Learning with passion

Anniversary conference

The 10th scientific and practical conference of schoolchildren "Mendeleev readings" was held in the Museum of History of Science and Technology of JINR. It has become one of the wonderful traditions of our museum and a great holiday of science.

From the very beginning, the initiators of the readings set a task: to give an opportunity to schoolchildren that are interested in various scientific phenomena, to tell about them brightly and clearly. It helps to broaden children's horizons and to stimulate their curiosity.

There were 11 interesting reports, the age of participants ranged from 7 to 15 years old. The children prepared research papers on chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, astronomy, each of them was accompanied by original experiments. The wide topical coverage is impressive: "Unusual paper", "Assembly of radio receiver prototype with one's own hands", "Tea: from ancient times to the present day", "Water and oil: the struggle and unity of opposites", "Amazing snails", "Clocks in time", "Musical instruments from improvised materials", "Sound research in the Choir School of boys and young men "Dubna", "Measuring the size of the Earth". All the reports aroused the keen interest of the young audience, the visitors overwhelmed the speakers with questions.

A memorable event was the bright experimental action with liquid nitrogen "Extreme cooling" organized by the JINR employees D.K.Dryablov and A.E.Zlotnikova. What does it feel like - 196 degrees? Can flowers burst into splinters? Would you dare to put your hand in a vial of nitrogen? Can you see ice literally running across the table? And what if you make a nitrogen explosion? By tradition, the reading ended with an intellectual brain-ring in which children's and parents' teams competed. The game caused great delight not only among the young audience, but also among parents that having connected the logical apparatus, practiced their intellectual abilities. All speakers were awarded with scientific puzzles, diplomas and souvenirs with JINR symbols.

This is how the next "Mendeleev readings" came to an end. This scientific and educational project has stood the test of time. Dubna schoolchildren have got used to it and loved it. And today, some of them have already started to think over and to prepare a report for the "Mendeleev readings-2026" that will be held under the sign of the 70th anniversary of JINR. We wish them success next year!

Anastasia ZLOTNIKOVA, Kirill KOZUBSKY,
photo by Igor LAPENKO