CREATING A STEAM-ORIENTED ENVIRONMENT IN NUS UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE LESSONS AS A FOUNDATION FOR SYNERGY BETWEEN PHILOLOGICAL AND STEM DISCIPLINES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of creating a STEM-oriented environment in Ukrainian language lessons. It argues that the synergy between philological and STEM disciplines in secondary education institutions offers an opportunity to implement interdisciplinary connections that contribute to the development of students’ scientific worldview and a holistic understanding of the world. At the same time, it ensures the integration of educational innovations, particularly the introduction of STEM education as a core element of modern pedagogy to ensure equitable access to quality education for the younger generation, which serves as a source of social and cultural initiative, creative evolution of thinking, and activities.
Based on the potential integration of natural sciences, mathematics, technology, and linguistic-literary education, a classification of linguistic exercises based on STEM-oriented texts is proposed: exercises for developing cognitive skills; exercises for cultivating research skills; exercises aimed at fostering engineering thinking; and exercises that enhance the ability to make creative functional decisions and promote innovation (improving existing products, processes, and systems). The goals of using each of these groups of exercises based on STEM-oriented texts are defined.
Examples of STEM-oriented texts for linguistic exercises are provided, taken from popular science publications and the textbook "Ukrainian Language" for 7th-grade students of secondary schools, which teachers can use to create a STEM-oriented environment in Ukrainian language lessons. It is noted that while most textbooks demonstrate traditional yet qualitatively improved approaches to selecting STEM-oriented texts and linguistic tasks, this trend has not yet become mainstream in the creation of textbooks for the linguistic-literary educational field in NUS.
The conclusion emphasizes that during various forms of professional development for teachers in the linguistic-literary educational field within the postgraduate pedagogical education system, attention should be focused on the need to enhance subject-methodological competence, particularly improving the ability to select texts for linguistic exercises for NUS students based on the principles of the STEAM-oriented approach.