Keyword: «stem approach»

The challenges of modern society dictate new requirements for the development of the education system as a whole, as well as for the organization of the learning process at school. At the same time, there is a change in the model of understanding and assessment of educational achievements of students, new standards for the content and format of school education are being formed. In this context, it is necessary to search for new ways of forming and developing the functional literacy of students and its components. One of the priority areas in modern Russian education has become the development of natural science literacy of schoolchildren. The article presents an analysis of publications of domestic and foreign researchers on the problems of understanding the essence of natural science literacy of students, its formation and development in the education system. The object of the study presented in the article is the natural science literacy of students and the current state of its formation and development in the education system. The subject of the research is the approaches to teaching science disciplines and the conditions for the formation of science literacy competences. The purpose of the study was to determine, based on the study and analysis of domestic and foreign experience, the optimal conditions and the most effective approaches in the formation of the natural science component of the functional literacy of students in the implementation of educational programs of basic general education. The objectives of the study included the analysis of scientific and methodological literature reflecting the experience of foreign and domestic researchers on formation and evaluation of the development of natural science literacy; revealing the shortcomings of the theory and practice of science education, as well as the optimal conditions for the formation of the science component in the functional literacy of students. Theoretical methods were used in the study: the study of data from scientific and methodological literature, analysis and generalization. The authors of the article consider a number of shortcomings in the theory and practice of science education, the relevance of the effective use of certain approaches in teaching science disciplines to improve the level of achievements of Russian schoolchildren in the field of science literacy. The role of the Technopark as an innovative educational environment is revealed from the point of view of the formation of natural science literacy through the development of knowledge, skills and abilities of project-based activities of schoolchildren in the field of natural sciences. The article describes the optimal conditions for the formation of natural science literacy of students, as well as the experience of using the STEM approach as part of the implementation of an additional general educational and developmental program based on the Technopark of Universal Pedagogical Competences of the Altai State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University named after V.M. Shukshin.