Introducing secondary-school pupils to the fascinating world of geology is the aim of the CU Faculty of Science’s Internet-based correspondence seminar Kamenožrout (‘Rockbiter’, after the Neverending Story character). Participants can look forward to tasks prepared for them by experts from the CU Faculty of Science and other geological centres in Prague. Apart from the Czech-language version of the course, the organisers are now preparing versions in English and Russian. The most successful participants do not have to sit university entrance exams.
Every year the Kamenožrout team publishes a set of tasks on the seminar website that have been prepared by geology students. Every registered participant can then get down to work. Completed tasks are then assessed by geology students. “Not only do the most successful participants receive prizes and a certificate for completing the course, which also confirms their acceptance for geology studies without the need to sit entrance exams, they also have the opportunity to take part in work experience at the CU Faculty of Science, the Czech Academy of Sciences or the Czech Geological Survey so that they can become actively involved in research,” says Dagmar Sedliaková, a student and one of the project coordinators.
Kamenožrout has offered semester-long, Internet-based courses to secondary-school students (and, indeed, geology enthusiasts of all ages) since September 2012. The following academic year saw the first successful participant starting their studies at the faculty, their excellent knowledge of geology having ensured that they didn’t have to go through the stress of entrance exams.
The course has recently also attracted attention from abroad, inspiring students to develop an English and Russian version. “We’ve started cooperation with the CU Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies. We passed the tasks on to foreign students learning Czech and one keen student from Zimbabwe got through the assignment and completed the tasks. He even finished second overall. This gave us the idea to translate the course into other languages,” says RNDr. Jakub Trubač, the Kamenožrout project’s specialist guarantor.
However, the Kamenožrout team doesn’t want to restrict itself to the virtual world. Starting in June it plans to take its ‘geoshow’ on tour around Czech and Slovak secondary schools. “We’ve prepared a set of interesting geological experiments and an interactive presentation on what geology is good for, how it is used in practice etc. If schools are interested, all they have to do is contact us and we go and visit them,” adds Dagmar Sedliaková.
Over the rest of the year the Kamenožrout team also organises themed excursions and public lectures on geology and related subjects. Recordings of these can be found online.
