On April 21, at the Moscow Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society, the project “NON-geography lesson” was officially launched. Within 10 days, 440 events will be held in 65 regions of the country. In a playful and exciting way, visitors will be told about the geography, culture and history of Russia.
“NEUROK” is, as it were, opposed to a standard school lesson. The organizers left the traditional form of education and turned the process of mastering new material into an exciting story with game elements. This idea is expressively and succinctly presented in the title.
“We want to show how interesting geography is, how diverse it is, how it penetrates into a person’s life,” said Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Korlykhanov. — In fact, geography is everywhere and everywhere, it is in our entire life.
In practice, “NEUROK” will be implemented in the form of hikes, master classes, excursions, practical exercises, as well as interactive events using the virtual educational and entertainment portal “World of Geography”.
The main tasks set by the organizers of the “NON-geography lesson” are to tell about the geographical, cultural, historical heritage of Russia, the traditions and customs of its peoples.
In the Moscow Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society, the first “NON-geography lesson” for schoolchildren was held by the Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation Igor Shidlovsky. He spoke about the role that geography played in people’s lives at different times, how it influenced culture, art and sports.
In different regions, the organizers chose their own format for holding the “NEUROC”.
For example, on April 21 in Murmansk, on board the nuclear icebreaker “Lenin”, one could listen to a lecture with a very intriguing title “How a polar bear almost ate me”, dedicated to the Arctic expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society.
On April 22, in the Kamchatka Territory, it will be possible to take part in the auto-excursion-lecture “Volcanism: beyond the boundaries of the textbook”, which will take place along the road from the village of Termalny to the Vilyuchinsky Pass. Participants will see the active volcanoes Gorely and Mutnovsky, get acquainted with the experimental freon geothermal power plant.
On April 25, in the capital of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz, “NON-geography lesson” will be held in the format of a geographical concert with the participation of the National Variety Orchestra named after Kim Suanov. Each lecture will be followed by a musical performance.
On April 27–28, in the Taurida Cave (Republic of Crimea), actors will tell about the secrets of the longest karst cave in the foothills of Crimea as part of a theatrical performance. It is called one of the main paleontological discoveries of the beginning of the XXI century. Also, everyone will be able to take part in a master class on creating paints using earthen cave pigments: clay, sand, limestone, whose age reaches 3-5 million years!
On April 28, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, it will be possible to immerse yourself in the life, culture and traditions of real tundra Nenets directly in the Nenets camp. And at the same time ride a sled drawn by reindeer, get acquainted with the sacred rite “cleansing by fire”, take part in board and national games.
On April 28, a video tour will be shown at the Headquarters of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society. Spectators are promised that their native Yekaterinburg, which turns 300 this year, will be rediscovered. And the editor-in-chief of the radio station “Gorod-FM Yekaterinburg 107.6” Inna Boeva will introduce her favorite places in the largest city of the Urals Federal District.
On April 29, Ivan Susanin himself will talk about the history and biology of the legendary swamp in the Isupovskoye (Susaninskoye) swamp nature reserve (Kostroma region). In addition, all participants will be able to go up in a hot air balloon to see the natural monument from a bird’s eye view.
As you can see, “NEUROK geography” is a new and unusual educational format for studying geography and related sciences. The Russian Geographical Society hopes that the new initiative will become popular and develop.
Anyone can take part in the “NON-geography lesson”. Free admission. And don’t be afraid: they don’t check homework and don’t give grades.
Scenario plans of the sites participating in the “NON-geography lesson” are presented on this site
Vladimir Neskoromny
