Regional educational projects as means of raising level of university entrants in chemistry

Abstract

In this article, the possibilities of a regional professional community of subject teachers to promote the intellectual development of schoolchildren and the formation of the common educational space "school - university" are demonstrated on the example of the Association of chemistry teachers and lecturers of Tver region. In order to achieve these goals, the Association annually conducts numerous regional open competitions, and each of them is completely free for students and their teachers. The aim of the competition "The World of Chemistry" is creating a public catalog of training presentations. The competition is held in twenty one categories (presentations on the educational topics, "Names in the history of chemistry", "Scientists-chemists of Tver region", "Chemical book of records", "Chemistry and other Sciences", "Chemistry of the future", etc.); 997 nominations in all. Contests "Original problem" and "Chemical games store" are aimed at finding out the best authors of tasks, quizzes, and didactic games in chemistry as well as at the popularization of the Olympic movement. The selected collections of learning materials are published at the end of each contest. In order to identify and support gifted students, every year the Association of chemistry teachers and lecturers of the Tver region conducts the Regional Olympiad "Khimonya" (in Russian it is a diminutive and funny form of "Young Chemist") for everyone wishing schoolchildren. This Olympiad is very popular. So, in 2017, more than 430 students from 16 municipalities attended this intellectual competition. The winners of "Khimonya" receive invitations to free classes at the Summer school of the Olympic reserve, which is annually organized by the Tver Association of chemistry teachers. It is shown that the activation of extracurricular activities of schoolchildren by involving them to participate in regional educational projects results to the increase in the education level of school leavers and quality of their knowledge in chemistry.