Vinogradsky’s columns are known as a model of a microbial community for experiments in laboratory conditions. The article proposes a system of integrated use of Vinogradsky’s columns in the space of the Earth Science Museum as: a) a visual dynamic “living exhibit”, b) an interactive platform of the Youth Museum, and a mobile cluster for exhibitions and the Science Festival, c) a natural educational and methodological tool, and d) a laboratory naturalistic experimental setup. Making a series of Vinogradsky’s columns from different locations of the initial pedo-soil matrix of various compositions allows for a successful combination of scientific, experimental, educational, and demonstration-interactive tasks in the space of a natural science university museum. In the Earth Science Museum at Moscow State University (Hall 21 – East European Plain), a series of Vinogradsky’s columns has been developed, based initially on the materials of bottom sediments samples of pond reservoirs, selected by a team of novice nature explorers (students of Moscow State University and schoolchildren) as part of the project “Youth Museum” of Moscow State University. Two-year monitoring has allowed to obtain new data on the development of microbial communities and to arrange an original cluster in the hall and to present a series of columns at the All-Russian Science Festival.

As part of MSU’s Strategic Development Programme, the Youth Museum initiative is currently under development as a mobile-network project. The project consists of a system of interacting nodes, comprising a central site on the MSU campus and a network of regional subdivisions. The proposal suggests the use of mobile field museum exhibitions as an effective mechanism of interaction. In recent years, the aforementioned system was experimentally tested within the “Flotilla of Floating Universities” scientific and educational expedition. This project comprises a set of interrelated research, educational, training, artistic, and other projects. The direct and active involvement of students and schoolchildren led to the development of creative methods for the traveling exhibitions «Ancient Lukomorye» and «Living Matter in Geospheres», as well as to the methods of joint empirical and information gathering for the development of central and regional «Youth Museum» clusters. Materials were collected to create pilot versions of exhibitions, educational collections and the launch of interactive platforms at Tambov State Technical University: «Cretaceous Beach» («Palaeoecological Sandbox»), «Page of the Stone Chronicle» («Dissecting Table of a Beginner Palaeoecologist»), and others. These exhibitions are designed to ensure that they can be used effectively in educational and outreach activities on a wide range of topics. Students and schoolchildren will have the opportunity to conduct small-scale individual and collaborative research projects of varying levels of complexity using the platform format.

During ten field seasons, in the format of the scientific and educational expedition “Flotilla of Floating Universities”, whose concept is based on the synthesis of science and art, many researches and educational, volunteer and publishing projects and events have been implemented in the Volga region, the Caspian region, the Don region and the Urals. The research areas of the tenth field season in 2024 (Samara–Saratov Volga region) focused on: a) stratigraphic and astrochronological analysis of sections of Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments, b) studying the role of living matter in the evolution of geoecosystems with special attention to biosimilar bodies (paleosoils, hardgrounds), c) analyzing the distribution of cosmic matter in natural environments in the zone of the “Saratov meteor shower” in 1918, and d) the history of the Great academic expeditions in the 18th century (the Volga routes of I.I. Lepekhin, P.S. Pallas, and I.P. Falk). The key scientific and educational projects were a field meeting of the RAS Commission for the Study of the Heritage of Outstanding Scientists (V.I. Vernadsky section) and a field session of the Moscow Society of Naturalists (MOIP) on the Volsk–Saratov section of the expedition’s main route.