From 5 to 9 April, Cairo hosted a scientific school for Dubna high schoolers, held at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The key tasks were providing the Dubna students with occupational guidance and introducing them to Egypt’s scientific centres and the variety of studies conducted in the Republic.
Egyptian schoolchildren – students of the Children’s University at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt – have already visited Dubna five times to participate in scientific schools held by the JINR University Centre. These events are organized for high schoolers to get acquainted with the Institute’s laboratories as well as facilities and studies carried out at them. JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov proposed arranging a reciprocal visit to Egypt for Dubna schoolchildren to learn about the research opportunities available in the country.
Five schools of the city (Dubna Lyceum, Kadyshevsky Lyceum, Lyceum No. 6, Gymnasium No. 8, and Secondary School No. 5) sent 14 tenth-graders to compete for the trip to Egypt. At the UC, the applicants took four tests developed by JINR employees Marina Donets, Pavel Luchinin, Vladislav Tiulkin, and Petr Shirikov: an experimental work on physics, an erudition test on natural sciences, mathematics, and informatics, proposals for the organization of team competitions, and an essay on the school participants’s goals in Egypt. Three tests required demonstrating English communication skills. Based on the results, ten students were selected.
In Egypt, the Dubna high schoolers visited the National Research Centre, where they got acquainted with the physics and chemistry laboratories and took part in the spectrometry sector’s experiments. At an Egyptian school, the participants conducted an intellectual marathon on natural science, mathematics, and informatics with the students, held a master class on physics experiments, and took part in a scientific quiz in mixed teams. At SEKEM – a large agrotechnology complex – the children got introduced to the latest technologies of agriculture in desert climate. In addition, they learned about Egyptian culture by visiting the new Grand Egyptian Museum and Giza pyramids.
This was the first time in many years that JINR organized an event for Dubna schoolchildren in one of the Institute’s Member States.
