STEM technology-based model helps create an educational environment for developing students' technical and creative thinking

Abstract

For successful technology adaptation today, individuals need not so much acquired experience and knowledge as certain personality traits in the form of skills, competencies, and abilities for collaborative problem solving, as well as achievement motivation and self-development. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model for the formation of personality traits associated with the development of technical and creative thinking. The study was conducted using the modeling method and a psychodiagnostic approach based on the characteristics of creative thinking. An experimental study was conducted with a sample of 120 students from Plekhanov Russian College of Economics. The age range of the respondents was from 19 to 21 years. The results showed 1) the characteristics and dynamics of students' value systems and creative thinking, 2) a developed program for the development of intrinsic motivation, 3) a model for designing a pedagogical environment for students' engineering and creative thinking in education STEM; 4) testing the developed programs and models. The results also showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the development of students' intrinsic motivation and the reorientation from normative-limited to creative-free thinking. Considering the results of this study, it was concluded that the model developed by the authors helped to shape and develop students' engineering and creative thinking. Implications for further research and teaching are drawn.