On May 13, pupils of Boarding Lyceum 64 presented their scientific projects in Saratov University. Saratov University began cooperating with the Lyceum even before its opening, participating in the development of its curriculums and the concept of a new type of educational institutions. Initiated by the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, five universities of Saratov supervise educational areas implemented at the Lyceum. Our university has developed and conducts classes on various aspects related to information technology, programming, computer science, and preparing schoolchildren for programming competitions. In addition, SSU professors conduct special courses in the Russian language, literature, English, biology, chemistry, and physics for pupils of all grades of the Lyceum. The SSU Centre for Talented Children Support has developed tests to determine the psychological climate in lyceum grades as well as tests and assignments for entrance examinations to the Lyceum.

This year, we have got to the next level in cooperation work with the Lyceum. For the first time, the joint work of the university and the Lyceum was associated with the development of scientific projects in programming. Vice-rectors of the university, the dean of the faculty of computer science and information technologies, the administration of the Lyceum, university teaching staff, and school teachers attended the presentation of the projects of tenth-graders – future programmers.

The meeting was chaired by the Head of Priority Projects and Programmes Elena Yelina. Opening the event, she introduced the staff of the university and emphasised that all those present became participants in a historic event when pupils of the Boarding Lyceum would present their first steps in science at the university.

Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Igor Malinskii addressed to the schoolchildren. ‘Your participation in the project is important not only from a scientific point of view but also for choosing a future professional activity. Your first scientific research may unexpectedly become your destiny. We hope that many of you will become students of Saratov University.’

‘Our interaction does not end with today's presentations. Your project activities can be continued at the Boiling Point site, and the developments can potentially be supported by grants and the expert community and get their practical output,’ Associate Professor of the Department of Medical Physics, Head of the Boiling Point Centre Andrei Rytik said.

The first project was supervised by Associate Professor of the Department of Informatics and Programming Lyubov Kabanova. Titled The Educational Game – A Quest on the Unity Platform, it is based on computer science tasks and USE assignments. According to the scenario, the main character of Saint-Exupery moves around the planets and gets acquainted with their inhabitants. On each, a certain task awaits him, and competing them he moves closer to the missing rose.

The next development focuses on machine learning in personalised and telemedicine: diagnosing under/overweight state. The programme on the Python platform for the selected parameters (height, weight, gender) allows you to determine the body mass index of a person. The group members showed an example of how a neural network works with various data. The scientific supervisor of the project is Associate Professor of the Department of Radiophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics Konstantin Sergeyev.

One of the projects was dedicated to the layout of the virtual pre-university created in the Minecraft game. The team showed one perfect school day, where they were expected to take lessons in parkour, cooking, driving, and everything that might be interesting for today's schoolchildren. They prepared it under the scientific supervision of Associate Professor of the Department of Medical Physics Andrei Rytik.

The final project was to visualise neurophysiological data recorded in specialised formats using the example of brain activity signals from epileptic rats. The research is of particular importance for medicine and the development of treatments for this disease. The scientific supervisor of the project is Professor of the Department of System Analysis and Automatic Control Ilya Sysoev.

The Head of Priority Projects and Programs Elena Yelina thanked the project supervisors and the participants for the implementation of original ideas, their interest in the basics of scientific knowledge, and the ability to work in a team. She highlighted the importance of information technologies for all spheres and made it clear that the interest in programming shown by the pupils would help them decide on their future profession. ‘Today you demonstrated work with computer graphics, elements of the operating system, programming, artificial intelligence, and the use of tasks in the gameplay. The projects turned out to be not only interesting but also diverse,’ the Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technologies Sergei Mironov commented.

Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Aleksei Koronovskii marked the work of the participants and the ability to set a task for the tenth graders on the part of the project supervisors.

‘Due to this meeting, we were assured that the participants can build a bridge, create a dream school, travel to other planets. This is a unique experience that lays the foundation for the future profession,’ the Principal of the Lyceum shared his opinion Roman Ovsenev. He expressed his gratitude to the university for the joint fruitful work. The Head Teacher of the Lyceum Irina Suleimanova spoke about the important role of the university in the preparation of schoolchildren.

All schoolchildren who presented their scientific projects received memorable gifts from Saratov University. The university will continue cooperating with Boarding Lyceum No. 64 in research.