Formation of Technical Thinking of School Children in the Activities of the Scientific and Technical Creation

Abstract

The authors provide a fragment of techniques describing the formation of technical thinking in schoolchildren of Form 6-11 at the lessons of Science and Technology Club. There are examples of tasks on Chemistry and Biology, as well as algorithms and algorithmic instructions for schoolchildren to cope with the assignment. It is proved that attending the club where schoolchildren are engaged in design, modeling, device assembly, and where they carry out physical and chemical experiments favour the formation and development of schoolchildren’s technical thinking and knowledge in natural sciences. The authors described the methodology for completing tasks of two types which are oriented towards the formation of technical thinking. The first type of tasks concerns modifications of devices, parts or substances used in the experiment. Tasks of the second type are aimed at creating a research methodology and developing working models. The authors offered the solution of the problem dealing with the natural carbon cycle. They used a chemical experiment as an example of the first type of tasks. For the second type of tasks, algorithms for the actions of the teacher and students are given, and an example of the task “How to get oil from sunflower seeds” is provided. Students suggest a way to distill the mixture of oil (vegetable fat) and solvent (petroleum ether), assemble the device, draw up a flow chart and carry out the experiment. It is noted that the Club’s program contains 32 lessons where students complete about one hundred tests and tasks that contribute to the formation of their technical thinking. Examples of such tests and methods for evaluating the results are given. It is proved that students who attend the Club improve their marks by 1-2 points in exact sciences compared with those who do not attend the Science and Technology Club.