Schoolchildren Learn Their Origins
The beginning of a school year in the Udora district was marked with the first interschool research ecological conference “Origins”, conducted at the premises of the Vazhgort school. The conference, arranged in the frames of the Model River Mezen project, was focused on the support of the interest to flora and fauna of home places, building of the schoolchildren’s experience in ecological and area studies, development of public speaking skills, as well as exchange of the research experience among the pupils of different schools.
On September 26, pupils and teachers of the Vazhgort school very warmly welcomed their guests from the Children’s activity Center of Usogorsk and representatives of the Silver Taiga Foundation and the Republican Center for Specially Protected Natural Areas (further – SPNA). Although the journey was very difficult and the bus with the children from Usogorsk came to Vazhgort with a delay, the complete team of the local school – from the first-grade pupils up to teachers and technical staff – was waiting for the guests in a festively decorated school hall.
In the classroom of the Komi language and literature Irina Vladimirovna Kalinina, a teacher of language and literature, briefly told the guests about the history of Vazhgort, one of the most ancient villages of the Komi Republic, which is already more than 520 years old. Therefore, in this ancient village the name of the conference, which was mainly devoted to the river theme, received an additional meaning.
The conference included three units: presentation of the pupil’s ecological and area research works on the river theme, practical training in the open air and a very rich educational and entertainment program with a quiz “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon”, a thematic play “Field of miracles”, and a visit to the Vazhgort branch of the Udora national museum.
The conference began with a three-minute presentation of the participating teams on the topic “How I understand the expression “Nature is our home”. In the section “The river of my childhood” the schoolchildren who participated in the Summer field school on the Irva and in the ecological and area expeditions of the last years told about the results of their research works on the river theme. By the way, junior pupils have also presented their small projects. For example, everybody liked a video presentation of the second grade pupils “Our Vashka – our Motherland” and a presentation of the second grade pupil Kristina Schipacheva about Vashka where she used children’s drawings and photographs.
The pupils of the Vazhgort school presented their River Patrol project, which they had just started to implement. In the future they plan carrying out of research studies, development of ecological passports for the nearest water streams and water bodies, monitoring and labor troops.
Besides, the conference included a presentation of the tenth-graders of the Vazhgort school, who had taken the works of the poets Galina Butyreva and Elena Afanasyeva, natives of Vashka, as a subject of their research. A poetic composition based on the works of these poets, dedicated to the river, sounded in the Komi language and significantly enlivened the program.
Much interest was aroused by the educational program “Environmental school”, which was presented by T.Y. Vityazeva, the Head of the department of the environmental education of the Center for SPNA of the Komi Republic. This program is a joint work of the Center for SPNA of the Ministry of Nature of the Komi Republic and the Republican Center for Environmental Education. Currently, this program is under development. However, teachers and pupils will be able to use a teaching resource kit and workbooks on the basics of the monitoring of the natural ecosystems condition and making observations on the specially protected natural areas already in the nearest future.
By the way, the fact that the conference included the speeches of adults, teachers-project managers D.I. Chuprova, I.A. Klishch, and N.S. Morozova, alongside with the pupils’ reports and presentations can be considered as a specific feature of the last interschool conference. Judging by the reaction of the audience, the conference participants enjoyed the presentation devoted to the results of the summer expedition of the Usogorsk schoolchildren “Let’s protect the Mezen river from garbage”, which was presented by N.S. Morozova, the Head of the ecological and local lore department of the Children’s activity center of Usogorsk.
We asked Nadezhda Stepanovna Morozova to share her impressions about the conference:
– The Origins conference turned out to be interesting, informative and exciting for children. Schoolchildren are much more attracted by such kind of informal educational activities, where they have a chance to communicate with each other and at the same time to receive a new knowledge, information on the current problems. Our children carefully prepared for the trip, were very confident during the presentation and, of course, had a very efficient rest, and this refers not only to children. T.A. Politova, a teacher of technology and art, gave us, teachers of additional education, a perfect master class on dry felting. As for the children, they were absolutely delighted after the tour to the Vashka’s tributary, the Kulu river, “Field of miracles”, and the evening dance party! The next day a visit to the Vazhgort historical and local lore museum took place. Here the richest exposition was awaiting us! 1375 exhibit items are stored in the holdings of the museum. Everything was so interesting that two hours in the museum passed unnoticed. Besides, two of our Usogorsk pupils recognized their grandfathers, having left a good mark in the Vazhgort history, in the pictures of the museum exposition. Thanks to such activities, children do not merely receive a new knowledge, but also broaden their mind, their idea about their district and republic.
Here is the opinion about the conference of the Head of the environmental education department of the State Budgetary Institution of the Komi Republic “Republican Center for SPNA and Nature Management Support” Tatyana Yuryevna Vityazeva:
– I have only positive impressions from the trip and the conference! If also the journey had been good, everything would have been just perfect! When we analyze and evaluate the conference we need to consider two aspects at once. The first one – organization, the second – the conference itself, children’s participation, and the quality of the presented works. Although the conference was held for the first time, organizational issues had been thoroughly worked out: meeting and accommodation of guests, meals and other things. Here we should thank both Irina Anatolyevna Klishch, the school director, and the Silver Taiga Foundation representatives. It was obvious that absolutely everything had been foreseen; the program had been correctly developed and combined theoretical part, as well as practical lessons, an excursion and a master class. The school director made maximum possible to host us and children from Usogorsk.
Speaking about the conference itself, I think, it had been worthwhile to divide the participants by age groups. Anyway interests and perception abilities of children of different age differ greatly. Participation of the pupils from junior school in the conference opening ceremony was quite reasonable, but I think that it was a little bit boring for them to listen to the reports of the older pupils… Though many people can disagree with me because the reports on the results of summer works and expeditions of the Usogorsk schoolchildren were interesting for all village children, including junior school pupils. In any case, these fishing-related topics: fish measuring, determining the fish age according to scales, detecting parasites – are close and interesting to them. I really liked the children’s presentation about the results of the work of the Summer field school, where the ecologists of Silver Taiga and Center for SPNA Nikolay Shilov and Elena Frolova had worked with pupils. I think that it’s a good project, which needs to be developed through joint efforts. I would like to mention the children’s keen interest and desire to participate in such kind of conferences, which is a real pleasure!
– What do you think, how important it is to arrange such kind of conferences particularly in big and small villages?
– In general, any conferences, seminars, meetings, contests held for children are always very important. It is one thing when a child is “cooked” in his/her own school, and it’s quite different when this pupil brings up his/her developments to a wide-spread discussion. Unfortunately, the conference in Vazhgort did not have a jury, and we, adults, did not evaluate the works individually. I think that next time a possibility to tell schoolchildren about advantages and disadvantages of every work, to give them recommendations in which direction they need to develop their topics should be foreseen. This is an absolute advantage of the conference that the schoolchildren acquired the skills of research work, overcame the fear of public speaking, and what is also important, their efforts were rewarded with prizes. Besides, I would like to mention the caring attitude of the organizers from the Silver Taiga Foundation towards absolutely all conference participants – both to those who made reports and those who participated in preparations, in contests of drawings, photographs, ecological crosswords. All of them were rewarded with diplomas, prizes, and letters of acknowledgement. The conference was also important and interesting for the Center for SPNA: we got a chance to introduce the participants to our developments: the Environmental School program and the Green Package kit. Besides, we got acquainted with the district teachers and made contacts for further cooperation.
It would be great if next year pupils from other schools of the Udora district will take part in the ORIGINS conference.
