AUTHOR PROJECT METHOD FOR DIAGNOSTIC ENVIRONMENTAL COMPETENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE

Abstract

Urbanization, the irresponsible consumer attitude of man towards the surrounding reality, the depletion of non-renewable natural resources, the reduction of biodiversity,
determine the formation and upgrading of environmental competence from primary school age. This, in turn, poses another challenge for modern teachers: how to diagnose the level of environmental competence at an initial stage? Based on theoretical and empirical research in the field of pedagogy and psychology, the following trend stands out: in the modern educational discourse, there is a lack of variability in the methods for researching environmental competence at primary school age. It is necessary for specialists in the field of elementary pedagogy to take into account this alarming statistic and direct the research marker to the creation and testing of methodologies for diagnosing the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes mastered in the educational subjects closely related to the formation and upgrading of environmental competence (" Native knowledge", "Environmental world", "Man and nature").
In the specifics of the problem under consideration, the article interprets projective methods as a reliable component of pedagogical diagnostics, helping to obtain individual results. Namely, the application of projective methods allows shortening of the distance between the researcher and the researched person, freedom and combinability in the answers, manifestation of individuality to the researched problem.
The article proposes a standardized version of a projective methodology for researching the environmental competence of elementary school students. Scientific - the research goal of the proposed methodology is to examine the students' skills for ecological forecasting of the results of their own activity and of the activity of others (people, natural objects, processes and phenomena). The proposed diagnostic procedure is a modification of S. Rosenzweig's methodology for researching frustrations, children's version. The projective methodology is composed of 16 situations in two modifications - for boys and for girls. In the first modification, the main characters are girls, in the second – boys. The situations are grouped into two modules (in the first, the child is required to respond to a direct accusation, and in the second, a response to an insurmountable obstacle). In order to provoke sincere and spontaneous responses from the studied students, each individual situation is shaped like a playing card.
The results obtained from the proposed methodology can effectively help to diagnose environmental competence in primary school age, as well as serve as a starting point for future scientific research in the field of environmental education.