Moscow Region schoolchildren are being directed towards natural sciences.

This year, 13% more graduates chose to take the physics exam on the Unified State Exam, and their scores were higher than the national average. "Considering our students' demand for studying natural sciences, we launched a pilot program to implement an in-depth educational program. For this purpose, we established the regional center "Spektr" at the P.L. Kapitsa Phystech Lyceum in Dolgoprudny," Bolataeva continues.

The curriculum is offered in several formats. At their schools, students spend three hours a week solving advanced problems. The classes are conducted as part of a group project, but, as the regional Ministry of Education press service explained to RG, they are considered mandatory for the entire class, not just those pursuing a career in physics. In addition to the group projects, students are given the opportunity to attend intensive courses in experimental physics at the P.L. Kapitsa Phystech Lyceum. "While schools focus on theoretical problems, we want to give children the opportunity to work in an experimental setting. For this purpose, we selected the best problems from the All-Russian School Olympiad," says physics teacher and head of the Phystech Lyceum's experimental physics laboratory, Maxim Klepikov.

Students are also offered a lecture course led by faculty from the Phystech Lyceum and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. The program includes over 15 advanced topics, ranging from kinematic equations to calculating complex electrical circuits. "The main principle by which schools were selected to participate in the project was their desire to join," the Ministry of Education emphasized.