training areas were represented and 20 teacher trainers attended the workshop.

Science Across the World was offered as a focus for developing competences and skills in education. We looked, amongst others, at making presentations in class, developing discussions in class, carrying out surveys, using practical activities, analysing and presenting data. For many activities we worked in groups (picture on the left). A post-it debate was presented as a new way of carrying out a discussion in the class and finding out what students know and think about the subject (picture on the right).

Two interpreters from the faculty of interpreting at Krasnoyarsk State University (thank you Valentina and Tatyana) helped the communication along with their impeccable work in interpreting our sessions where necessary (a lot!). Thanks also to Olga for translating the handouts!

As a direct result of expressed needs for communication amongst the participants in the group, a Yahoo group ‘Krasnoyarsk Schools’ was set up.

Conclusions

There is a lot of enthusiasm for the Science Across the World programme in Russia and the YAC week was a great focus for engaging Russian young people in communication with other schools around the world. The translation of the Science Across the World packs is a great achievement! They can be downloaded from this website. Click on 'Topics' and then on the topic you wish.

December 2005

Keith Kelly, Lida Schoen (text and photos)