Individualization and digitalization of creative development of students in chemistry lessons

Background. In the context of increasing robotization and digitalization of most of the routine and algorithmic types of human activity, the problem of the creative development of each child and the individualization of education in a public school, especially in the field of natural science education, arises.

The aim. To study the prerequisites and opportunities for digitalization of the creative development of students as a means of increasing the reflexivity of their mental activity in solving creative problems and individualizing the educational process in a public school based on the subject of chemistry.

Methods. At the first stage of the study, a survey of chemistry teachers was used. At the second stage, diagnostic tasks in chemistry were developed to verify the identified stereotypes; at the third stage, ways were studied to overcome stereotyped ideas in chemistry by schoolchildren; and at the fifth stage, the possibility of digitizing mental actions using the CREO_DATUM computer program was studied.

Results. Of the 70 different variants of erroneous ideas in the school chemistry course, 18 thinking stereotypes turned out to be the most common. The possibility of overcoming stereotypes is not associated with additional classes and explanations of teachers, but with the independent solution of creative tasks by students, since in this process the reflection of schoolchildren develops, which is a condition for overcoming stereotypes. The optimal time in the classroom for students to complete short creative tasks is 10–12 minutes. It is sufficient to measure such creative actions of students as divergence, criticality, uniqueness. To digitize the mental activity of students when solving creative problems in chemistry and to automate the construction of graphs for the creative development of each student, the CREO_DATUM program was developed and tested.

Conclusion. Long-term studies of the possibility of using subject-creative tasks based on the material of a school chemistry course for the development of creativity and reflexivity of students serve as a rationale for designing digital means for individualizing the creative development of students.

1. The future of jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum. URL: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf [date of access: 20.01.2022].

2. Gottfried AW (ed.). Home environment and early cognitive development: Longitudinal research. Academic Press; 2013.

3. Black-Gutman D, Hickson F. The relationship between racial attitudes and social-cognitive development in children: An Australian study. Dev Psychol. 1996; 32(3): 448-456. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.32.3.448

4. Greenfield PM, Bruner JS. Culture and cognitive growth. IntJ Psychol. 1966; 1(2): 89-107. doi: 10.1080/00207596608247117

5. Mollon J, Knowles EEM, Mathias SR, Gur R, Peralta JM, Weiner DJ, et al. Genetic influence on cognitive development between childhood and adulthood. Mol Psychiatry. 2021; 26: 656-665. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0277-0

6. Saracho ON. Cognitive styles in early childhood education. JRes Child Educ. 1988; 3(1): 24-34. doi: 10.1080/02568548809594784

7. Gottfried AE. Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students. J Educ Psychol. 1990; 82(3): 525-538. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.82.3.525

8. Bespalko VP. The components of pedagogical technology. Elements of the theory of learning process management. Moscow: Znanie; 1971. (In Russ.).

9. Stepanov SYu, Orzhekovsky PA, Ushakov DV, Ryaboca IV, Gavrilova EV, Morozova OA, et al. Digitalization of education: psychological, pedagogical and valeological problems. Moscow: MSPU; 2021. (In Russ.).

10. Guilford J, Hoepfher R. The analysis of intelligence. NewYork: McGraw-Hill Book Co; 1971.

11. Haim K. Kreatives lösungsorientiertes Experimentieren – KLEx. Eine Experimentierphase im divergent-lösungsorientierten Unterrichtsverfahren. Praxis der Naturwissenschaften Chemie in der Schule. 2013; 4(62): 34-37.

12. Orzhekovsky PA, Stepanov SYu, Mishina IB. On the continuity of assessment of development in students of reproductive and creative thinking actions. Lifelong education: The 21st century. 2019; 3(27): 28-39. (In Russ.).