More than 120 events in seven university buildings were attended by more than 2000 participants within the NAUKA 0+ All-Russian Festival, which was held on 28 September. School students, their parents, and teachers interested in liberal arts and natural and STEM sciences gathered at the festival. Saratov University was visited by guests from Saratov, Engels, Atkarsk, Yekaterinovka, Bazarnyi Karabulak, Dukhovnitskii, and even Penza. Also school students from the Voskresenskii, Romanovskii, Perelyubskii, and Turkovskii Districts came to the event.
In the beginning, the participants took photos in a special zone decorated with books. After the festival opening ceremony in the ceremony hall, Bldg. X the groups of school students went to different buildings. From 11 a. m. till 3 p. m. grown-ups and children attended master-classes, lectures, games, and excursions.
At the opening ceremony the audience was shown experiments, and later the festival guests could see other experiments in Bldg. I, where the Institute of Chemistry is located. There they learnt about the university and possibilities they would have if they enter SSU and enjoyed experiments. Associate Professor of the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry Tatyana A. Akmayeva and Laboratory Assistant Irina Medvedeva showed how to make a snake out of a cleanser, how a mini volcano erupted with bright sparks, and how substances changed their colours.
In other rooms the guests could attend lectures and made experiments themselves. Thus, laboratory assistants taught them to obtain solid hydrogel solution from the liquid one, spoke about oil, and colourful chemical reactions. As a school student Victoria Nikulikhina said, she had liked chemistry since early childhood, therefore, she would like to be a chemist herself.
Meanwhile, physicists and geographers instructed the school students how to make simple electronic devices or forecast the weather. The children enjoyed the activities very much and actively took part in them. In Bldg. VIII future researchers learnt about modern expensive devices to detect different diseases.
A 10th-form school student Ruslan Basiyev had asked about studies in SSU many times. He liked the university website because it is very user-friendly. He added that he was going to enter Saratov University. Especially he liked the lecture on frozen cells where its participants defined the cancer in them.
In Bldg. XI the audience was entertained by the representatives of the Institute of History and International Relations, the Institute of Philology and Journalism, the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technologies, and the Faculty of Pedagogical and Special Needs Education. The school children queued to participate in a master-class in robotics and 3D-typing and modelling. Besides, the festival members were entertained by volunteers – together with the children and teenagers they did puzzles and drew using a 3D pen. Those events attracted so much attention because the festival members learnt how to create models in online-programmes and produce them via a 3D-printer. Also the participants found out about the virtual world where they could make their own robots. Moreover, they had an opportunity to touch and look in detail at the devices.
On the 4th floor of Bldg. XI the festival guests were told about psychology and the peculiarities of such a profession, shown a polygraph and demystified that device. The school students were consulted by Associate Professor of the Department of Counseling Psychology Andrei A. Karelin, Associate Professor of the Department of General and Social Psychology Aleksei A. Ponukalin, and Senior Lecturer of the Department of Personal Psychology Pavel Yu. Kalistratov. Also they could attend a lecture titled the Symbols and Meanings in the Modern Art, a Tour Agency Secrets role play. Besides, the representatives of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Language Teaching Methods had prepared an interactive lecture entitled How to Find Your Way to Foreign Languages.
In three rooms the festival members could participate in a rhetoric competition. The school students practiced in tongue-twisters and tried to present a mop as a beautiful object and a vase as an unpleasant one. Also they liked to comment on a quotation of a Russian philologist.
In Bldg. V the guests found themselves in the world of biology. At first, they visited a biology exhibition and the biology museum. What is more, the school students played an interactive game titled the Ferments and Their Practical Usage and enjoyed the Micro World Show, where they saw single cell animals, cells of human bones, blood, and brain, etc.
The children’s parents also expressed their opinion about the festival. One of them brought his daughter to get acquainted with the university because she decides whether to choose biology or medicine. And his daughter had such a unique opportunity to indulge into research.
The festival members became interested in Bashkir nomadic culture and attended a master-class in historical re-enactment. There they learnt about the life of nomadic tribes and saw Bashkir jewellery.
In Bldg. IX the school children could have something to eat and some food for thought. After that they played the Musical Charades and had fun in a maze. Then all of them were invited into the Education and Research Institute of Nanostructures and Biosystems, where they examined the devices used to project the surgery results and help the doctors to choose the best treatment for this or that patient. Also the festival participants attended the research-to-practice lectures of the academic staff of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics.
At the same time in Bldg. X there were held lectures, plays, quests, and games. Primary school students were told a fairy tale, while high school students competed in a law quiz and participated in a sociology freestyle.
Those who liked physical activity could attend the events organised at the multifunctional sports ground. The members of the SSU Basketball Team showed special techniques.
Besides, the results of the Starry Sky contest were announced, and each participant was given a certificate and a prize. Associate Professor of the Department of Medical Physics Andrei P. Rytik invited the audience to attend an astronomy education intensive which would be held soon. And a physicist who is fond of astronomy Alexander Melnikov delivered a lecture on ancient astronomy tools and showed them to the school children and their parents.
84 university volunteers helped the moderators of the NAUKA 0+ Festival. In addition, activity organisers from the Top-Top Pre-School Academy entertained the audience. Also they could attend the food court. The event was such a success because interesting tasks were prepared and brilliantly held by not only all the SSU faculties and institutes but the Office of Scientific Work, the Office of Priority Projects and Programmes, the Office of Social Work, the Postgraduate Studies Division, the Office of Student Educational Work, the Student Club, the Office of Civil Defense and Intrabuilding Security, the Office of Administration and Utility, the Office of Financing, and the Media Center.
