Abstract:

To enhanct the knowledge of 15-18 years old students in interdisciplinary natural sciences which are not included in their teaching curricula at school we have developed a game – natural-science quest." The quest helps to increase interest to the natural sciences and, can be applied as a, vocational guidance for teaching y natural sciences .

The science quests was intended to modernize and improve the course " Modern Problems of Biophysics" that was developed by a team of teachers at the Department of Biophysics, the Siberian Federal University and Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Sciences Department. The main focus of the existing program was aimed to enhancement the knowledge of 15-18 years old students in interdisciplinary natural sciences that are not included in the curricula of general education at high school.
The goal of the quest is to familiarize students of different areas in the Krasnoyarsk Territory with modern physical approach to the study of living organisms, to generate interest and, therefore, the motivation for the study of natural science disciplines.
Natural-scientific quest is a set of 8 workshops with hot issues in the field of biophysics. Each of the workshops provides rapid training, education and development of students in a particular field of the natural sciences connected withtheworkshop topic.
The main advantages of the quest, compared with similar programs implemented in the Krasnoyarsk region, are
1) During the workshops, pupils 15-18 years old students have the opportunity to attend mini-lectures of the best instructors from Siberian Federal Universoty , get the advice from graduate students directly involved in research studies. The students are introduced to the current scientific knowledge in the field of biophysics and other natural sciences subjects, get skills of research and project work in the development of biophysical picture of the world, get experience of productive creative activity in laboratory studies based on modern digital laboratories with modern education and information technology.
2) The quest have conditions for disclosure and talent development of children, additional extra-knowledge on the biology, chemistry and physics promotes interest in the study of these subjects and vocational guidance for natural science specialty, ensuring the development of science.
The quest is performed during in the school holiday period at the inter-district education resource centers for talented children. Game form was chosen as the best way to report the composite material to students. We are interested in the motivation of students to learn the subjects in the natural sciences. The quest also helps us to select the most talented and gifted children.
The work was supported by the Federal Agency for Science and Innovations (Federal Target Program “Academic Teaching Staff of Innovative Russia”, Government Contract No 02.740.11.0766), the Government of the Russian Federation (the Program of “Measures to Attract Leading Scientists to Russian Educational Institutions”, Contract No 11. G34.31.058).

Keywords:

Scientific methods, research competence, education, a quest.