Science through the eyes of schoolchildren: what the JAS participants are researching
War, stress, uncertainty – all this does not contribute to creativity and scientific research. The achievements of those who do not stop even in the most difficult times become all the more valuable. This is especially impressive when it comes to children – students of grades 8-11, who find the strength not only to study, but also to engage in research within the framework of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. They seek answers to complex questions, analyze current problems and generate innovative ideas that inspire adults. This perseverance and thirst for knowledge deserve special attention, because Ukraine will place its hopes on such young scientists in the future.
A center of knowledge and inspiration
The Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is a place where students of grades 8-11 do not just master textbook knowledge, but engage in real research. They write scientific papers, defend them in front of experts and offer new ideas that can become an answer to global challenges and problems. Every year, the National Academy of Sciences holds a competition for the defense of scientific and research projects. This is a kind of scientific marathon, where schoolchildren present their discoveries to authoritative scientists. However, the Academy is much more than competitions and contests. Lectures and seminars, consultations and scientific tests are held here, summer schools are organized, which inspire and give students the opportunity to communicate with leading Ukrainian and international specialists.
Despite the war, MAN continues to work. Moreover, children find in science a kind of refuge from the stress and chaos around them. Their projects are often devoted to topics that concern everyone today: energy independence, psychological support, ecology in wartime. And it is this relevance that makes their research even more valuable.
For Ukrainian schoolchildren, MAN is also a kind of “window to the world”. The best works are presented at international competitions and conferences, where children show that Ukrainian science is active and competitive.
During the last weekend, the “Philosophy and Social Sciences” department held a competition for the defense of scientific research works at the National Academy of Sciences. We spoke with a member of the jury of the “Journalism. Pedagogy” of the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the Academy of Sciences, associate professor of the DNU named after O. Honchara Liliya Temchenko. The scientist shared her impressions and experience accumulated during ten years of cooperation with the Small Academy:
MAN gives us hope
The small academy shows us that there is an intellectual layer in Ukraine, there is a real elite and really talented children. Science is their kindred work, their vocation, and this becomes obvious even from the school bench. This is the elite that will move us forward.
There is a stereotype that the current generation is a generation of gadgets, and they are no longer interested in anything. But familiarity with the participants of MAN shows that this is not the case. These are capable and motivated children. Today, even eighth- and ninth-grade students successfully defended their research. Therefore, I am convinced that we should work not only with high school students, but also with those who show an interest in science even earlier. For example, teachers can recommend seventh- and eighth-graders to participate in MAN.
STEM education, emotional stabilization and volunteering
This year, we saw that children are interested in extremely topical topics. One of the participants of the MAS researched the volunteer movement: how to rally schoolchildren around a volunteer initiative, how to interest them in the type of activity where they can show themselves best, and how to effectively support volunteering in the media and social networks.
I was impressed by the topics related to motivation to study. Children proposed their own author’s designs aimed at inspiring their peers to acquire knowledge. One of the participants even submitted her methodical textbook to the competition!
Another participant, by the way, that year’s winner of the “Pedagogy” section, proposed his own STEM project. His ideas are impressive, because he not only conceptually prescribed the project – he passed the approval! We saw in the video how children enthusiastically study physics, chemistry and biology not from textbooks, but through direct contact with living material.
From the experience of communicating with students who are currently abroad, I know how teaching in natural and technical disciplines is organized there. For example, while studying biology, children are taken to a certain area, where they take soil samples, measure water temperature, and look at flowers and plants. This empirical approach makes it possible to investigate the features of the area in practice. The young scientist put the same ideas into his STEM project, and the results of his work proved that learning can be alive, interesting and as effective as possible.
It is significant that the children also studied the problems of emotional instability. It is bittersweet to realize that this worries them. One girl even developed an author’s program “Emotional Shield” to help her peers.
Children’s pedagogical initiatives are so interesting and effective that, in my opinion, the Ministry of Education and Culture should be interested in them.
Artificial intelligence, ecojournalism and motivation to read
This year, the scientific and research works of young journalists revolved around the topic of artificial intelligence, which shows that children clearly see the trend and understand how much this technology can affect their future. They explored AI in the context of post-truth, deepfakes, hybrid influences – and this is gratifying, because it shows that young scientists are aware of the ambiguity of even the most advanced technologies.
They studied separately how to effectively master a foreign language with the help of artificial intelligence tools. But at the same time, they were aware of the risks: AI is capable of manipulatively influencing media users, forming information bubbles, and gathering an audience sensitive to manipulation. This balance between pragmatic use of technology and a critical approach to its capabilities is an important indicator that children are not just interested in the topic, but also approach it with an adult understanding of all the challenges.
It is important that children do not remain indifferent to the deterioration of ecology in times of war. They are familiar with eco-activism and eco-journalism, care about how to create environmental awareness among Ukrainians.
The defense of a schoolgirl who read her own poems dedicated to literary works was also remembered. The girl dreams that everyone loves reading as much as she does. For this, she developed a number of promotional tools: book trailers, games, videos. And even created a cartoon in which all the characters are made of plasticine.
The topics change, the participants of the National Academy of Sciences change
Pandemic, war could not but affect children’s science. Previously, we worked in classrooms, communicated face-to-face. Currently, this work is mainly in an online format.
Previously, there were many students from rural schools among the participants, but now lyceum and gymnasium students predominate. It is obvious that this is affected by the digital divide. Not every school in a village or small town has enough technical resources to provide children with proper training and the opportunity to defend scientific work in a high-quality manner.
Research topics are also changing. If earlier schoolchildren turned to the study of the rural press or, say, Frank’s journalism, now such topics are gradually receding into the past. Issues related to digitization come to the fore, and here rural schools certainly have fewer opportunities than urban ones. It would be expedient to provide a separate quota for them in order to enable talented students from small settlements to realize their potential.
In cooperation with scientists
And for those schools that have decided to cooperate with the Small Academy of Sciences, I would advise them not to rely only on their own strength, but to seek advice from specialists. In schools, there is a practice according to which each Methodist teacher must prepare at least one student for the MA. Of course, such a teacher professionally solves all issues within the classroom, but his role is applied, while science is based on theory.
Therefore, I believe that teachers should not be ashamed, but should turn to teachers of higher educational institutions if necessary. Cooperation with specialists at the scientific level will help to make research deeper, more qualitative and meet modern scientific standards.
And I would advise children who want to test their strength in science not to tackle large-scale topics that can only be developed by a research institute. Instead, it’s better to focus on narrow issues that really interest them.
Science is born out of curiosity, and it is attention to a separate aspect, in-depth study of a specific topic that gives much better results than a superficial description of a large-scale phenomenon. Choosing an accessible but in-depth topic will help develop research skills and experience the true taste of scientific research.
