#sons2024: The national event of Poland

There were 39 presentations at the 13th Polish festival "Science on Stage" (Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, September 22-23, 2023), taking place under the Honorary Patronage of Przemysław Czarnek, Minister of Education and Science, financed by the state budget, allocated by the Minister of Education and Science under the "Social Responsibility of Science II" Program, including the two workshops mentioned above.
53 teachers took part in the festival, including 24 teachers with teams of their students. With a few exceptions, it was the student teams that presented the projects submitted to the festival competition. The Festival Jury, composed of teachers of all levels of education and teaching all science subjects, assessed 32 projects submitted to the festival competition, selected as part of local festivals, often of an informal nature, taking place in the close vicinity of their schools.

The results of this competition are available in the Jury protocol on the festival website, where the festival program, media coverage, photos and recordings of festival presentations are also posted, which can serve as examples of good practice. Information about the festival was widely disseminated, among others: thanks to reports from Channel 3 of the Polish Television, the media patron of the festival, and the Polish Press Agency. Therefore, the festival presentations were additionally followed by 279 Internet users on the first day of the festival and on the second day by 196 and 157 Internet users, respectively, on two channels, thanks to the Internet broadcast.

The main theme of this year's festival during workshops and presentations beyond competition was support for cooperation and exchange of experiences between teachers, also on an international scale. Both during workshops and breaks for meals and coffee, as well as during the time dedicated to the festival program, teachers devoted a lot of time to discussions, new educational ideas and the exchange of experiences. These discussions, for obvious reasons only partially recorded, emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary teaching, improving the quality of education also by reducing the minimum curricula for science subjects in order to free up more time for pupils to carry out experiments and practical projects. Teachers argued that this would result in pupils' greater activity and creativity, their initiative to expand their interests in exact and natural sciences, to independently expand their knowledge, and to create their own projects to popularize science during extracurricular time. As a result, it will better prepare pupils for future activity in science, industry or entrepreneurship, thus contributing to bridging the generation gap, and at the same time creating a basis for innovation and new technologies. However, the National Steering Committee of the festival promised teachers greater support for the local festivals they organize, which take place in the close vicinity of their schools.

Report: Prof. Dr. habil. Grzegorz Musiał