GlobalLab is launching the Global School Laboratory initiative with support of the Skolkovo Foundation. February 2013 GlobalLab received a grant from Skolkovo Foundation aimed at fostering research cooperation among schools worldwide.
After two years of cooperation last year GlobalLab signed an agreement with UNESCO. According to the Sk.ru interview with the GlobalLab president Tatiana Krupa, “at the present time cooperation of the entities is regulated by a preliminary agreement.” This agreement with the Institute of Information Technology in Education of UNESCO offers global opportunities for the GlobalLab. UNESCO works with more than 8000 schools in 175 countries. “In May UNESCO is holding an international seminar for teachers dedicated to the subject of informatisation in schools. We plan to participate in this event in Kazan,” said Tatjana Krupa.
GlobalLab connects schools and aids in cooperation in the fields of environment, natural sciences, geography, biology and ecology. At a later time the range of subjects will be augmented with physics, chemistry, mathematics, and humanities. The GlobalLab web site is a great tool for pupils to connect to other projects, propose their own project, and collaborate with people from all over the world.
Some research conducted by pupils is quite serious. One project deals with the subject of soil quality and its changes, which could be of interest to the ecology scholars. “In the near future Globallab plans to collaborate with UNESCO and study Volga region ecology. This program will involve all schools – members of our network – that are located in the region,” says Tatiana Krupa.
Boris Berenfeld founded GlobalLab project 20 years ago. The first version became a success: 300 schools from 30 countries joined the initiative. The lack of technological infrastructure and low Internet penetration at the end of the 1990s was a major setback for the project. Foundation Skolkovo supported IT-NIOKR in its effort to create a school research network, which evolved into the current system of global crowdsourcing. It took decades for the idea to come to fruition. According to Tatiana Krupa, Skolkovo grant was helpful in the search for unique project authors, scientists, and researchers interested in cooperation with schools and mentorship of young minds on their path to the science and grown-up life. GlobalLab plans to launch its first platform in September 2013 and integrate it with Russian and foreign school programs.