Nataliya V. Petrenko

The article discusses the problem of training future engineers in terms of building up their general and professional competence. The urgency of this problem is due to the request of the state and society for training highly qualified specialists. The authors analyze conditions for the development of general and professional competence among students of engineering specialties. The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to train engineering personnel at the present time, taking into account the rapidly changing needs of society, the state, and the economy in such personnel. Satisfaction of this need can be ensured exclusively by improving the quality of training of future engineers, primarily by developing their general and special competences. The aim of the study is to analyze the role of natural science disciplines in the formation of the professional competence of future engineers. Research objectives include: characterization of the process of studying natural science disciplines from the perspective of their content, formed in the study of knowledge and ideas; research on the role of natural science disciplines in the formation of the professional competence of future engineers. Within the framework of the study, a systematic approach was applied, which considers competency as a characteristic of a person and a combination of knowledge, abilities, skills, value orientations and work experience. The main results of the study are presented in the form of an identified set of methodological and organizational conditions that ensure the formation of professional competence of future engineers through the study of natural science disciplines. The formation of common and special competences among future engineers is achieved through the formation of comprehensive ideas of the objects of the world around them. Conditions for this are created when studying natural science disciplines. An analysis of the specifics of the content of natural sciences in terms of the possibility to build up general and professional competence of engineering students is presented. The theoretical significance of the study is due to the systematization of knowledge and ideas about the role of natural sciences in the formation of the professional competence of engineering students, the possibilities of the modern education system to ensure a higher level of professional competence. An overview of various authors’ opinions on the conditions for the formation of general and professional competence of engineering students is presented. The practical significance of the study is due to the fact that the identified conditions for training future engineers through the study of natural sciences make it possible to ensure a high level of professional competence among future engineers without transforming the educational process, but only by changing the forms of organization of educational activities. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the work presents a description of the methodology for developing general and professional competencies in engineering students through the study of natural science disciplines.

The study of the development of different types of thinking in university students is quite relevant today. In the modern conditions of a rapidly changing reality, it is important to train specialists of a new type, capable of acting on the basis of flexible algorithms, independently designing new methods, algorithms and types of activity. The development of such abilities is determined by the special type of thinking – inventive thinking, the development of which in specialists requires new approaches and methods in training. The development of inventive thinking can also be determined by the content of training. The article presents the study of the problem of developing inventive thinking in university students, that is, thinking that allows them to critically evaluate incoming information and transform it, thereby applying new activity algorithms, rather than copying existing ones. Training of personnel who can quickly solve complex and non-trivial problems, transform existing algorithms and sequences of actions within the framework of educational, work and other activities is relevant. At the present stage, there is rather weak methodological support of teachers who train students in educational organizations of higher education system, in terms of developing inventive thinking. The aim of the study is to analyze the conditions for developing inventive thinking among students of educational organizations of higher professional education, including within the framework of studying disciplines of the natural science cycle. The following tasks were solved: approaches to the problem of developing inventive thinking were analyzed; pedagogical conditions for the development of inventive thinking (organizational, conditions of the content of training, methodological conditions) were identified. The potential of the content of natural science disciplines as one of the means of developing inventive thinking was analyzed. In the course of the work, a number of pedagogical conditions was identified that could contribute to the development of inventive thinking. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that the work systematizes approaches to defining and understanding the essence of inventive thinking. An approach to understanding inventive thinking is presented: both as an integrative quality of the individual and as a system of competences formed in the process of learning and other activities. The main conditions for the development of inventive thinking are identified. The practical significance of the presented study lies in the fact that in the course of the work, recommendations were given for the development of inventive thinking of students in the framework of university training.