Members of the teaching staff of the Department of Geography and Tourism of S. Toraighyrov PSU are the winners of the I International Essay Contest ‘My Innovative Lesson’ held by the Center for Training and Development (Astana).

The purposes of the contest are identifying the best works, demonstrating the results of professional practice of educators, providing opportunities to compete with their colleagues from other regions without leaving their home-institutions (i.e., remotely), disseminating best teaching practices, and helping teachers improve their professional skills.

Members of the Department of Geography and Tourism developed their models of innovative lessons: Dinara Yesimova, Head of the Department of Geography and Tourism, Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, developed an innovative lesson on ‘Geoecological Properties of the Natural Environment of Kazakhstan’; Antonina Tsaregorodtseva, Candidate of Geographic Sciences, Professor, made a presentation of a lesson on ‘Business Games as a Form of an Innovative In-class Lesson’; Gulmarzhan Kasenova, senior teacher of the Department of Geography and Tourism, demonstrated a model of the lesson on ‘Remote Journey: Famous Sights of the World’. The jury evaluated such criteria as individuality of the author's manner, the structure, individual style and expressiveness of narration.

S. Toraighyrov PSU members were among prize-winners of the Contest: Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, Associate Professor D.D. Yesimova, and Candidate of Geographic Sciences, Professor A.G. Tsaregorodtseva received the 1st place diploma, while senior lecturer G.K. Kasenova was awarded the 2nd place diploma.

According to the Head of the Department of Geography and Tourism, Candidate of Pedagogic Science Dinara Yesimova, 'The requirements to teachers are changing dramatically: nowadays, just giving a certain amount of knowledge is not enough; it is also necessary to teach the skills of solving creative problems, help students develop multidimensional consciousness, and self-actualization skills.’