Very soon, on September 27, the opening of the Kvant Engineering Competence Development Center, created by the National Nuclear University MEPhI with the support of the Rosatom State Corporation, will take place. Teachers of the university and the University Lyceum 1511 will teach classes at Quantum, and children from 4 to 7 years old will study.
The book "After Three it's too Late", written by Japanese engineer Masaru Ibuka, became a bestseller at the time. And this is not surprising: its author rightly argues that kids have the ability to learn anything, and they do it easily, playfully, the main thing is to create a developing environment for them. However, usually we are talking about a musical or sports environment. It is customary to think about the development of engineering talents of children later – closer to graduation. MEPhI decided to correct the situation and, as the engineer-writer advised, "to develop in the child his limitless potential, so that there would be more joy in his life and in the world."
At Quantum, preschoolers will study robotics, architecture, design, English, chess – all those things that develop the brain, train the imagination and are necessary for engineers of the future. The lessons will last for half an hour and take place twice a week, they will be taught by teachers of MEPhI and University Lyceum No. 1511, on the basis of which Kvant opens. However, classes at the Center for the Development of Engineering Competencies cannot be called lessons. Rather, it is a creative search, an exciting game, an exciting adventure, thanks to which children will love science, become interested in engineering, learn what physical experiments are, what wonderful machines can be built from an ordinary constructor and believe in their own strength. It is planned to create two age groups where children of 4-5 and 6-7 years old will be engaged.
"Quantum" is a logical continuation of the trend of "seamless" engineering education. For example, almost all outstanding musicians started making music in early childhood. Engineering savvy, interest in research, and curiosity develop in the same way as a musical ear and a sense of rhythm. And the sooner you start training them, the better results you can achieve. For students of grades 5-7, MEPhI holds a Pre-professional Olympiad for novice engineers (PONIES) and the Rosatom KIDS meta-subject Olympiad, there is a Children's Engineering School at the University Lyceum No. 1511, where you can enroll from the fifth grade. And "Quantum" will arouse interest in engineering. Learning to think, build, create is possible (and necessary!) since early childhood.
