From the classroom to orbit: how geography inspires and shapes character discussed at the National Centre RUSSIA

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How can an ordinary school subject be transformed into a source of inspiration capable of fostering patriotism and engaging teenagers in studying their native country in the age of short-form thinking? This question became central to the participants in the session "How to Move Beyond the Classroom and Textbook and Become a Geography Opinion Leader", held as part of the Forum of Geography Teachers and Students of Specialised Universities at the National Centre RUSSIA.

Mikhail Vaganov, a geography teacher at the Sirius Presidential Lyceum, a semi-finalist in the fourth season of the television show "Klassnaya Tema!" ("Cool Topic!") and an educational blogger, opened the session with a presentation titled "How to Capture Pupils’ Attention in Geography Lessons". He shared practical tools for engaging young people in science and spoke about working with children’s attention and how modern lesson formats and current digital tools help attract and sustain pupils’ interest through vivid visual materials, paradoxes, analogies, educational "memes" and sometimes the rather unexpected device of silence.

"Personal stories — our own and those of our pupils — also work well for attracting attention. We spend a great deal of time with the children, and our stories inspire them, while their stories, surprisingly enough, inspire us. So, when a pupil’s story benefits the lesson, let it be heard. Using names in class is another interesting technique: instead of simply saying, 'someone went from point A to point B', say, 'Lena went up the mountain'. That immediately gets their attention: 'Wow, our Lena went up the mountain!' Then there is pace, unexpected actions, switching activities, philosophical debates... You leave the classroom with your back soaked, but the effect is fantastic. So all of this works when you are passionate yourself and know how to inspire others," Mikhail Vaganov said.

Oscar Konyukhov, Head of Fedor Konyukhov’s Expedition Headquarters, presented geography as a school of life. According to him, expeditions are not merely a way to learn something new about the surrounding world but also an opportunity to test oneself. He spoke about the subject’s role in shaping character and how overcoming difficulties during journeys develops a young person’s character and sense of responsibility for the future of their country.

"An expedition teaches more than geography. It teaches life. In conditions of uncertainty, responsibility, the ability to make decisions and trust the team come to the fore. Russia is a country of vast distances and major challenges. We have the largest Arctic territory, and we are responsible for its ecology and exploration. We have the Franz Josef Land archipelago — 192 virtually unexplored islands, each with its own history. Yet few of our schoolchildren even know that they exist. That is why we need to tell children about our country and inspire them with our expeditions so that, when they return to their classrooms and neighbourhoods, they pass these stories on and set out on expeditions themselves. Not everyone has to climb Mount Elbrus, but everyone living in Russia should see these mountains," Oscar Konyukhov said.

The culmination of the session was a dialogue with Fedor Yurchikhin, pilot-cosmonaut and Hero of the Russian Federation. He shared his view of Earth from orbit and spoke about his path into the profession, the Olympic flame aboard the International Space Station and what a person feels in weightlessness. The cosmonaut admitted that geography had largely become the guiding star that led him into space, and that this love began at school, just like his love for his native land.

"Zoya Vasilyevna Gromova, my geography teacher — I still remember her lessons, and not only hers. I was fortunate: all our teaching was interconnected. Literature, biology, geography and history were all intertwined, and that has remained with me throughout my life because our teachers knew how to interest and inspire us. For example, my childhood dream was to travel to the Seychelles because we were told at school that the world’s largest nut grows there, which for many years was believed to come from the sea, and I wanted to see it. In the end, I did see it, and I was very happy. When I flew over Lake Baikal, I also remembered how we had been told about it at school. And nowhere else in the world has the kind of pink sunrises over Kamchatka that I photographed from space. It is school that instils a love for all of this," Fedor Yurchikhin concluded.

At the end of the meeting, its moderator, Maria Osadnik, Executive Producer and Host of the "Poyekhali!" travel show on Channel One and Host of the "Good Morning" programme, summed up the main conclusion: geography begins with the individual and teaches people to understand their place in the world, while subject teachers become the principal guides along this path.

The Forum of Geography Teachers and Students of Specialised Universities was held at the National Centre RUSSIA on 25 June. It brought together more than 800 participants from all federal districts and became another step towards making geography a modern and inspiring subject capable of educating young people who are ready for new discoveries, responsibility and the preservation of their country’s legacy.

The forum was organised by the National Centre RUSSIA in partnership with the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Russian Geographical Society, the V. S. Lednev Institute for the Content and Methods of Education and HSE University.