Geography teacher Irina Kholoden and chemistry and biology teacher Lilia Lvova were awarded Certificates of Honor from the Federal Scientific Center for East Asian Terrestrial Biota Biodiversity of the Far Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The certificates were awarded at the seminar “Organizing the research and project activity of school students as part of the regional stage of the Russian national junior water competition.”
Seminar participants included more than 80 teachers and students from Primorye studying water resources.
The opening address at the seminar was given by Russian Academy of Sciences Academic Yuri Zhuravlev, who was among the founders of the water movement in Primorye and has actively supported the “Living water” Scientific-Public Coordination Center.
“Participation in water resources research enables students to better understand why it is necessary to ensure the cleanliness of our water sources,” explains geography teacher Irina Zholoden. “Research is a separate part of the learning process and just as important as the lessons in the academic plan.”
“During the past three years, we and our students have been studying the small rivers in Vladivostok, determining the sources of their pollution and the factors influencing the ecological situation in the river basins,” notes chemistry and biology teacher Lilia Lvova. “This research teaches our students how to think like scientists. The results of our work are reports and articles published in еру digests of the All-Russian Scientific Ecological Conference of School and University Students “Water is the source of life on Earth” in St. Petersburg.
Also participating in the seminar were ILS biology teachers Yelena Zelikson and Sofia Okhotina.
“We congratulate our teachers for the awards they received,” says ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. “Doing research with students is a very important part of a teacher’s work, and though it may not bring quick results, it helps the students learn to reason, analyze facts, and draw conclusions.”
