On the Baltic scientific and engineering competition. The Baltic Science and Engineering Competition is once again looking for future scientists What we are giving up in our activities

The Baltic Science and Engineering Competition for schoolchildren has existed since 2005. In conditions when research activities at the school were far on the periphery of the education system, enthusiasts were able to create their own competition, which runs counter to the Olympiad traditions.

In 2008, 5 winners of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition at once confirmed their high results at the World Review Competition in the USA. Sergei Bakulin and Mikhail Shkolnikov (now brilliant mathematicians) became the 4th and 3rd degree Grand Award winners at Intel-ISEF, and three programmers from FML No. 30 in St. Petersburg won the 1st degree Grand Award for a team project. Such success has rarely been achieved by regional teams in a world tournament.

Many stars were lit at the competition: Gadzhi Osmanov, whose name was given to the Minor Planet of the Solar System in 2011, Danya Fialkovsky, who thundered on all TV channels after winning the World Review-Competition of Scientific Works of Schoolchildren in 2015. The winner of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition in 2016 is a young roboticist from Moscow, who brought his work to St. Petersburg three times and achieved victory in the final of the world tournament for the project “6-axis robotic arm for small business automation”.

Since the 90s, there have been many attempts on the part of the ideologists of the scientific approach to explain that the Olympiad thinking is a natural gift, that there are few children with "sprint" intellectual abilities, and it is impossible to raise such children, and it is necessary to develop analytical children who are capable of thoughtful and to deeply understand the problem posed to them, and only such work in directing school scientific research can be the basis for the training of highly professional personnel. However, all of them were broken by the philistine idea of the values of the Olympiads, and also, most likely, by the priorities of the leadership, which do not allow any labor-intensive and financially costly transformations. Actually, until now the stereotype that "school science is a myth", that scientific research is written for schoolchildren by their scientific supervisors, actively exists in society.

But it was not the dominance of the “Olympiad approach” that slowed down the development of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition. At its peak, when the number of participants in 2008 increased from 50 in 2004 to 250 in 2008, the USE was introduced in Russia. The last oral exam (in literature) was passed by Russian schoolchildren in 2008. From that moment on, scientific activity at school began to run counter to school practice.

The need to prepare for testing did not give the eleventh graders the opportunity to write scientific research. Such work had no practical value even upon admission, because preparation for testing required completely different skills. School teachers, even if at the beginning of 2000 they were not alien to the practice of scientific management of school projects, saw the senselessness and futility of such work.

As a result, the Baltic Competition was saved for 3 whole years by the fact that it was unexpectedly included in the List of Russian Olympiads for schoolchildren of the Russian Union of Rectors. This made it possible to issue diplomas to the winners in the sections of mathematics and biology, which were equated to USE certificates - 100 points in the corresponding subject.

But in 2011, all scientific competitions, except for the All-Russian competition "Junior", were excluded from the "List of All-Russian Olympiads for schoolchildren", and the Baltic competition became a "thing in itself", interesting insofar as it was interesting and important for directors, teachers of specific schools to engage in research activities with schoolchildren.

Photo from the archive of the organizers

Today, when talking with the leaders of the Laboratory of Continuing Mathematical Education and the organizing committee of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition, the tone is respectful.

When we pull out piles of collections of scientific papers by schoolchildren - participants in various All-Russian scientific competitions, show the rows of certificates and diplomas with which the walls of LNMO are hung, introduce our graduates - candidates of science, company leaders - our guests are surprised, even if they were familiar with our achievements.

And they remember the emergency landing in 2010 of the Tu-154M, which was a success, because the runway of the half-abandoned Izhma airport was cleaned for many years by director Sergei Sotnikov, cleaned just like that, because it was necessary ...

They complain that yes - fundamental education, a systematic approach is the basis, but even at the level of state pathos these ideas do not sound at all ... They sigh that modern concepts (if, of course, they can be called concepts) are focused on applied science, on specific, tangible results.

Nodding in understanding: yes, of course. You are a stronghold, an outpost, you are at the forefront of modern education. You hold our lines. You are a strategic object, the very one where real Russian mathematicians are brought up, and it is not for nothing that in many graduations of 25 people there are 10-12 graduate students, 6-8 candidates of science each ...

Directors of large companies, foundations, public organizations - all sigh tragically: "Well, you somehow hold on ...".

Well, that's how we hold on.

Holding on to what? What are we focusing on? What is the absolute value in LNMO, where a unique educational system has been built to attract schoolchildren to scientific activities and in the depths of which the Vremya nauki Foundation was created by graduates of LNMO graduates?

Children

The main thing is motivated children who are ready to work 8-10 classroom hours a day. Such children can and should study within the framework of a complete system, where all elements of the educational process are interconnected.

Education is a lot of work, and it must be learned at school. Huge workloads, which are always the basis of a good education, never turn into a routine at LNME. Each student first develops a cognitive need, which turns into a cognitive interest in the subject and gives the learning process a personal meaning: the student knows why he acquires knowledge, develops skills and forms skills.

The purpose of education is to create serious scientific research. This meaning stimulates the student to plan his actions, and then carry them out independently, working within the framework of the school curriculum (37 teaching hours), then at lectures and additional classes (seminars, conferences, etc.). All this is complemented by trips, excursions, writing scientific research and becomes an interesting, eventful and vibrant part of life. For many of our graduates, this life continues after graduation.

Photo from the archive of the organizers

bright target

Education should be based on a bright goal that is set for the student, associated with the creation of their own scientific research or project. In modern conditions, a living and practical independent task that allows a student to express himself, and the goal of receiving a prize and winning the public status of the winner of a major scientific competition, can become a real catalyst for obtaining a serious fundamental education and building a scientific career. That is why the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition was created in 2005. This is a whole scientific holiday with elements of competition, so that it becomes an incentive for the organization of the educational process, in other words, to make "thinking become pleasant and necessary."

teachers

Scientific communication occupies an important, if not the most important, place in the work of any researcher. If we set as our highest goal the education of a scientist, then it is necessary not only to give him a formal education and organize his work in a scientific seminar, his individual work with a supervisor, his participation in conferences, the possibility of access to information. It is important that the entire teaching staff, and not just academic supervisors and directors of special courses, be able to teach school subjects as scientific disciplines.

High requirements

The ability to set very high tasks for children - and mathematical analysis in the 8th grade, and the combination of three specialized subjects in the curriculum, and the creation of scientific work - this is the formation of personality.

The methods of scientific knowledge of the world allow the child to form an idea of the reality around him. In the course of even a small research work, schoolchildren themselves discover the laws of the world around them, get to the bottom of the truth and the causes of certain events and facts, if they are given a serious task.

Thus, a much deeper, more genuine understanding of the world is achieved, a real own concept of the universe. In the future, on the basis of "inclusion" in serious science, a person develops a philosophical approach to life, and this is not to mention the fact that he simply knows how to build his life with a specific goal in mind.

The moral aspect is such that for a person who created a scientific research at school and won an international competition, the concepts of “family”, “homeland”, “school” will not be empty words.

Most of the schoolchildren who took part and won the Intel-ISEF final in the USA are engaged in scientific activities and work in Russia. A truly favorable environment not only forms a successful person who is able to achieve his goals, it educates a citizen who is aware of how his activity is connected with the life of the school, city, country.

Photo from the archive of the organizers

Communication with alumni

LNMO teams include university professors and scientists. But the main thing in the learning process are young students, graduate students, young scientists - graduates of the school. Communicating with them at seminars, at summer school, at conferences, the student acquires the skills of communicating with highly intelligent young people, sees with his own eyes the result that intellectual activity gives, feels like a partner in relation to everyone involved in scientific research.

Friendly environment

Just as adult research teams are always more harmonious than any other professional communities, so research-oriented school teams have fewer problems. Collaboration with peer scientists, whose scientific results may be important and interesting for other members of the team, creates a friendly atmosphere. Indeed, any researcher is happy when his work is interested, when they are read, when his articles are in demand.

In children's scientific teams, the creative atmosphere of the environment also forms the beginnings of cooperation. At the seminars, teenagers learn to deal with serious problems, actively participating in the process of co-creation, sharing the intermediate results of their work among themselves. In such a system, cooperation prevails over competition, since everyone deals with different problems, presenting their results only at the stages of interaction. As a result, everyone feels like a unique person, existing in an atmosphere of equal partnership.

The traditional school, on the contrary, is focused on specialized groups of students: classes or specialized areas, within which there are no mechanisms for cooperation.

This often leads to antagonistic relationships between students, competition and, ultimately, the notorious athletic rivalry. At LNMO, an attempt was made to take into account the shortcomings of the traditional school and a different model of the children's team was built.

Photo from the archive of the organizers

Availability

Education should be accessible, participation in competitions should be open and free.

The more a teenager sees attention to his successes, care for his development, the more efforts he will make for his improvement, the greater the return will follow in the future. This seems to be an axiom.

The matter of upbringing can be considered successful only if the child feels needed in the family, at school, in society, in the state. Motivation by duty is primary; the greater the demands placed on a teenager by those around him, the higher the tasks set, the faster the result will be and the faster the costs of education will pay off.

What are we giving up in our activities?

from the "Olympiad approach" in the education system, focused on competition and victory in intellectual competition;
from consumerism;
from meaningless and unattractive purposes such as exit testing;
from all kinds of ratings that give rise to competition in the children's environment;
from education as commerce;
from any compromises that force us to abandon our key principles.

Support from 2011 by the Dynasty Foundation consolidated the success: if in 2006, 50 studies were submitted at the Competition, then in 2016, more than 900 applications for participation were submitted at the qualifying stage alone, and 356 projects were accepted for the final.

Since fundamental education and the involvement of schoolchildren in scientific activities are not declared in any way even at the level of state pathos (namely, scientific, and not the so-called “project activity”), the fate of the Baltic Scientific and Engineering Competition today remains unclear even for its creators.

Where is the support that will allow the development of a competition that goes against all and sundry currents - it is not clear.

The organizers invite everyone who thinks about the future of Russian science and education to help the project preserve the traditions of accessibility to participation in the Competition. To introduce a registration fee and make the competition paid means to lose a whole generation of Russian engineers and scientists.

The 12th Baltic Science and Engineering Competition (BC) has started at ITMO University. More than 300 schoolchildren from Russia and the CIS countries will present their scientific developments at the competition. The main prize is a trip to the international scientific competitions Intel ISEF in the USA and IFSES in Mexico.

The organizers of the Baltic competition position it as a “window into science” for interested schoolchildren.

“All of you are already winners: both those who will receive the main prizes of the competition, and those who simply take their first step in science by participating in it and showing their work to leading experts. It doesn’t matter what trajectory you choose for your further path in science, the most important thing is interest», - Vice-Rector for Educational, Organizational and Administrative Work of ITMO University noted Yuri Kolesnikov addressing the young participants of the Baltic Competition during the opening ceremony.

The university is the organizer of the competition together with the fund for supporting young scientists "Time of Science". The Baltic competition is also held with the support of the government of St. Petersburg.

“Information technology and all related specializations are needed today in any profession. In addition, these are the areas that will advance science and create the future of our country. Therefore, the government of St. Petersburg actively supports engineering disciplines in universities» , - commented the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Science and Higher School of the Administration of St. Petersburg Anna Stepanova.

The Baltic Scientific and Engineering Competition is the largest competition of scientific projects in the North-West, said the President of the Time of Science Foundation, the founder of BK Ilya Chistyakov. At the same time, the popularity of the competition is growing year by year. So, if in 2005 only 39 people participated in the final of the competition, then this year the jury will evaluate the work of 335 participants from 47 regions of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The contestants will present their developments in seven sections: mathematics, physics, programming, engineering, biology, chemistry, ecology.

“We are very pleased that this year the number of finalists in the technique section has increased significantly. This area of science is now especially relevant for Russia, it is one of the priorities» , - Ilya Chistyakov emphasized.

The works of the finalists will be considered by four jury teams at once: scientific, teacher, youth and business jury. Experts will talk with the authors of each project.

« We will evaluate the scientific nature of the project,how new the findings are and how deep the research is. The main thing is that the project should not be a processing of other people's achievements. It is equally important to evaluate the presentation skills of the project and the quality of the stand. Firstly, if a person did everything himself, then he will easily talk about his work. Secondly, the winner of international competitions in the USA and Mexico will need high-quality presentation skills.”, explained the winner of the Baltic competition and Intel ISEF 2015 Danil Fialkovsky, which this year heads the youth jury.

The applied value of the projects of the Baltic competition will be evaluated, first of all, by the business jury. As explained by its chairman, winner of the competition and Intel ISEF 2005 Vasily Dyachenko, the most important thing for a scientist is to understand where and how to use his development.

« So the world has developed that even those companies that launch rockets into space are moving science forward- these are, first of all, private structures, this is a business. One of the problems of science in Russiais the difficulty of implementing domestic developments, no matter how innovative they may be. If you look at the biggest success stories, like Google, Apple and others, then all these companies were created by people who were not only interested in new technologies, but also had business skills", - said the chairman of the business jury.

As a result, the jury must select two teams from the participants of the competition, which will go to present their projects at the Intel ISEF competition in the USA in May and the IFSES competition in Mexico in April. At the first competition, Russian schoolchildren traditionally show excellent results and receive prizes in various sections. Schoolchildren were admitted to the second competition this year for the first time. We will follow how the winners of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition will show themselves there.

Natalya Blinnikova,

ITMO News Portal Editors

Competition website: http://baltkonkurs.ru/

Baltic Science and Engineering Competition held in Petersburg since 2005. Now this is one of the largest scientific competitions for schoolchildren in Russia, combining strict judging of scientific projects by scientists and university teachers and modern traditions in organizing scientific youth holidays.

Science Time Foundation, ITMO University and ANO World of Science organize a competition for more than 300 young scientists from different cities of Russia, for more than 300 members of the jury of the Competition, for more than 2000 St. Petersburg schoolchildren- guests of the competition, scientific leaders from the regions, for heads of companies and enterprises that evaluate research. School, science and business unite here on one site.

Young researchers invited to the final of the Competition work at the poster exhibition during the day, presenting their project up to 20 times. On the first day of the exhibition, the level of their projects is evaluated by a scientific and teacher jury, choosing applicants for the main prizes of the Competition.

30 Doctors of Science, more than 70 Candidates of Science, graduate students, professors of universities in St. Petersburg and Russia, Ukraine, Belarus award Diplomas of the Competition and the main prize - the crystal ball "Perfection as Hope".

8 sections of the Competition - mathematics, physics, chemistry, ecology, engineering, biology, programming and robotics. In these sections, only non-abstract projects containing an element of scientific discovery can be submitted.

Defending the work exhibited on the demonstration stand, the student proves in an open dialogue that his research contains an element of scientific discovery, new methods for solving the problem have been developed in it, it has practical significance, thereby he learns to build a scientific and business career.

The next day The exhibition-fair opens for representatives of Russian business, famous programmers, journalists, parents of future young researchers, the best St. Petersburg schoolchildren, for everyone who is interested in the future of Russian science. Direct live communication with gifted schoolchildren allows them to evaluate the prospects of the personnel market, the level of education and professional skills of modern schoolchildren, identify the most interesting projects, and invite children for an internship at the company. St. Petersburg schoolchildren - guests of the Competition at this site can receive from the heads of St. Petersburg companies and enterprises topics for future research to be presented at the next Competition.

On the second day of the exhibition-fair, companies and enterprises present their innovative developments.

Winners Baltic Science and Engineering Competition are included in team to participate in the Intel-ISEF World Student Review of Scientific and Engineering Achievements. 12 times in the ten-year history of the Competition, they confirmed the high level of their work, becoming winners and prize-winners of the most prestigious scientific competition for schoolchildren in the world.

At the solemn ceremony awarding of the winners of young scientists is honored by representatives of the state and authorities, heads of companies and enterprises sponsoring the Competition.

The organizers have managed to keep it free for participants for 12 years. Competitors from other cities are traditionally provided with free accommodation during the four days of the Competition.

The Baltic Science and Engineering Competition is a platform for training a new generation of Russian scientists
The project is dedicated to the preparation and holding of the Baltic Scientific and Engineering Competition, aimed at the development of scientific projects and research of schoolchildren aged 13-18.
The competition is held in 8 thematic areas - mathematics and applied mathematics, system programming and computer technology, physics and astronomy, biology and earth sciences, ecology, chemistry, engineering, robotics.
The competition is organized in several stages. In the correspondence stage, more than 2,000 schoolchildren present their projects and scientific work at the sites of partners of the Time of Science Foundation in the regions of Russia, as well as through the Document Management and Registration System of the Baltic Competition. At the internal stage of the competition, about 350 best projects are presented in St. Petersburg before a jury, which includes well-known scientists and representatives of business companies.
The final of the Competition is organized as a scientific holiday. In particular, within the framework of the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition, on the third day of the Competition, the “Space of Intellectual Attraction” is held, where about 2,000 St. hackathons, workshops organized for them by universities and companies. Every year, within the framework of the Competition, a large-scale conference is held for scientific supervisors of school research teams to improve the quality of methodological work with gifted students.
The Competition has developed unique selection criteria that allow the jury to include the best scientists in the Russian team to participate in the finals of the Intel-ISEF World Review of Scientific and Engineering Achievements of School Students. 13 times the winners of the Competition were awarded the Grand Award at the World Competition. In 2017, tenth-grader Savely Novikov again confirmed his victory at the Baltic competition in the final of the international competition. In addition, some projects receive support from companies interested in their implementation.
An important principle of the Baltic competition is the absence of barriers for talented children to participate. Therefore, the Competition does not have a registration fee, and participants from other cities are provided with free meals and accommodation, an excursion program. The organizing committee attracts scientists, university professors, company executives to work with talented schoolchildren as volunteers, putting into practice the interaction of school, science and business.

Tasks

Informing potential participants and the public about the main events of the Contest - general information about the Contest - informing potential participants of the Contest - informing the audience of the "Space of Intellectual Attraction" - media involvement
Attracting regional partners - educational and research centers to participate in the Baltic competition
Attracting companies and enterprises, universities, volunteers to participate in the Baltic Scientific and Engineering Competition and uniting them to train a new generation of Russian scientists
Improving organizational mechanisms holding qualifying regional competitions, absentee and final stages of the Baltic Scientific and Engineering Competition
Preparing the presentation of the team from the Baltic Science and Engineering Competition at Intel-ISEF
Formation of a strategy for the development of the Competition until 2030 through the creation of a permanent organizing committee that unites the permanent partners of the Competition

Substantiation of social significance

One of the development priorities of the Russian Federation is the transition from a resource-based economy to a high-tech and knowledge-intensive economy. This is impossible without the development of human capital and the education of scientific personnel, starting from school, without the restoration of the basic values of Russian society, and above all, the values of fundamental education and scientific activity.
The Baltic Science and Engineering Competition contributes to the solution of this problem, as it creates a benchmark for scientific research and projects by schoolchildren from different regions of Russia, and also provides an objective assessment of school scientific work, which is impossible without organizing a large-scale competition. Supporting talented schoolchildren and their teachers in remote regions, creating opportunities for them to communicate with leading scientists and specialists, is especially important for preserving and increasing human capital in the Russian provinces.
The project is a powerful incentive to involve students in educational, scientific and research activities, gives them the opportunity to develop their interests, and helps build a career in Russia. The selection and encouragement of talented children within the framework of the competition creates an opportunity for the development and practical implementation of their research projects. The exhibition form of the final of the Competition makes it a celebration of scientific communication and popularization of science for a wide range of students.
The project also allows us to preserve and pass on the traditions of conducting scientific work with schoolchildren, formed in the regions of the Russian Federation and St. Petersburg, to develop various forms of work with schoolchildren gifted with a deep analytical mind, but who do not show themselves within the framework of the Olympiad movement and other traditional competitions. The project helps to develop a systematic approach to creating programs and methods for conducting project activities with schoolchildren in science-intensive areas,
In addition, the Baltic Engineering and Science Competition brings together the efforts of various organizations - schools, universities, companies, research institutes - for the development of education in our country.

Project geography

Arkhangelsk region, Vladimir region, Belgorod region, Volgograd region, Voronezh region, Ivanovo region, Irkutsk region, Kaliningrad region, Kirov region, Kostroma region. Krasnodar Territory, Leningrad Region, Lipetsk Region, Moscow Region, Murmansk Region, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Novosibirsk Region, Orenburg Region, Penza Region, Perm Territory, Pskov Region, Ryazan Region, Stavropol Territory, Republic of Karelia, Republic of Chuvashia, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan , Republic of Mari El, Rostov Region, Ryazan Region, St. Petersburg, Saratov Region, Smolensk Region, Tomsk Region, Republic of Komi, Republic of Crimea, Republic of North Ossetia, Republic of Tatarstan, Republic of Chuvashia, Tyumen Region, Ulyanovsk Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Chukotsky JSC, Yaroslavl region