Practical Implementation of the International Project “Elements of Nature: Life in the Harmony of Being”

Students of TNMU Faculty of Medicine traditionally organize environmental events for Ternopil schoolchildren as part of the international project “Elements of nature: life in the harmony of being”, which is implemented jointly with the University of Rzeszów (Poland) as part of the Baltic University Program (Sweden).

Since the day of its establishment, the goal of this project has been not only to provide the young people with the knowledge about the interaction of man and nature, but also to develop valuable beliefs, a certain orientation and an active life position regarding the awareness of ecological value in the unity of the natural environment and man.

In January-April 2023, 2nd-year students of the Faculty of Medicine – Bohdanna Dovhaliuk, Sofiia Homonets, Sofiia Chornii, Yaroslav Bilyk – organized educational events for students of the 4th, 7th and 8th grades of comprehensive school No. 6 and students 4th grade of school No. 4 of the city of Ternopil, where they presented the elements of nature, namely the element of Earth, the element of Water, the element of Air and the element of Fire in an interesting educational and cognitive form.

The elements of nature were presented in the form of informative and meaningful reports “Magic of the element Earth”, “Fire is a friend, Fire is an enemy”, “Who needs Air?”, “Water is life”, in which students highlighted the physical and chemical properties of the elements, their benefit and harm to living organisms and humans, drew attention to the use of the properties of fire, air, water and earth in medicine.

Students of the 7th-8th grades of secondary school No. 6 were told about helminths and their danger to the human body, and were shown the scientific and educational film “Dangerous helminths”. Using a light microscope, schoolchildren had the opportunity to examine the preparations of certain types of parasitic worms.

The theoretical material was presented in an interesting form. Pupils took an active part in solving crosswords and puzzles “Sun”, “Soil”, “Cloud, “Drop”. Among the students of the 4th grade of the comprehensive school No. 4, a confusing game “Where the droplet hid”, educational games “Yes-No”, “Erudit”, “I believe or not” was organized.

During the communication with the school community, medical students skilfully demonstrated experiments on the physical and chemical properties of air, water, earth and fire. Junior students watched with great pleasure the demonstration of such experiments as “Sea in a glass”, “Get out of the water dry”, “Pepper water”, “Lava lamp”.

Pupils of secondary school No. 6 were introduced to the elements of Air, Fire, and Earth. During the educational event, the students of the university vividly demonstrated to schoolchildren the possibilities of their use by humans, analysed the benefits and harms of these elements. Children of the 7th-8th grades had the opportunity not only to observe the conduct of interesting and exciting experiments: “Tablet for heartburn”, “Oxygen-free dome”, “Healthy breathing”, “Balloons”, but also to take part in their conduct.

With great interest, the children watched the educational and cognitive experiments of the Fire element: “Fiery foam”, “Incendiary smoke”, “Flame from water”, “Domestic volcano”, “Black fiery snake”, “Fiery breath”. Senior students from school No. 6 enthusiastically assisted in conducting these experiments in junior classes of school No. 4 and eagerly shared the knowledge gained after the environmental event held for them.

Events organized and conducted by TNMU students received positive feedback and approval from teachers and the authorities of the secondary schools. A number of the following educational events will contribute not only to increasing the environmental literacy of students, equipping them with the skills of economical and careful use of natural resources, forming an active, humane attitude towards nature, but will also contribute to the popularization of our university, and will contribute to the professional choice of future applicants.

“People are powerful and invincible as long as they are faithful to the laws of nature – known and unknown, not established by them. To actively influence nature, but to remain its children, to be the crown of its creation and the owner of its forces, to treat it carefully in a filial manner – this is the position we should take in the process of interaction with nature” – these words of the teacher V. Sukhomlynskyi should be a slogan in life and education of our youth.