Children’s and Youth Scientific University: online classes of the «Carousel of Directions» group

During February, students in grades 6-7 attended online classes of the «Carousel of Directions» group of the Children’s and Youth Scientific University of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University.

The children attended lessons of the international program of socio-emotional and ethical learning, which consist of a system of tasks and exercises aimed at developing skills and abilities that are extremely necessary for modern children, but which are little used in the modern education system. These exercises help people understand what emotions arise and the reasons for their occurrence by tracking physiological sensations.

Under the guidance of Anastasiia Somova, a senior lecturer at the Department of Special Education, students performed the exercise «Drawing Kindness» – they drew a situation when someone showed kindness and empathy to them, after which they shared their thoughts and feelings about the mentioned situation. The students were interested in the exercise «Circle of Safety» – using the children’s reactions to the questions posed, they found out what common and distinctive features people with similar experiences have.

In the lesson «Great Secrets of the Small Coat of Arms of Ukraine», which is dedicated to the Day of the State Coat of Arms of Ukraine (February 19), students traced the unbroken continuity of the thousand-year use of princely symbols by Ukrainians from Kyivan Rus. The head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies and General Language Training, Georgy Shapovalov, demonstrated to the children how the symbolism changed over time, but constantly acted as the main sacred emblem with a deep spiritual meaning of faith and hope for salvation. The students got acquainted with the modern history of the return of the coat of arms of Prince Volodymyr to the independent state of Ukraine in 1917-1918, and then finally in 1992.

At the lesson «Ukrainian Mythology: Gods, Heroes and Otherworldly Beings», Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Philology and Translation Yurii Polezhaev spoke about the beliefs of Ukrainians from ancient times and talked about otherworldly beings in which some people believe today. The children learned about the uniqueness of the Ukrainian pantheon and compared it with the Scandinavian and Greek. The students were able to find anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features of otherworldly beings! At the end of the lesson, the children concluded that Ukrainian mythology is one of the richest in the world and can even become the basis for Hollywood film scripts.

We are grateful for the initiative and creative approach of the teachers of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic Institute Anastasiia Somova, Georgy Shapovalov, Yurii Polezhaev, and all the children for their active participation and interest.

We look forward to the next meetings!