The session moderator, Alexander Veraksa, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education and Head of the Department of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy at the Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, immediately set a high standard: "Only by combining knowledge fr om science, psychology, and pedagogy, and bringing it to practice, can we create solutions that work and respond to the challenges of our time." This thesis became the leitmotif of the entire day.
The Digital Fork: Three Hours a Day in Front of a Screen at Age Six
One of the central themes was the digitalization of childhood. Yury Zinchenko, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University and Director of the Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, revealed alarming data fr om the large-scale longitudinal study "Growing Up Together," the only longitudinal study of its kind in Russia: modern preschoolers spend about three hours a day on devices.
"Russia is one of the first countries where sanitary regulations (SanPiN) allow a child access to the internet fr om six months of age. On one hand, it's convenient: the child is occupied with a tablet. On the other—the risk of communication disorders, autism spectrum disorders, reading difficulties, and the weakening of adult authority increases," warned Yury Zinchenko.
The scientist drew a historical parallel: if before, knowledge was transmitted strictly "top-down," from elders to younger ones, today grandparents learn to use gadgets from their grandchildren. This creates a fundamentally new, bidirectional reality, wh ere the key problem is not content, but the substitution of live communication with surrogate screen time.
Yamal Breakthrough: From 69th to 5th Place and Nomadic Kindergartens
Irina Novoselova, First Deputy Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, spoke about how scientific approaches are being implemented in life under the most challenging conditions. In the region, wh ere every fourth resident is a child and every tenth is a representative of indigenous peoples, a real educational leap has been made.
"We have risen from 69th place in the ranking of winners of the All-Russian School Olympiad to the 5th–6th position," stated Novoselova.
This success is the result of targeted work, including the creation of nomadic kindergarten and school groups, wh ere teachers travel to the tundra. Faced with the fact that children of reindeer herders did not understand standard tests with images of pineapples or window frames, the region developed special diagnostic materials based on their life experience and booklets for parents in three indigenous languages.
The Role of Society: From Publishers to Universities
Elfiya Dorofeeva, General Director of the publishing house "MOZAIKA-SINTEZ," emphasized the importance of systematically popularizing scientific results among teachers and parents, calling for a "junction of theory and practice." As an example, she spoke about a large-scale project – the All-Russian Forum of Preschool Workers "Orientiry Detstva" (Childhood Benchmarks), which brought together over 6,000 educators on one platform this year. The publishing house serves as a platform for testing and implementing new pedagogical approaches focused on fostering initiative, creativity, and social responsibility in children.
"Children have changed, the world has changed. The approaches of Montessori or the Soviet system are no longer sufficient. We need to form a personality that is proactive, creative, and capable of placing public good above personal," Elfiya Dorofeeva drew the audience's attention to an important scientific term – the Space for Child Realization.
The speaker separately emphasized the significance of developing specialized educational technologies to support bilingualism in multi-ethnic regions. If a family purposefully engages in multiple languages—that's development. But if a child hears Russian for the first time at school—that's a problem. The task is to preserve culture without harming cognitive development.
Aidar Kalimullin, Director of the Institute of Psychology and Education at Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, focused on the organizational and managerial aspects of conducting scientific research in the field of teacher education, especially at its intersection with psychology. He highlighted a key problem faced by administrators of research projects at the level of universities and regional education systems: besides determining scientifically and socially significant topics, it is necessary to provide research with the necessary resources (material, personnel, time), organizational support, and methodological support at all stages—from design to implementation of results.
In this context, Aidar Kalimullin particularly noted the role of leading scientific centers as integrators and guarantors of research quality. Separately, he expressed gratitude to the Russian Academy of Education (RAO) and the Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research led by Yury Zinchenko for the provided scientific and methodological support. According to him, such support includes expert guidance, development of unified methodological approaches and standards, and creation of infrastructure for inter-university and inter-regional interaction, which is especially important for ensuring representativeness and reliability of results in the field of pedagogy and child psychology.
A Support Network Against Childhood Loneliness
One of the most resonant speeches was by Maya Bulaeva, Deputy of the Moscow City Duma and Director of the Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution "School in Nekrasovka," dedicated to the problem of childhood loneliness. She described this phenomenon as a "delayed-action mine under the country's human capital," emphasizing that a child's emotional state directly affects their academic performance, social adaptation, and future professional potential. The presentation included a pilot project on creating a support network for children experiencing isolation.
Technology and Innovation: A Window into a Child's Mind
Yana Smirnova, Associate Professor at the Department of General and Applied Psychology of Altai State University, presented the future of child diagnostics—mobile eye-trackers. These devices literally allow a glimpse into a child's mind, recording areas of attention, focus shifts, and joint attention with an adult—even in children with hearing or visual impairments. This is a powerful tool for creating individualized learning strategies, capable of translating science into specific practical recommendations for teachers.
The session at "Sirius" became a working platform for consolidating the efforts of science, education, government, and business. Participants agreed: the answer to the challenges of modern childhood lies in interdisciplinarity. By combining data from psychology, neuroscience, pedagogy, and management experience, we can not only respond to problems but also create advanced educational solutions that will help raise a successful generation.
Photo: Sergey Kulakov
Source: Photo host of the Congress of Young Scientists