Sakhalin teachers travel to Moscow on Road to Success

gifted student

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, December 12, 2011 – Today through Saturday, December 17, four teachers from Sakhalin will attend an advanced training at the Moscow Center of Information Technologies. The trip is organized within the framework of the Eureka – a Road to Success! (Eureka) project being implemented by the Sakhalin Ministry of Education with the financial support of Exxon Neftegas Limited, Sakhalin-1 operator. Eureka is targeted at enhancing the professional competency of math and science teachers and supporting talented high school students of Sakhalin.

 This past October, the first delegation of tutors from Sakhalin completed this advanced training. On Monday, four more teachers from Poronaisk, Shakhtersk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk will start their training in Moscow. 

 The Sakhalin teachers will attend a one week course on how to operate “Archimedes” – sophisticated digital school laboratory units designed for hands-on classes on physics, chemistry, biology and math. Several units of the state-of-the-art laboratory equipment have been purchased thanks to charitable contributions made by Exxon Neftegas Limited.

 According to the coordinator of Eureka, Provost of the Sakhalin Institute of Education Enhancement Ludmila Sakhovich, teachers and tutors are trained to use Archimedes by attending a special program which includes both instructional lectures and hands-on classes.

 “Upon successful completion of the training, teachers will receive a package of electronic reference materials and recommendations on how to arrange research work with students,” she says.

 Upon returning from Moscow, the teachers will conduct a workshop for their co-workers from five creativity centers that use Archimedes digital laboratories, specializing in natural science on December 23. The plan is to increase the number of school resource centers in Sakhalin from five to 55. 

 Background information

In May 2011 the Sakhalin Oblast Ministry of Education and Sakhalin Institute of Advanced Education executed a sponsorship agreement with Exxon Neftegas Limited to support Eureka – a Road to Success! project with U.S. $100,000.

The primary objectives of the project include:

•        teachers’ professional development;

•        providing modern equipment to schools;

•        implementing an educational program specially tailored for gifted math and science students in exact sciences, enhancing their chances of studying at the elite universities of Russia.

Thanks to this training, teachers are able to work with the software required for the digital lab, conduct experiments, and process and share the data between a mobile computer and desktop PC.

Upon completion of the training and presentation of the project at the Russian National Contest of Research Projects the teachers will become certified tutors, allowing them to share this knowledge with other teachers.