RoboNewYears

Participants: Children aged 7-10 and 11-12.

Focus: This is a New Year party – but with robots! Participants will try their hand at robotics while helping Father Christmas (or Ded Moroz) mend delivery robots. For instance, students will guide them along a winter trail, learn to work with line sensors, and complete team tasks. At the end, students will deliver each other robotic souvenirs that they’ll be able to decorate to their taste and hang on their Christmas trees at home. The event will be held by engineers from ITMO’s Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics who will spark students’ interest in robotics and motivate them to learn more about the field.

When and where: At the ITMO campus on Lomonosova St. 9. At the moment, you can sign up for a RoboNewYears that will be held on January 9 for both age groups. For children aged 7-10, the event will be held at 10:30 am - 12 pm, and for older participants (11-12 years old) – at 12:30-2 pm.

How to join: Submit an application here and wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event.

A journey to the Antarctic

Participants: For students in grades 1-4 and 5-7. Participants will be divided into groups to solve tasks together.

Focus: This is a five-day-long winter journey with activities in different subjects: biology, chemistry, ecology, physics, as well as 3D printing, game development, and animation. Students will not only learn about the Antarctic, but also conduct experiments to discover more about this continent, even from thousands of kilometers away. For instance, they’ll learn how icebergs form by creating a mock-up from fresh water and sea salt, master 3D printing and create snowflake charms, while also learning why snowflakes can’t be symmetrical. What’s more, they’ll get to use Blender, a popular 3D modelling app, where they will animate the polar day, and learn several hacks and methods as they develop their own games. Finally, the participants will take a round-the-world journey in VR.

When and where: At the ITMO campus on Birzhevaya Liniya 14. The program covers five days from January 5 to January 10 (January 7 is a day off). Classes will be held from 11 am to 2:15 pm.

How to join: Submit an application here and wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event. 

Laser technologies workshop

Participants: For teens aged 12-17. Classes are held in groups of up to 3 people.

Focus: At the laser art workshop at ITMO, students can create unique Christmas tree ornaments from a small titanium plate and paint them with a laser brush! Guided by specialists from ITMO’s Institute of Laser Technologies, participants will draw their own sketches, learn to create patterns, and make their creations shine with all the colors of the rainbow with a laser. At the workshop, students will also get to know what laser physicists do and what knowledge they need in their work.

When and where: At the ITMO campus on Birzhevaya Liniya 14. Classes start at 12 and will be held on December 27 and 28, and January 10. 

How to join: Submit an application here and wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event.

Biotechnologies school

Participants: For students of grades 8-11. Classes will be held in groups of up to 15 students. 

Focus: Food is an important part of winter holidays and at this school, students will get to look at it in further detail! During the school, students will put on their lab coats and learn about the organisms that we interact with on a daily basis, even though we can’t see them. With support from experts of ITMO’s Faculty of Biotechnologies, students will conduct several lab assignments with microorganisms: collect samples, culture them on nutrient media, study colony growth, perform Gram staining of microbiological smears, and examine the results of their work under modern microscopes. These activities will paint a picture of a microbiologist’s typical work processes.

When and where: At the ITMO campus on Lomonosova St. 9. Classes will be held on three days (January 8-10) from 12 pm to 4 pm.

How to join: Submit an application here and wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event.

GameDev Unity intensive course

Participants: For teens aged 12-17. Classes are held in groups of up to 10 students.

Focus: The winter holidays are an opportunity to enjoy the video games you didn’t get the chance to play over the year. But what if you could also make your own game? Over the course of five days, students will build the VR app Chemical Laboratory from scratch: they’ll conceptualize their app, learn to create spaces and objects in Unity, write C# scripts that imitate chemical experiments, create visual effects and animations in Animator Controller, add music, sound effects, and a user interface in VR. This is a chance for students to try on several professional roles (game designer, chemist, designer, programmer, animator, and sound engineer) in under a week to find the one that interests them most.

When and where: At the ITMO campus on Birzhevaya Liniya 14. The program covers five days from January 5 to January 10 (January 7 is a day off). Classes will be held from 2:30 pm to 5:15 pm.

How to join: Submit an application here and wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event.

Unified State Exam courses

Participants: For school students in grades 10-11. Classes are held in groups of up to 18 students.

Focus: During the holidays, we have the chance to not only rest, but also boost our skills in specific narrow areas. This year, ITMO will host several superintensives on key USE subjects: Russian language, mathematics, and computer science. Here, students will get to tackle the hardest tasks with experts and test their skills.

The Russian language intensive will be all about writing a good essay: students will learn the structure and evaluation criteria, as well as the typical mistakes in this task. Moreover, they’ll get to write a practice essay and get it evaluated and commented on by a USE expert.

At the computer science intensive, students will focus on recursion and practice recursive functions in several USE tasks, learn game theory and solve USE tasks in Python, Excel, and manually, as well as get tips and lifehacks on quick solutions for several kinds of tasks. Participants need to be familiar with Python and Excel to join the course. 

At the mathematics intensive, students will focus on the 16th USE task, reviewing the main types of problems, optimal solutions and ways to present them, common mistakes, and evaluation criteria.

When and where: All the intensive courses are held online. Each lasts a single day, from 12 pm to 5:10 pm, with breaks. The computer science intensive is scheduled for December 29, the Russian language one – for January 8, and the math one – for January 9.

How to join: Submit an application for a course in Russian language, computer science, or mathematics. Wait for an email with details on how to participate in the event.