Proceedings of the Scientific Session

Associate Professor N. N. Preobrazhenskaya and A. N. Nikolaev, Candidate of Medical Sciences

In 1963, the Leningrad Sanitary-Hygienic Medical Institute held a scientific session devoted to the hygiene of school schedules and polytechnical and vocational training. Researchers and practitioners from 20 cities of the Soviet Union took part.

Twenty-four papers were presented at three meetings. Professor A. Ya. Gutkin (Leningrad) outlined ways of preventing fatigue and overload among schoolchildren, focusing chiefly on the rational organization of the school timetable. Professor G. M. Krakovyak (Leningrad) proposed a scientifically grounded schedule for the extended-day school. On the basis of experimental studies, Associate Professor A. P. Rodina (Leningrad) demonstrated the advisability of a 40-minute lesson in the fourth grade. Associate Professor N. I. Krivitskaya (Leningrad) noted the beneficial effect on schoolchildren of holding recess outdoors, especially when combined with moderately active games. B. S. Volkov (Moscow) emphasized the need for special physical-exercise breaks during lessons in the middle of the school day. T. A. Yappo (Moscow) presented the results of a study of the effect of the boarding-school schedule on pupils’ higher nervous activity.

A number of papers were devoted to the hygienic assessment of vocational training for schoolchildren in the trades of assemblers (Associate Professor N. N. Preobrazhenskaya, Leningrad), shoemakers (P. V. Izbavitelev, Minsk), lathe operators (L. G. Nedosekova, Kharkov), and doublers and winders (A. D. Khramtsova, Leningrad). N. P. Maslova (Moscow) showed that vocational training should take place in the morning and alternate with two days of classroom instruction.

G. G. Yastrebov (Moscow) studied the thermal protective properties of work clothing worn by students training in construction trades and offered recommendations to ensure the best possible thermal condition for students working under unfavorable hygienic conditions. K. P. Dorozhnova (Gorky) discussed changes in physical development and a number of functional indicators among tenth-grade students receiving vocational training in the metalworking industry. O. I. Dedabrishvili (Tbilisi) presented a hygienic assessment of vocational training in viticulture.

On the basis of a special study, O. V. Kaysina (Moscow) concluded that vocational training in agriculture at evenly spaced intervals throughout the year is preferable to a continuous period of 54 days. V. V. Maksimov (Chita) studied the intensity of energy expenditure during various kinds of agricultural work and made corresponding recommendations.

V. M. Levin (Leningrad) substantiated recommendations for preparing vocational guidance assessments for adolescent schoolchildren. E. S. Rutenburg (Leningrad) presented material on the effects of various factors in the workplace environment on adolescents. Having studied the conditions under which schoolchildren trained as assemblers in radio and electrical engineering workshops, O. B. Barsky (Leningrad) recommended that persons under 18 not be admitted to this occupation. V. M. Zubkova (Moscow), in an experimental study of metal cutting, demonstrated the need to limit its uninterrupted duration to 10 minutes for sixth- and seventh-grade students.

V. P. Khorobrykh (Moscow) noted that illumination of 150 lux from incandescent lamps in a fitting workshop is insufficient and that increasing it to 200–250 lux improves physiological indicators. Similar changes occur when illumination from fluorescent lamps is increased from 300 to 400 and 500 lux. M. N. Sevostyanova (Moscow) addressed several questions concerning the organization of home economics classes. M. I. Churyanova (Moscow) gave a hygienic assessment of various forms of self-service work by students in grades 5–8 of general-education and boarding schools.

The meetings were lively, and speakers in the discussions noted the considerable scientific and practical interest of the papers. The resolution adopted at the final meeting recognized substantial progress in developing the hygiene of school schedules and of polytechnical and vocational training for schoolchildren, and set out recommendations for the continued successful development of child and adolescent hygiene.