Education for Sustainable Development in Training of Future Biology Teachers for Research Activity: An Applied Aspect

Abstract

The article presents the experience of creating an innovative format of extracurricular training of applicants as a means of implementation of education for sustainable development – the experimental group “Cytoecologist”. The functioning of this format is based on the implementation of selected principles of STEM-education and open education of applicants. To implement these principles in the training of specialists, the group leader uses a number of formats of students’ activity that are not inherent in traditional education. Among them are dynamic temporary microgroups for experimental search; format “information activities”, Internet surfing, WIKI format, educational coworking or collaboration in space. The pedagogical experiment consisted of two parts. The first part is to find out the state of implementation of research skills by biology teachers in practice, which included determination of the level of their self-realization and interest in the organization of research activities of students. The second part is to find out the effectiveness of the presented experience of creation of a scientific student group “Cytoecologist”, within which the implementation of education for sustainable development by means of research activities of future biology teachers is carried out. A survey of graduates of the group shows that the basic principles of the group provide the formation of a stereotype of a specialist-researcher, and the vast majority of respondents (95%) use research skills in their professional activities, one of the directions of which is education for sustainable development. The experience of creating a research group of students presented in the article is the result of many years of scientific research of authors (teachers-practitioners of leading universities of Ukraine). This acquisition is original and is being published for the first time, and the obtained positive results give grounds to recommend it for implementation in the practice of training biology teachers in Western Europe.