Children see nature from the inside in pioneering scheme backed by En+

They learn far more too: how to make lapti - traditional bast shoes - measuring the level of chlorides in water, and what the inside of a dam looks like.

These sessions for school students are called Zapovednaya Smena (literally 'Nature Reserve Session'), a project organised with the support of leading energy and metallurgy company En+.

In 2017 Russia celebrates the centenary of the creation of its remarkable national system of nature reserves.

The first zapovednik, or 'strict nature reserve', was set up in one of his last acts by Tsar Nicholas II.

Today En+, with production facilities often bordering reserves and national parks, created the educational project Zapovednaya Smena for participation by socially active school students, interested in science and ecology, from any Russian town.

The educational sessions are held across the country, from the Russian Far East to the Caucasus, and the young people do not only learn about nature and industry, they also study cultural traditions of various regions of Russia, folklore and crafts.

On Krasnoyarsk hydropower plant. Pictures: Natalia Kobets

One of these educational sessions was held in Krasnoyarsk, at Stolby reserve which is unique also because of neighbouring large industrial enterprises such as Krasnoyarsk hydropower plant, Russia's second largest in terms of capacity, and several metallurgical production facilities. 

A group of 25 school students from Siberian cities spent several days right in this magnificent  reserve, at the Narym scientific and educational complex. 

Researchers from Stolby reserve showed the children how phototraps work, taught them how to tell footprints of different animals, and about the useful properties of plants. 

The director of Stolby reserve, Vyacheslav Shcherbakov, noted: 'It will be today's teenagers who will need to fix mistakes made by older generations, so our aim is to familiarise children with importance of nature.' 

Children from small cities in Irkutsk region, Tulun and Baikalsk, along with others from Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva republic, Krasnoyarsk and Divnogorsk, a city where a large hydropower plant is located, gathered at Stolby reserve. 

Children see nature from the inside in pioneering scheme backed by En+. Pictures from Stolby Nature Reserve: Natalia Kobets

Despite being very close neighbours, children from Divnogorsk were visiting the power plant for the first time. 

Here they learned how hydraulic units work, how the monitoring system of the hydropower plant functions, and they also went inside the 124 metre high dam on the Yenisei River. In particular, they saw the technological tunnel where various sensors are installed. 

The trip to the hydropower plant is the first stage of the 'industrial' part of the session at Stolby: En+ tries to show that humans can interact with nature, solving evolutionary aims and trying to cause as little damage to the environment as possible at the same time. This is why a reserve and large industrial enterprises can be co-existing  neighbours. 

How nature helps people to generate power, how people use power and how to establish careful relations with each other - these are the three stages of industrial programme of the En+ educational sessions.

The young people were shown how the workshops of Krasnoyarsk metallurgical plant operate. They were shown how parts of cars, trains and airplanes are born from liquid aluminium, and they had the opportunity to conduct chemical analysis of water used in the production cycle. 

Samples collected at the premises were studied for chlorides. Employees of the laboratory taught children how to use professional equipment and chemicals, and to calculate amount of chemical substances. It turns out that it requires thoroughness, patience and skills to pour just one millilitre of chemical substance to shut the bulb with a sensor on time...

The trip to the hydropower plant is the first stage of the 'industrial' part of the session at Stolby: En+ tries to show that humans can interact with nature, solving evolutionary aims and trying to cause as little damage to the environment as possible at the same time. Pictures: Natalia Kobets

Liliya Golovkova, a high school student from Divnogorsk, said: 'I have been  to Stolby as a tourist, but now I've learned so much about the reserve that I want to visit it more often. And of course I look at it differently now. I also enjoyed putting together a torch: I worked on a lathe machine for the first time, and cut metal; I was measuring, and drawing 3D models! Girls are not taught that at school but it was so exciting! Most importantly our torch is actually working!' 

Denis Polugalov, a teacher at lyceum Number 1 in Kyzyl, said: 'I don't know how it will impact on our pupils' choice of occupation, but it greatly increases their horizon of opportunities because they can see absolutely different specialists - from foresters to metallurgists.'

En+ is planning to conduct 20 such sessions across Russia, in natural parks and reserves as well as large industrial enterprises such as production facilities, hydropower plants and even Plesetsk cosmodrome, where special permission is needed to enter. 

It provides encouragement for pupils of schools that are residents of the 'School of the New Generation' programme. It allows school students to broaden their knowledge and make them more independent, to learn to be more responsible towards nature, and to find their place in the new economy.

En+ is planning to conduct 20 such sessions across Russia, in natural parks and reserves as well as large industrial enterprises such as production facilities, hydropower plants and even Plesetsk cosmodrome, where special permission is needed to enter. Pictures: Natalia Kobets

* Stolby is a natural reserve in Krasnoyarsk region, established in 1925 on the initiative of local residents to preserve the nature around the area's remarkable Syenite rocks.

The reserve is over 47 hectares in size. There is 828 types of plant, 213 varieties of bird, and 61 species of mammal. 

* Stolbism is a social movement that unites climbers.

The first Stolbyists appeared in Krasnoyarsk over 150 years ago, climbing the rocks here and establishing new routes to the peaks.

It gave birth to one of Russia's strongest climbing schools.