Organization of teaching the "Project activity" in the RUT (MIIT)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the author's practical experience in teaching the discipline "Project Activity" at the Institute of International Transport Communications (IMTC) of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) in 2021-2023. Project activity, as an educational technology, is aimed at developing students' thinking/reflection skills through the formation of the ability to identify and solve a problem. The skills that students acquire in the process of learning project activities are universal, therefore, the teaching methodology and tools mastered by students can be successfully integrated into various humanitarian educational programs, including educational programs on history. The article provides a detailed classification of student projects, provides a detailed description of the RUT (MIIT) Project Activity Model and those methods (tools) that are used in the learning process. The most important from a methodological point of view are diagnostic projects implemented in the 1st semester in the 1st year, therefore they are described in the article in as much detail as possible (examples of the results of students' work are given). A survey of first-year students, who studied the discipline Project activity in the 1st semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, showed that the main tasks of project activity, such as stimulating students' motivation to study and the formation of universal meta-subject competencies, can be formed in the learning process and during one semester, within the framework of those academic hours, which are usually allocated for the PD discipline in the "History" field of study. At the same time, the most useful tools from the point of view of students are those that allow you to find out how everything really works, and what is the root cause of the problem; a problematic interview; the "5 why" method and the trees of current reality (root cause analysis).