The Future Scientific Elite. Young physicists from Vitebsk Gymnasium Compete with the Country's Lyceums
The law of conservation of energy is flawlessly applied in the "RemerUmki" team of Gymnasium No. 5 of Vitebsk named after I.I. Lyudnikov. This is how physics teacher Nika Tishchenko briefly explains the students' enthusiasm and dedication to their work. This energy, as it should be, does not arise from nothing and does not disappear, but only transforms from one form to another. Then it is transformed into the matter of victories achieved as a result of persistent study of theory, problem-solving, and long experiments. "RemerUmki" today consists of five promising gymnasium students (four tenth-graders and one eighth-grader). In this composition, they participated in the XXXII Republican Physics Tournament, which was held at the base of the Lyceum of BSU in February. The Vitebsk team returned with a third-degree diploma.
The World of Experiments
Young physicists may seem quite reserved and taciturn to an unfamiliar person. But just one request to demonstrate an experiment seems to switch them to a completely different "mode of operation." A second later, the already lively and inspired teenagers are laying out a set for the next experiment on the school desk.
They show a trick with a ruler. Physics teacher Nika Tishchenko explains that it is described in the school curriculum. The measuring tool is placed so that half of it is on the edge of the table, and the other half is in the air. A ball is dropped onto the free end of the ruler. If the part of it is covered with a sheet of paper at that moment, it will stay on the table. "It is written that it is due to atmospheric pressure. No. Everything actually manifests differently," the teacher asserts. The seemingly simple task turned out to be many times more difficult than expected. And when it was presented at the tournament, many admitted that they racked their brains and did not know how to approach it at all. "We took the theory of impact from the 2nd-year university course 'Theoretical Mechanics', used some additional devices. We even had to buy a blower to prove that it's not about atmospheric pressure. It's a leaking airflow that creates reduced pressure. And this effect holds the ruler," Nika Tishchenko explains energetically.
Having prepared everything necessary for the experiment, tenth-grader Kirill Sukharev throws a ball onto the covered sheetA4 format ruler. After the impact, it changes position but remains on the table. He repeats the same thing without paper. "The differences are noticeable to the naked eye," the young man summarizes.
Another tenth-grader, Stanislav Garanin, clamps a spring with a caliper and dips it into a soapy solution. "Then the slinky stretches. Coils form, we pierce the soap film with a needle. We shot slow-motion video and analyzed the film's movement," he clarifies.
The teacher adds that only the film's movement when the puncture was made from below was considered on the internet. "It was also positioned vertically," one of the young physicists chimes in.
"In the version that was on the internet, only one parameter was taken, while we investigated many at once. Besides, we found different forms of the slinky. Everyone expected the film to run down faster. But when we saw that the soapy spiral was running upwardsfaster than downwards, they began to study further and found this effect, why it happens. The soap film breaks down. Where it is thicker, the speed will be less," says Nika Tishchenko during the demonstration of the experiment.
When arguments from the internet are misleading
Sometimes, the team and solutions arise suddenly. Nika Gennadievna often looks for new or popular experiments in books and on the internet for the school course of her subject. The World Wide Web throws up tricky problems when the given answer is fundamentally incorrect.
br/>"We browse the internet to see what experiments are available. And it turns out that many of them have unsolved problems," she says. "That is, these are open problems whose solutions are currently unknown. We mainly take children's research, and if the material is from a dissertation or another source of that level, I process it and present it to the children in a way they can grasp. When we look, we see that much of what is written is fake: they develop a theory, start conducting an experiment, and it doesn't work out."
One such myth concerned the "Ping-Pong Rocket" experiment. A ping-pong ball is placed in a container of water, which is then dropped onto the ground. After the container falls, the ball can fly to a great height.
"The cumulative effect is studied here. When the container with water falls to the ground, a small jet is formed, which can propel something upwards. The effects mentioned there included the wetting effect. In reality, when we started conducting the experiment, we lubricated the ping-pong ball with oil, glycerin, and so on – it had the opposite effect. Without glycerin lubrication, the ball jumps 1.5-2 m, but here the result was 4.26 m," explains the teacher.
The students conducted this experiment on the porch in the presence of numerous spectators – half the gymnasium watched the launch of the "Ping-Pong Rocket."
Physicist's Ingenuity. And How Remer Appeared in the Team Name
Great discoveries begin with small steps, sometimes with a brief answer in class. In this case, it's about the talent of children, which an experienced teacher noticed in time. The current composition of "RemerUmok" was formed last academic year, completely updating the team. Graduates of the gymnasium entered various universities in Belarus.
"Each case is special," says Nika Gennadyevna, about how the students joined the team. "Kirill Sukharev, in the 7th grade, when he just started studying physics, received grades of 5-6-7. But he gave specific answers in class, truly non-trivial ones, requiring ingenuity and a sharp insight into a situation." That's when she noticed the talent in the gymnasium student that was worth developing.
Kirill himself explains that one day, during a basic lesson, he observed the work of older students. They were preparing for the tournament of young physicists. The team, with excitement, conducted an experiment and discussed the process. The gymnasium students were investigating the sound produced when a metal ball hit a rubber membrane stretched over a plastic cup. "That was the starting point for me. Later, I participated in a subject-specific Olympiad and started studying physics additionally," recalls the teenager.
"Other children are exactly the same, but each story has its own peculiarities. Someonenot good at public speaking at all," clarifies Nika Tishchenko. "Artem Klimovets joined us only this year. He used to follow the team's development, and then he said he wanted to work too. Stas Garanin was initially involved in all subjects, but he became particularly interested in physics. Last academic year, there was a regional physics olympiad for 7th graders. Milana Shcherbik became its absolute winner. She also shows good potential: sometimes she demonstrates a real knack for physics. Few people have a natural aptitude for physics; this has even been proven by scientific research. In general, I give everyone a chance. There are also children who help us with our work. Due to various circumstances, they cannot devote as much time and effort to physics, but they participate in specific tasks."
Nika Gennadyevna tries to recall in detail how the team got its name. The ninth-graders had just begun to study some sections of physics, moving on to optics. And since the teacher advocates for a comprehensive approach, the class studied not only the paragraphs themselves but also the history of the subject and the biographies of scientists related to certain discoveries.
"The children became interested in the scientist Reomer, who was the first to determine the speed of light," the teacher smiles. The gymnasium students suggested combining the words "Reomer" and "mind" in the team's name, but Nika Tishchenko gently corrected them: due to their age, they were still "umki" (little clever ones).
Route Planned
The teacher admits that the team initially went to the tournament of young physicists to gain experience. "But I saw that they have a really high potential (I didn't expect them to show such results last year either). Imagine, Lyceum of BSU, BNTU (11th graders) were among the competitors. And our Vitebsk tenth-graders received a third-degree diploma – that's a very high award. Because even if an olympiad, say, awards only 12 diplomas, a conference – 10-11, here for the entire republic, there are only 7-8 diplomas," the teacher cites figures. "And besides Vitebsk, teams from other regions haven't gone this far for a long time. It's mainly Minsk, Minsk region, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) from Dolgoprudny. We scored the same number of points as MIPT, and after the first round, we were in second place.""them.
The results of the Vitebsk team were noticed by representatives of the country's leading universities. The energy faculty of the Belarusian National Technical University has already taken an interest in the children, and BSU is also happy to welcome young physicists from Gymnasium No. 5. At the tournament, all five received praise from the jury, renowned in the scientific world, and its chairman presented Kirill Sukharev with a special prize.
By the way, the tenth-grader has already decided on his future profession: "I have been to the National Children's Technopark twice for the "Future Energy" program. I plan to go again, complete distance learning, and then enroll in the energy faculty at BNTU." When asked if the university has already invited him, the student modestly replies: "The President invited me."
The fact is that the head of state visited the children's technopark in September. Kirill Sukharev asked the Belarusian leader questions and requested a joint photo. The picture now adorns the classroom and the hall of the gymnasium.
It's Cool to Work, or Riding the Wave of Physics
When discussing how they manage to motivate children for results and awaken their interest in their subject, the teacher immediately concludes: it is "mutual charging."
"A cycle of energy exchange," smiles Nika Tishchenko. "The law of conservation of energy applies here too. We just have a very good team. It's really cool to work with them. We start an experiment. I sit down, start fiddling with something from old memory. They silently approach and start doing something in parallel themselves."
And this is not surprising at all, because in Nika Gennadyevna's classes, students simultaneously delve into biology, astronomy, and other subjects. This provides an opportunity to study cause-and-effect relationships and see the whole picture. The teacher with over 30 years of experience acknowledges an exclusively comprehensive approach. Even when "RemerUmki" are on the road, at conferences, tournaments, or festivals in other cities, they study all their lessons together. They are tired of preparing for the performanceto physics - they open books on other disciplines and learn them together. And they reinforce the material with tests on a given topic, which the teacher prepares in advance, even if it's not her subject.
"You can't do it like that - rely only on dry information from textbooks. If you just memorize a formula without the context that shows the real picture, there will be no prospects. When you talk to a child at a conference, a tournament, you can immediately see if they just memorized the formula and recited it. But when they truly possess the information - their eyes have a completely different sparkle," concludes Nika Tishchenko.
She is incredibly pleased to see the victories of "RemerUmok" and, together with them, discover new effects for herself. The successes of her mentees (who have won two dozen different diplomas this academic year alone) provide the impetus to move forward and the desire to show more and more gymnasium students how wonderful physics is.
"BELTA"
The World of Experiments
Young physicists may seem quite reserved and taciturn to an unfamiliar person. But just one request to demonstrate an experiment seems to switch them to a completely different "mode of operation." A second later, the already lively and inspired teenagers are laying out a set for the next experiment on the school desk.
They show a trick with a ruler. Physics teacher Nika Tishchenko explains that it is described in the school curriculum. The measuring tool is placed so that half of it is on the edge of the table, and the other half is in the air. A ball is dropped onto the free end of the ruler. If the part of it is covered with a sheet of paper at that moment, it will stay on the table. "It is written that it is due to atmospheric pressure. No. Everything actually manifests differently," the teacher asserts. The seemingly simple task turned out to be many times more difficult than expected. And when it was presented at the tournament, many admitted that they racked their brains and did not know how to approach it at all. "We took the theory of impact from the 2nd-year university course 'Theoretical Mechanics', used some additional devices. We even had to buy a blower to prove that it's not about atmospheric pressure. It's a leaking airflow that creates reduced pressure. And this effect holds the ruler," Nika Tishchenko explains energetically.
Having prepared everything necessary for the experiment, tenth-grader Kirill Sukharev throws a ball onto the covered sheetA4 format ruler. After the impact, it changes position but remains on the table. He repeats the same thing without paper. "The differences are noticeable to the naked eye," the young man summarizes.
Another tenth-grader, Stanislav Garanin, clamps a spring with a caliper and dips it into a soapy solution. "Then the slinky stretches. Coils form, we pierce the soap film with a needle. We shot slow-motion video and analyzed the film's movement," he clarifies.The teacher adds that only the film's movement when the puncture was made from below was considered on the internet. "It was also positioned vertically," one of the young physicists chimes in.
"In the version that was on the internet, only one parameter was taken, while we investigated many at once. Besides, we found different forms of the slinky. Everyone expected the film to run down faster. But when we saw that the soapy spiral was running upwardsfaster than downwards, they began to study further and found this effect, why it happens. The soap film breaks down. Where it is thicker, the speed will be less," says Nika Tishchenko during the demonstration of the experiment.When arguments from the internet are misleading
Sometimes, the team and solutions arise suddenly. Nika Gennadievna often looks for new or popular experiments in books and on the internet for the school course of her subject. The World Wide Web throws up tricky problems when the given answer is fundamentally incorrect.
br/>"We browse the internet to see what experiments are available. And it turns out that many of them have unsolved problems," she says. "That is, these are open problems whose solutions are currently unknown. We mainly take children's research, and if the material is from a dissertation or another source of that level, I process it and present it to the children in a way they can grasp. When we look, we see that much of what is written is fake: they develop a theory, start conducting an experiment, and it doesn't work out."
One such myth concerned the "Ping-Pong Rocket" experiment. A ping-pong ball is placed in a container of water, which is then dropped onto the ground. After the container falls, the ball can fly to a great height."The cumulative effect is studied here. When the container with water falls to the ground, a small jet is formed, which can propel something upwards. The effects mentioned there included the wetting effect. In reality, when we started conducting the experiment, we lubricated the ping-pong ball with oil, glycerin, and so on – it had the opposite effect. Without glycerin lubrication, the ball jumps 1.5-2 m, but here the result was 4.26 m," explains the teacher.
The students conducted this experiment on the porch in the presence of numerous spectators – half the gymnasium watched the launch of the "Ping-Pong Rocket."
Physicist's Ingenuity. And How Remer Appeared in the Team Name
Great discoveries begin with small steps, sometimes with a brief answer in class. In this case, it's about the talent of children, which an experienced teacher noticed in time. The current composition of "RemerUmok" was formed last academic year, completely updating the team. Graduates of the gymnasium entered various universities in Belarus.
"Each case is special," says Nika Gennadyevna, about how the students joined the team. "Kirill Sukharev, in the 7th grade, when he just started studying physics, received grades of 5-6-7. But he gave specific answers in class, truly non-trivial ones, requiring ingenuity and a sharp insight into a situation." That's when she noticed the talent in the gymnasium student that was worth developing.
Kirill himself explains that one day, during a basic lesson, he observed the work of older students. They were preparing for the tournament of young physicists. The team, with excitement, conducted an experiment and discussed the process. The gymnasium students were investigating the sound produced when a metal ball hit a rubber membrane stretched over a plastic cup. "That was the starting point for me. Later, I participated in a subject-specific Olympiad and started studying physics additionally," recalls the teenager."Other children are exactly the same, but each story has its own peculiarities. Someonenot good at public speaking at all," clarifies Nika Tishchenko. "Artem Klimovets joined us only this year. He used to follow the team's development, and then he said he wanted to work too. Stas Garanin was initially involved in all subjects, but he became particularly interested in physics. Last academic year, there was a regional physics olympiad for 7th graders. Milana Shcherbik became its absolute winner. She also shows good potential: sometimes she demonstrates a real knack for physics. Few people have a natural aptitude for physics; this has even been proven by scientific research. In general, I give everyone a chance. There are also children who help us with our work. Due to various circumstances, they cannot devote as much time and effort to physics, but they participate in specific tasks."
Nika Gennadyevna tries to recall in detail how the team got its name. The ninth-graders had just begun to study some sections of physics, moving on to optics. And since the teacher advocates for a comprehensive approach, the class studied not only the paragraphs themselves but also the history of the subject and the biographies of scientists related to certain discoveries.
"The children became interested in the scientist Reomer, who was the first to determine the speed of light," the teacher smiles. The gymnasium students suggested combining the words "Reomer" and "mind" in the team's name, but Nika Tishchenko gently corrected them: due to their age, they were still "umki" (little clever ones).
Route Planned
The teacher admits that the team initially went to the tournament of young physicists to gain experience. "But I saw that they have a really high potential (I didn't expect them to show such results last year either). Imagine, Lyceum of BSU, BNTU (11th graders) were among the competitors. And our Vitebsk tenth-graders received a third-degree diploma – that's a very high award. Because even if an olympiad, say, awards only 12 diplomas, a conference – 10-11, here for the entire republic, there are only 7-8 diplomas," the teacher cites figures. "And besides Vitebsk, teams from other regions haven't gone this far for a long time. It's mainly Minsk, Minsk region, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) from Dolgoprudny. We scored the same number of points as MIPT, and after the first round, we were in second place.""them.
The results of the Vitebsk team were noticed by representatives of the country's leading universities. The energy faculty of the Belarusian National Technical University has already taken an interest in the children, and BSU is also happy to welcome young physicists from Gymnasium No. 5. At the tournament, all five received praise from the jury, renowned in the scientific world, and its chairman presented Kirill Sukharev with a special prize.
By the way, the tenth-grader has already decided on his future profession: "I have been to the National Children's Technopark twice for the "Future Energy" program. I plan to go again, complete distance learning, and then enroll in the energy faculty at BNTU." When asked if the university has already invited him, the student modestly replies: "The President invited me."
The fact is that the head of state visited the children's technopark in September. Kirill Sukharev asked the Belarusian leader questions and requested a joint photo. The picture now adorns the classroom and the hall of the gymnasium.
It's Cool to Work, or Riding the Wave of Physics
When discussing how they manage to motivate children for results and awaken their interest in their subject, the teacher immediately concludes: it is "mutual charging."
"A cycle of energy exchange," smiles Nika Tishchenko. "The law of conservation of energy applies here too. We just have a very good team. It's really cool to work with them. We start an experiment. I sit down, start fiddling with something from old memory. They silently approach and start doing something in parallel themselves."
And this is not surprising at all, because in Nika Gennadyevna's classes, students simultaneously delve into biology, astronomy, and other subjects. This provides an opportunity to study cause-and-effect relationships and see the whole picture. The teacher with over 30 years of experience acknowledges an exclusively comprehensive approach. Even when "RemerUmki" are on the road, at conferences, tournaments, or festivals in other cities, they study all their lessons together. They are tired of preparing for the performanceto physics - they open books on other disciplines and learn them together. And they reinforce the material with tests on a given topic, which the teacher prepares in advance, even if it's not her subject.
"You can't do it like that - rely only on dry information from textbooks. If you just memorize a formula without the context that shows the real picture, there will be no prospects. When you talk to a child at a conference, a tournament, you can immediately see if they just memorized the formula and recited it. But when they truly possess the information - their eyes have a completely different sparkle," concludes Nika Tishchenko.
She is incredibly pleased to see the victories of "RemerUmok" and, together with them, discover new effects for herself. The successes of her mentees (who have won two dozen different diplomas this academic year alone) provide the impetus to move forward and the desire to show more and more gymnasium students how wonderful physics is.
"BELTA"