Knowledge Day. The Presidential Library’s materials to facilitate the learning process

Knowledge Day is celebrated on September 1. The holiday has been existed since 1984. Traditionally, this day is considered the beginning of a new academic year for Russian schoolchildren, students, teachers and professors. On the eve of the holiday, the Presidential Library presents materials that will facilitate the educational process more interesting.

The Presidential Library forms a nationwide electronic resource, where books and periodicals, archival documents, newsreels, photographs, films and much more are stored in digital form. The institution's electronic collections today are approaching one million depository items. Particular attention is paid to literature, which is useful for the educational process, preparation of essays, term papers and theses.

The portal contains fascinating multimedia lessons, virtual excursions and exhibitions, educational films. During the classes, children enable to analyze historical sources and scientific literature, learn about rare documents from different eras, and also check the knowledge gained. Multimedia lessons are devoted to the Constitution, Russian history in the works of Russian writers, the electoral systems that existed in Russia, the Decembrist uprising, the law of Ancient Rus’ – Russkaa Pravda  and other topics.

The Presidential Library is implementing the educational project "Gosudarika". Its main goal is to familiarize schoolchildren in an accessible form with the national heritage that reflects the theory, history and practice of Russian statehood. There are seven main sections in total: "Presidential Chronicle", "State Symbols", "Constitution of Russia", "State Power", "Russian People", "Territory of Russia", "Russian Language".

The section "Video lectures" provides recordings of performances of famous scientists and artists. For example, pupils and students can learn many interesting facts about art. The lecture “Literature and Theater. Images and characters. Actor's View” by People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Burov tells about the history of Russian theater, about the specifics of training actors, about writers whose works were staged on stage. The history of the Russian ballet school is analyzed by Nikolai Tsiskaridze, People's Artist of Russia, rector of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, in his lecture “Russian Ballet School: Tradition and Modernity”. He focuses on the methods of training future ballet dancers, the peculiarities of teaching this type of art and current trends in the development of ballet education. The lecture "Dance and Destiny" by People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Vasiliev shares the story of how he came to ballet, tells about classes in a choreographic school, about his first performances.

Thanks to the video materials of the Presidential Library, one can get valuable information that is not in textbooks. For example, in the lecture “The Historian Reads Pushkin: “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish””, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Historical Regional Studies of the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University Elena Lelina suggests taking a fresh look at the well-known work of Alexander Pushkin. She tells the detailed story of the creation of "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish", analyzes the text and reveals the meanings of many outdated words.

The section "Video lecture to school" provides video works of master classes in humanitarian subjects, which were held in the Presidential Library for students of secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.

The Presidential Library’s materials facilitate schoolchildren and students, together with their mentors, to visit virtually various museums. Thanks to virtual excursions posted on the institution's portal, one enables, for example, to visit the legendary cruiser Aurora, stroll through the historic building of the Synod, which houses the Presidential Library today, learn about the Yulian Semyonov House-Museum, the State Memorial Museum of the Defence and Siege of Leningrad, Museum "Kobona: The Road of Life", a unique school museum "And the Muses Were not Silent ...", as well as with a number of temporary exhibitions that at different times were opened in the Presidential Library.

Intellectual and creative contests are held regularly for young users. For example, for schoolchildren, the Presidential Library organized an interactive Olympiad "Russia in the Electronic World" on the history of our country, social studies and the Russian language, for university students - a contest of student works.

The Presidential Library holds cultural and educational events for schoolchildren and students, including in the online format. Thus, September 2, 2020 will hold the Naval Knowledge Day, and from September 22 to September 24, 2020, the Knowledge Forum will be held, the theme of which is "Global Challenges in the Digital Age: Actual Problems."

The Presidential Library plans to actively interact with schoolchildren, students and their mentors in the future. New projects and events will be implemented to educate the younger generation.