“Points of growth”: how Russian schoolchildren get acquainted with digital technologies

Thanks to the national project “Education” Point of Growth centers are being opened across the country based on schools in rural areas and small towns. They help children get acquainted with modern technologies, discover their talents and even try themselves in unusual professions. What successes students have already achieved thanks to the new centers, read in our material.

Centers of the present

“Points of growth” are created on the basis of already existing schools in small towns and villages: they are either provided with premises in schools, or additional extensions or buildings are being erected. The centers conduct lessons in the areas of “Technology”, “Informatics”, “Life Safety”, and also organize circles of additional education.

Growth points are fully equipped with modern equipment. Modern computers, 3D printers, quadrocopters and virtual reality helmets have appeared here. A few years ago, for the countryside, all this was like a fantasy. But thanks to the national project “Education” the future has become the present. Today, 9,500 Growth Points have already been opened, and by the end of 2024, 24,950 such centers will operate in Russia, primarily in small towns.

So, in the Angara region, thanks to the national project “Education” in three years, 247 “Points of Growth” were created – these are 102 digital and humanitarian education centers and 145 centers of natural science and technology. About 50,000 schoolchildren are already studying there.

The Rostov region is the leader in the country in terms of the opening rates of “Points of Growth”. And this is not surprising – there are many villages and settlements in the region.

Balabanovskaya school number 13 is located in the Taganrogsky farm of the Yegorlyksky district of the Rostov region. Only 73 children study in it. The “Point of Growth” opened here in 2021, and, according to director Irina Sergunova, absolutely all students use additional opportunities. Thanks to the national project, this very small school managed to create a special space with its own design, as well as to purchase equipment that was unique for the region, which could not even be dreamed of before. It allows you to conduct more advanced experiments and experiments in physics, chemistry and biology, which is not in the usual school curriculum. Previously, all this was shown and explained on the fingers. Plus, a chess zone was equipped in the Point of Growth.

“Children are very interested. Pupils of the 7th, 8th and 9th grades go to additional classes in subjects almost in full force. Everyone began to play chess from the 1st grade. The teachers are our own subject teachers, who took advanced training courses to work at the Point of Growth. The quality of education has improved markedly. Increased interest in subjects. Children are making progress in the Olympiads,” says Sergunova.

Develop imagination

For many, the designer was a favorite pastime in childhood. In the “Point of Growth” of Akbulak School No. 2, children’s toys have turned into an adult hobby.

Two years ago, guys in the direction of “Industrial Design. Design of the material environment” began to get acquainted with the design.

“The children decided to create something more complex, new and perfect. The idea was supported by the heads of the Point of Growth Center Dmitry Prokopov and Evgeny Morozan. For several weeks, the project participants created original models using not only ready-made assembly schemes, but also their own imagination. The next step is programming the assembled models. The guys were able to “revive” the models,” said Elena Kudryashova, head of the Point of Growth Center for Digital and Humanitarian Profiles.

Pupils of the Shirinskaya secondary school in the Tula region are also fond of design and robotics. Thanks to the national project “Education” a new classroom for natural sciences and digital competencies has appeared here. Modern laboratories for studying chemistry, biology and physics, robotics and neurotechnologies have been opened at the Point of Growth Center.

The guys are making progress and are already participating in all-Russian competitions. In 2021, they managed to show their inventions at the Best Robotics Competition.

In the Point of Growth centers, schoolchildren can not only design and assemble robots, but also create cartoons. So, the guys from the Termalnenskaya school of the Elizovsky district of the Kamchatka Territory made a cartoon in the Koryak language based on the fairy tale “Amale”. The teacher Nadezhda Ivanova helped to voice and translate it.

Teachers see how the creative process helps children develop teamwork skills and try out different roles: screenwriter, artist, director, and even editor.

“During the existence of our Growth Point, we see how the guys grow when creating projects, their requests grow and, accordingly, the results. We do not limit them either in dreams or in a flight of fancy, each child moves along his own individual trajectory in a mode that is convenient for him, ”explained the school principal Elena Potanina.

A few years ago, urban schoolchildren had much more opportunities for development and education. Thanks to the national project “Education” the gap between urban and rural schools is shrinking. Even small schools have modern technology and equipment. All this allows a new approach to teaching children in a number of subjects.