School-university cluster of disciplines developing the calculative-algorithmic component of computational thinking

Abstract

Problem relevance. Due to the multi-departmental concepts and the different content of educational programs of schools and universities, a serious problem arises of the succession and continuity of the education system along the “vertical” in general and subject teaching in particular. Another didactic problem is the need to ensure interdisciplinary connections of basic courses in the traditional disciplinary model of the educational process for more effective and expedient formation of certain student’s competencies sets. In this regard, it is of interest to create new organizational and meaningful approaches to training specialists without a significant restructuring of the traditional educational process.The purpose of the article is to substantiate a collaborative model of subject training of students in a school-university cluster of disciplines, which ensures the succession and continuity of education at school and university.Methodological basis. On the example of three disciplines “Programming”, “Computanional Methods”, “Information Technologies in Education”, a cluster model of teaching schoolchildren and students in the direction of training “Mathematics and Computer Science” has been designed and implemented. A feature of the considered school-university cluster of disciplines is a unified methodological base of target, meaningful and didactic elements that form and develop the calculative-algorithmic component of the computational thinking of students. The basis of the means and methods of teaching in the cluster is made up of cognitive techniques and a platform of “computational and algorithmic primitives” — solving elementary task template. A recursive approach is used in the methods of cluster subject teaching of schoolchildren and students.Results and Conclusions. The model of the created disciplinary cluster “Programming — Computanional Methods — Information Technologies in Education” contributes to the formation and development of the calculative-algorithmic component of the computational thinking of schoolchildren and students, and also forms their assigned groups of competencies. The school-university cluster of disciplines ensures real succession and continuity of school and university education, without unnecessary, sometimes artificial, labor-intensive additional organizational and methodological means and techniques. The approach under consideration can be used to create clusters of disciplines in various educational areas, allowing their meaningful collaboration and forming given competencies sets and schoolchildren’s and student’s cognitive abilities.