GENERATION Z STUDENTS: EDUCATIONAL ISSUES

Abstract

The article highlights the psycho-physiological and cognitive changes in the youth life due to the intensive digital surrounding. The state, behavior peculiarities, student qualities and motivation of a Generation Z student is pointed out. The main ideas of “Theory of Generations”, presented by the American scientists V. Strausse and N. Howe, are analyzed, and the classification of the generation changes is formed. Investigation is based on questioning of 150 students of the first year of studying at the Foreign Languages Faculty of Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University. The aim of the questioning was to define the peculiarities while preparing, analyzing and persuing the educational material by a modern student due to subjective attitude to the usage of interactive form of studying, implementation of a personality-orientated educational model. Results show that the majority of students uses Google as the main informational resource while studying, prefer mixed form of education, are interested in non-standard, creative presentation of the theoretical material supported with presentations, illustrations, tables and cannot imagine their life without the Internet. Achieved results uncover new situation in the educational space that is closely related to the presence of Generation Z students. It is defined that Generation Z students have their own characteristics which influence their attitude to the studying process, in particular, and education, in general. The idea of clip thinking is analyzed as a new algorithm of the information perception. The attention is drawn to the key aspects of the professional way of preparing Generation Z students for digital space. Pedagogical recommendations are provided to improve educational organization of the studying process. The effectiveness of the students studying correlates with the teachers’ awareness of the priorities, values and cognitive characteristics of the modern youth. The implementation of the personality-orientated studying model into modern educational process forms the background for the realization of educational aims and tasks.