Day 6
Today, students of the International Junior Science Olympiad went on a tour to the interactive ethno park "My Russia". There they had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with architectural features, traditional crafts and learn interesting historical facts about 11 regions of Russia. No one stayed indifferent after the hiking route along the Mzymta River in the gorge of the Caucasus Mountains.
"On the tour, we immersed ourselves in the culture of different regions of Russia. Surprisingly, in a couple of hours we managed to discover new facets of Russian culture: from the variety of local cuisine to unique architectural styles. Admiring the nature of the Caucasus Mountains, we were amazed by their beauty — it’s really incredibly beautiful here," says Ratmir Kutyrev from Kazakhstan.
The visit to the V Congress of Young Scientists, which takes place on Sirius federal territory, was another important event for the IJSO participants. At the key event of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia, students from around the world learned about cutting-edge research and achievements: from a robotic arm that harvests apples directly from a tree to VR glasses capable of instructing an employee at a new workplace.
While the students got acquainted with the achievements of Russian science, the leaders of the national teams at IJSO worked tirelessly.
"Today we discussed the tasks of the test round for the third stage of the Olympiad until late at night. I supervised the biology questions, as this is my specialty. The tasks were quite interesting. During the discussion, we slightly changed one of them to make it clearer for our students. This year difficulties arose with the experimental round: it turned out to be very voluminous, with a lot of instructions. Not only did we have to translate a lot, but we also had to check carefully to make sure everything was correct," said Filip Petrovsky, head of the North Macedonian national team.
The work of the team leaders began long before the start of the intellectual competition: they determined the basic teaching methodology and trained the students for the Olympiad itself. At the Olympics, the main job of the national team leaders was to translate assignments from English into the national language.
"Team leaders not only act as translators of the Olympiad tasks, but also act as experts in their natural science disciplines. Their competencies allow them to actively participate in the discussion and correction of various aspects of assignments. For example, the texts of the tasks on the structure of the cell and its components in the Russian curriculum may differ from those accepted in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Egypt. Therefore, when preparing tasks, edits are often required, since some topics in other countries are studied differently or they are not included in the program at all. The role of the team leader in this process is extremely important: it ensures the creation of a unified approach to the formulation of questions that will be correct for the students," said Sayed Fathy Mohamed Mohamed, an observer from Qatar.
The appeal process is another responsibility of the national team leaders. Only they have the right to appeal. The students themselves do not participate in this process. The team leaders are also responsible for accompanying students during the trip to the Olympics, including monitoring the conditions of stay, safety and nutrition.