Scholars go to school
The era of modern challenges imposes important tasks on school systems. The conditions of the labor market, which are becoming more severe day by day, require the formation of the future generation with modern knowledge and skills and innovative thinking from the school. One of the important tasks is to ensure the access of students to science and technological knowledge in general education, to achieve the formation of scientific thinking and research skills. From this point of view, instilling scientific knowledge to students in our schools and promoting the popularization of science among the younger generation seems more urgent and inevitable than ever. So, how to spread scientific knowledge among students? How to introduce them to science, how to bring them closer to the participants of the world of science?
In our opinion, as in different countries of the world, it is possible to promote progress in this field by ensuring the close connection of our scientists with our secondary schools. There are successful examples of organizing meetings with our scientists in our individual schools. We are talking about the intensification of such measures and becoming one of the integral areas of school life, as well as the organization of the comprehensiveness of this initiative at the country level.
The meeting of our scientists with students can contribute to creating a communication channel between the scientific environment and educational institutions, popularizing science among schoolchildren, increasing the attractiveness of scientific activity, and creating the image of a successful and promising scientist. We turned to our scientists on the subject. Our scientists consider it very important to establish such relationships with school students. Associate Professor Afsun Sujayev, executive director of Academician A.Guliyevthe Institute of Chemical Additives of the Ministry of Science and Education, says in his statement to “Azerbaijan Teacher” that today, in order to attract talented young people to science in our country, the integration of science and education should be started in secondary schools before universities:
– We must take into account that there are talented students in each of our regions, which creates the need to develop and implement special projects and programs that can search for them from lower age groups and direct them to science. Therefore, first of all, scientists should make their way from the schools where those talents are. Scientists have grown up from almost all regions, districts and even villages of our republic and are successfully working today. Why not organize meetings and master classes with students in their secondary schools? Today’s student, of course, gets out from behind the desk where he sat like him in the time of the scientist standing in front of him, sees that he has risen to the highest peak of intelligence, and sets the goal of becoming just like him in his heart and mind.
I believe that it would be useful to expand the scope of the “Small Academies” implemented by the Ministry of Science and Education in the capital and big cities to the regions and the most remote mountain villages. Scientific-research institutes should take those “Small Academies” under their protection, provide them with scientific-methodical support, educational seminars related to the modern and actual problems of science should be organized in the presentations of our scientists, and the innovations of science should be conveyed in a popular language that children will understand. The main purpose of these events is to help in the regulation of work with students with innate talent in schools with the participation of our prestigious and prominent scientists, to help create an effective mechanism of action in this field, and to provide support in one way or another for the systematic implementation of measures related to the formation of research abilities in students. As a result of this joint work, it is possible to identify talented students who are inclined to scientific research in younger age groups, to determine their future professional directions taking into account their existing creative potential, to create interest in scientific creativity in students, to develop their research skills, and to achieve systematic work in the direction of forming a scientific outlook in students. will be possible. Let’s not forget that there are real talents in remote schools, and they should be revealed at school age, so that new talents will come to science, followers of our world-famous scientists will grow up, and the tradition of “scientific schools” in Azerbaijan will be restored. At the same time, we should turn the “science nights” organized in schools into “entertaining and educational science nights” and show the celebration of science there, and in this way, we should make our talented students think, entertain, and educate them.
Apart from that, science corners should be created in each district at least in exemplary schools and talent high schools. We should reflect the contributions of both well-known world and Azerbaijani scientists to world science in the form of brief information in those corners. The books of our scholars should be donated to school libraries. Also, a scientific book in a popular language for our students.
In order to attract talented young people to science, competitions called “Today’s student, tomorrow’s scientist”, “Think logically”, knowledge competitions, as well as science days and science weeks can be organized in separate regions. “Open door” days can be held with scientific research institutes not only in Baku, but also for talented students of different regions and districts, rural schools.
A young researcher, Inqilab Shahbazov, who received his bachelor’s and master’s education at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, one of the prestigious universities of Great Britain, as well as at Cambridge University, considers the meetings of scientists with schoolchildren to be important. He said that the management of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, where he studied, took the initiative of holding meetings with students. According to him, such meetings are important in terms of finding answers to students’ questions such as who is a scientist, researcher, and what is scientific research. In addition, in terms of a successful career choice, it is desirable to hold such meetings not only with scientists, but also with other prominent people who have spoken in their field and contributed to the development of our country.
Finally, to justify our opinion, let’s talk about the “Scientists at School” project implemented in Russia. In order to stimulate interest in science, within the framework of this project, which is carried out in all regions of the country, professors in Russian schools, scientific workers of universities and research centers, as well as academicians, corresponding members and professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences give scientific and popular lectures to students.
The topics are quite wide: scientists talked about earthquakes, genetics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fighting viruses and the properties of enzymes that control most processes in the body. After the lecture program, students were presented with a scientific show with a series of experiments on the properties of various chemical elements. We are sure that holding such events in Azerbaijan will help attract talented young people to the field of science and technology.
Oruj Mustafayev
