Russian Mathematical Surveys, 2024, Volume 79, Issue 4, Pages 747–749 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4213/rm10193e (Mi rm10193)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4213/rm10193e

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Summer schools in our country, combining lessons and lectures on some subject with entertainments, intellectual games, and sports go back to the 1960s. As is often the case, mathematicians and physicists were the first, and then other disciplines followed suit.

Among the schools that have survived till these days, one of the first was the Kvant Summer School, which greeted the first 50 high school students in Kazan as long ago as 1972. All these years Valentina Alekseeva Serova from the N. I. Lobachevsky Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of Kazan Federal University has been in charge of the organization of the school. Well known is the St Petersburg Summer Mathematical School organized in 1980 on the initiative of Sergei Evgen’evich Rukshin. The Kirov Summer Mathematical School, held annually since 1985 is iconic; its diving force is Igor’ Solomonovoch Rubanov. The Kirov school offers four tracks: mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. Subsequently, in the 21st century, new summer schools were organized in Kazan, ‘Spektr’ for high school students and ‘Dilemma’ for younger children. They are led by Lyudmila Lazareva and Aleksei Rusakov and welcome students from various regions. Not only children are trained in summer schools: teachers from many cities improve their skills as lecturers and assistants.

One of the schools of national significance is the Summer Mathematical School in Adygea, organized since 1995. High school students from Adygean Republic and other Russian regions are trained there. Over the years more than 5 000 students from 40 regions have been welcomed. Even in 2020, at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the School was not cancelled but was held online. In 2024, 120 high school students from 15 regions participated at the festive 30th Summer Mathematical School.

A remarkable feature of the Adygea summer schools is a particular creative spirit of cooperation between teachers and participants, and the high level and large amount of lessons. Students perform their tasks on everyday basis, some of which can bee deep results posed as exercises. Rather than on memorizing facts, the stress is made on methods for extracting information and applying it.

Coaches in the summer school are from Adyghe State University or come from various Russian regions, where they are well-known mathematics teachers, former winners of students’ mathematics olympiads, or university students who participated at Adygea summer schools in the past.

For many years the core teachers at the summer mathematical schools were members of the jury of All-Russian mathematical olympiads S. G. Volchenkov (P. G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University), L. A. Emel’yanov (Kaluga Branch of Bauman Moscow State Technical University), Yu. V. Kuz’menko (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Physics and Mathematics Lycée no. 5 in Dolgoprudnyi), and O. I. Yuzhakov (Center for Additional Mathematical Education in Kurgan). In various years the teaching staff at the summer schools included N. Kh. Agakhanov, A. N. Andreeva, V. I. Golubev, V. L. Dol’nikov, P. A. Kozhevnikov, D. G. Mukhin, M. Ya. Pratusevich, and S. E. Rukshin.

The curriculum of the summer mathematical school is traditionally split into two cycles. The first cycle, taking the first two weeks, is devoted to mathematical problems of the type proposed at olympiades and contests. Its content and complexity depend on the age and level of participants. During the first cycle classes take place in the atmosphere of continuous contest. The everyday rating, which reflects the results of the participants is announced after classes. Eight academic hours of classes are held daily from Monday till Friday, and there are also classes on Saturdays, before the lunch. Sundays are free. This cycle can also be split into two parts with different senior teachers. The cycle terminates with a test.

The second cycle takes the third week and includes special courses of choice on mathematics and its applications. Before it begins, the topics of the courses are announced and a presentation for to the participants is held. A participant can choose two special courses of six academic hours each, or a large one, of 12 hours. Lectures are given in the mornings, and the second half of each day is devoted to exercises and research projects. At the end of the cycle a poster conference is organized, at which the best results are presented as plenary talks.

Apart from mathematics classes, comprehensive development and leisure are given special attention. Popular lectures on other fields of science are traditional. For example, the participants forever remember Oleg Verkhodanov’s brilliant lectures on astrophysics.

Cultural and sporting events are celebrated throughout the whole period. These include traditional chess and soccer tournaments (it particular, girls’ soccer competitions are met with great enthusiasm), a table tennis cup, mountain trips, intellectual games, and master classes.

Our school cherishes its unique traditions. On weekends we organize arts festivals and days of Adyghe culture. At arts festivals teens make cardboard art objects on a given topic. During days of Adyghe culture they get acquainted with Adyghe traditions, culture, and history: listen to lectures, learn to dance Adyghe dances, master horse riding, get to know Adyghe cuisine.

Another tradition of our school is Mañana tournament, organized since 2008, on a game which was created in Europe in the 16th century and spread over the Americas in the 19th century. It is also called ‘balero’ in Mexico. The game consists in dropping a small wooden barrel with a hole in it on a spike attached to it. The special feature of this tournament at our summer schools is that every year L. A. Emel’yanov prepares a special set for the game, and the winner receives it as a prize.

The first summer schools were held in the Druzhba children’s camp close to Maikop on a bank of the Kurdszhips river, — they were organized on an initiative and with active support of the then head of Maikop Education Commission Yu. T. Mamyshev. Since the Adygean Sciences and Mathematics School was open, summer mathematical schools have been held with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Adygean Republic. Since 2001, summer schools take place on foothills, at the tourist base Mountain Legend of Adyghe State University. The organizers are currently Adyghe State University, the Adygean Sciences and Mathematics School, and the Polaris-Adyghe Educational Centre

Over the years, the Summer Mathematical School in Adygea became a key element of the system of identification and support of children with mathematical capabilities in Adygea and the whole South of Russia. This system includes a number of projects which are carried out by – or with the participation of – the Caucasus Mathematical Center of Adyghe State University, the Adygean Sciences and Mathematics School, and the Polaris-Adyghe Educational Centre: the November mathematical programme at the Educational center Sirius, the Summer Mathematical School in Adygea, the Young Mathematician All-Russia Shift at the Russian Children’s Centre Orlyonok, the Caucasian Mathematical Olympiad, and the Assara Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad.

As a result, a large number of high school students from many regions of Southern Russia are get attracted to mathematics, and for the first time in many years there are now winners of All-Russian mathematical olympiads for high-school students from Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Stavropol’; the gold medal winners of the International Mathematical Olympiad Timofei Kovalev (2020) and Danila Demin (2021) were identified and supported in the first years of their creative way.

Citation in format AMSBIB

\Bibitem{Mam24}
\by D.~K.~Mamyi
\paper Thirty years of Summer Mathematical Schools in Adygea
\jour Russian Math. Surveys
\yr 2024
\vol 79
\issue 4
\pages 747--749
\mathnet{http://mi.mathnet.ru//eng/rm10193}
\crossref{https://doi.org/10.4213/rm10193e}
\scopus{https://www.scopus.com/record/display.url?origin=inward&eid=2-s2.0-85211566413}