Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in

the Distance Learning Conditions

Nataliia V. Valko

1 a

, Viacheslav V. Osadchyi

2 b

and Liudmyla V. Kuzmich

1 c

Kherson State University, 27 Universytetska Str., Kherson, 73003, Ukraine

Bogdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University, 20 Hetmanska Str., Melitopol, 72300, Ukraine

Keywords:

Distance Education, STEM, Training, Course Creation, Education Process, Robotics.

Abstract:

For a number of reasons, in particular the introduction of urgent quarantine measures, a temporary change is

taking place in the format of full-time studies on distance learning. This requires a quick reorientation of the

teacher and students to use educational solutions to provide remote access to teaching material. The article

studies the requirements for building a distance course in order to quickly adapt full-time education to distance

learning. The features of the organization of distance STEM education are determined. The pedagogical and

technological aspects of supporting distance learning STEM are established. The problems that may arise

during the organization of distance learning are analyzed and models for overcoming them are considered. An

example of constructing a course in accordance with established requirements is given.

1 INTRODUCTION

Distance education is an important factor in acquiring

special competencies and a sufﬁciently powerful re-

source in the form of online learning skills (not just

communication) for further career development of

both students and teachers (Kuzminska et al., 2019).

The advantages of distance learning are obvious:

to study anywhere and anytime, to determine the

amount of information to be processed in a certain pe-

riod independently, the opportunity to obtain quality,

relevant knowledge, learning simultaneously in sev-

eral areas or combining with work and more. But

the effectiveness of these beneﬁts must be ensured

by a well-prepared course with different activities.

The materials for such course are signiﬁcantly differ-

ent from the materials of the full-time course, where

the teacher takes into account the characteristics of

the audience that listens to him, can supplement the

material with clariﬁcations, make an analogy, em-

phasize the features. Distance courses are planned

and prepared for a long time, have several iterative

changes. The differences between a quality distance

learning course and its hybrid replacement by “emer-

gency” distance learning are described in (Hodges

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0720-3217

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5659-4774

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6727-9064

et al., 2020). So the issue of effective transforma-

tion of the educational process, which would ensure

the construction of education in conditions of limited

access to educational institutions, is relevant.

Distance STEM education has the prospect of go-

ing beyond traditional educational institutions, pro-

viding equal opportunities for students to master mod-

ern research skills (Sharko, 2017). Therefore distance

STEM education can be considered as an alternative

approach to learning that can provide solutions to the

problems of science and mathematics learning. How-

ever, although the number of studies on distance edu-

cation has been growing recently, the study of the pos-

sibilities of distance STEM education is insufﬁcient.

In addition, there is the issue of ensuring permanent

access and effectiveness of distance STEM education.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The issues of distance education are sufﬁciently cov-

ered in scientiﬁc research. The study of the expe-

rience of developing distance learning courses has

shown that the issue has a fairly wide range of solu-

tions in organizational, methodological and resource

areas.

In Ukraine there are scientiﬁc schools exploring

the possibilities of distance education and the princi-

Valko, N., Osadchyi, V. and Kuzmich, L.

Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions.

DOI: 10.5220/0010928100003364

In Proceedings of the 1st Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology (AET 2020) - Volume 2, pages 34-43

ISBN: 978-989-758-558-6

ples of its organization. Works by Kukharenko and

Oleinik (Kukharenko and Oleinik, 2019), Vakaliuk

et al. (Vakaliuk et al., 2021), Yahupov et al. (Yahupov

et al., 2020) and others devoted to the develop-

ment of distance learning methodologies and the cre-

ation of distance learning systems. The issues of

effective organization of distance learning and dis-

tance learning technologies are devoted to the works

of Franchuk and Prydacha (Franchuk and Prydacha,

2021), Kravtsova et al. (Kravtsova et al., 2020), Kush-

nir et al. (Kushnir et al., 2020), Petrenko et al. (Pe-

trenko et al., 2020), Polhun et al. (Polhun et al., 2021),

Zinovieva et al. (Zinovieva et al., 2021) and others.

The organization of a distance STEM training

course should notice the following features:

• Scientiﬁc approach to the study of the environ-

ment – the issues studied and researched by

STEM education are among the phenomena for

which it is necessary to develop a theory and ﬁnd

an answer about their essence, to give them an ex-

planation.

• Availability of experimental and laboratory work

– environmental studies provide empirical data

that needs to be analyzed and explained.

• Data processing and analysis – research data are

usually presented in tables or graphs and require

visualization, interpretation and statistical pro-

cessing.

Consideration of these features in the organization

of a distance course of STEM education can be con-

sidered from the standpoint of two main aspects:

• Pedagogical – refers to understanding the princi-

ples of organization of STEM student training, the

ability to apply research methods in future pro-

fessional activities. Includes the desire to support

different types of interactions in the learning pro-

cess (Chi and Wylie, 2014; Osadchyi et al., 2019).

This aspect deﬁnes learning as a social and cogni-

tive process, not just as a matter of information

transfer.

• Technological – mostly, refers to recommenda-

tions for the use of technologies, in particu-

lar, robotic, biochemical, programming environ-

ments; selection of technical means that best meet

the solution of professional tasks; developing the

structure of the course and its content and sup-

porting the learning management system, creating

multimedia, determining the content to be cov-

ered.

Ensuring a scientiﬁc approach to environmental

research by students sometimes faces problems if the

distance learning course has not noticed pedagogi-

cal principles and provisions. For example it could

be ﬁnding the right information for research. Lewis

and Contrino (Lewis and Contrino, 2016) conducted a

study of students’ online courses and determined that

among the most common models of information re-

trieval by students for educational purposes are:

• Misconception about the research process. Most

students chose a linear research model, i.e. they

added materials to their work using keywords and

direct links, using them as “facts”. The search

for already adapted information to the requests

and needs of students is conducted, and the set

of information and its analysis is not analyzed.

However, research projects must contain a critical

understanding of the information, which requires

combining different sources of information into

an abstract idea expressed in their own words. The

use of linear research models, the authors note,

can lead to the use of unreliable information as a

“fact”.

• Misconception about the semantic search for in-

formation on the network. Instead of entering

keywords and phrases, students often used direct

questions and waited for answers online. The au-

thors note that this model is easily adjusted by

learning using a variety of sources of information,

including statistics, directories, and research re-

ports of a scientiﬁc nature.

• Finding a single source for research or hoping that

the teacher will simplify their search and provide

everything they need to complete the task.

The lack of students’ readiness to search for in-

formation and scientiﬁc approach to research inde-

pendently requires to change the organization of their

search activities and pay more attention to adjusting

the process of designing a distance course so that it

contributes to the development of their independence

skills. One of the ways to overcome such problems,

the authors see in the creation of special interactive

sections of the course, instructions on how to search

for information. The course itself can also include dy-

namic links to databases where you can quickly and

efﬁciently ﬁnd the material you need.

To address these issues, the University of Ply-

mouth has developed an ACE framework – adaptabil-

ity, communication and equity – to manage decision-

making and professional development planning in the

context of distance learning (DeRosa, 2020). Each of

the frameworks has three levels of distance learning

organization: at the level of teaching, at the level of

course organization, at the level of the educational in-

stitution.

Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions

• Adaptability.

– At the level of a task tutors can set up more

nasty task doing terms for the students, because

it is clear that they will face difﬁculties or un-

certainty, and it is possible to join students to

creating tasks or let them choose tasks from

several variants.

– At the level of a course you can set courses al-

lowing students to pick up the available online

and full-time options, as well as to consider the

circumstances, and to break the programs on

the smaller modules, which can be set up in dif-

ferent modalities depending on different scripts

of technical availability of distance learning.

– At the institutional level it is possible to ac-

quire technology and infrastructure based on

the needs of the tutors and students and to pro-

vide culture in the university which would help

students not to not to continue studying despite

difﬁcult circumstances.

• Linking.

– At the task level tutors can create a task, giv-

ing students the opportunity to bring their work

to communities, for whom such help would be

useful or important, and to understand Internet

not just as a channel for exchanging but like a

portal which connects studying students.

– At the course level you can connect an open

mind from the reality of life while crisis by ask-

ing students to see the links between their abili-

ties and needs. You can use open platforms and

give to the masses the corny servants and to pre-

vent the demands of done work using them.

– On the basis of the mortgage it is possible to re-

serve additional help from the designers of the

studying materials for tutors support. There is

also a need for additional help in integration at

the training courses of the ways which help to

establish the progress in the community, for ex-

ample, including examples of local and global

real life problems’ solving in the teaching con-

text.

• Availability.

– At the task level, tutors can learn the basic prin-

ciples and universal design tools for learning to

ensure the availability of the course as much as

possible, and it is allowed to propose a number

of advertising channels, so that students could

take part with any technology at any time.

– At the course level, you can quickly go to free

educational resources to ensure the availability

of the text in the course and reduce cost of the

teaching materials.

– On the basis of the mortgage, it is also possible

to set the basic information about the resources

and to pay attention of the community to the

studying program, and to ensure that the inte-

grated support of the basic education require-

ments is provided.

The technological course building aspect of dis-

tance learning has its own rules. Whereas distance

learning course is the supremacy of electronic con-

tent, there is the possibility of organizing its ele-

ments in relation to the rules used in functional de-

sign. These recommendations were made in (David-

son et al., 1999):

• Simplicity – studying is not guilty of “pushing”,

but “leading” after itself (Malamed, 2015). Each

question in a topic can be represented or com-

plemented by short videos (5-10 minutes), over-

motivating (motivational) events or by awards

(badges). Create a library of “micro lessons”. You

may be able to compose in the right sequence and

to pick it up easier

• Familiarity – each theme must rely on the fore-

front knowledge, perhaps the model of analo-

gies or journalistic method can be used, which

is closed by practical tasks. Analogies see one

or more points of similarity between two other

things. For example, it can be a part of the func-

tion of a cell and a factory (sciencenetlinks.com,

2021). But the analogy method using must have

a point, where analogy may be destroyed (Aubus-

son et al., 2006). The journalistic method is us-

ing: breathtaking headlines, teasers in the menu,

informative graphics, motivational phrases or his-

tory for the completion of the course, which will

reﬂect the essence of the course (Veglis and Pom-

portsis, 2014).

• Accessibility – the course may not only have

enough links on additional resources, but also the

doing terms, variants of consulting with the tutor,

the possibility of asking questions to classmates or

a tutor. Directions are also an important element.

Students need strict instructions how to move for-

ward and what progress they achieved.

• Flexibility – the course can be adjusted to the

choice of task-doing tools, or the material learning

algorithm or doing time independence with meet-

ing the deadlines. Flexible studying program: in

the individually determined studying environment

student is a doer in creation of ﬂexible studying

program deﬁned by a student: students make a

studying map and the instructors are like a com-

pass (Hase and Kenyon, 2007).

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

• Questions directed to the studying and discussion

which follows after the questions – that orients

students and works as the mechanisms, which

help the students to understand the course, to

make the idea clear and contribute individual and

group reﬂection.

• Feedback – is a prerequisite for successful learn-

ing, the course should provide constant commu-

nication about the tasks performed and the re-

sults of actions. This allows students to evalu-

ate the results of their work and be more moti-

vated for further study. Assessment should in-

clude measurable forms of assessment of under-

standing the content, determining whether the stu-

dent has achieved the desired competencies (Hase

and Kenyon, 2007, 2001). One example is the

use of student assessment by other students, fol-

lowed by the publication of reviews and discus-

sion. This helps to critically comprehend the eval-

uation criteria and the presented material, as well

as to evaluate one’s own achievements (Kushnir

et al., 2013).

• Safety – students should feel comfortable taking

the course, knowing that they can return to the

study of the topic, repeat the material passed,

retake the test. Assessment, discussed and de-

ﬁned by students, improves their motivation and

involvement in the learning process, as well as

makes students feel more protected from the

teaching control of their learning process (Can-

ning, 2010).

But despite the sufﬁcient attention of scientists to

the problems of building distance learning the issue of

distance STEM education and the study of the pecu-

liarities of its organization remains unresolved. One

of the advantages of distance STEM education is its

accessibility not only to teachers, students, but also

to everyone, from scientists, technicians, mathemati-

cians and engineers, to ordinary people who want to

study or improve their skills, or can not go to institu-

tions. education due to restrictions (e.g., quarantine).

The purpose of the article is to clarify the ped-

agogical and technical features of educational ap-

proaches to building a model of distance STEM ed-

ucation for students of natural sciences.

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

The basis of STEM education is the integration of

natural-mathematical and engineering areas of educa-

tion. The natural component provides a context for

combining the study of different disciplines. The en-

gineering component is a unifying category that con-

tributes to a better study of science and mathemat-

ics. But integration must take into account their dif-

ferent epistemological characteristics (Herschbach,

2011; Sanders, 2008; The PEAR Institute: Partner-

ships in Education and Resilience, 2019; Williams,

2011). When planning and building a model of STEM

education, these characteristics must be taken into ac-

count to preserve the integrity of each industry.

The model of distance learning should correspond

to the model of preparing students to study STEM

disciplines. It takes into account the relationship of

such components as: value-motivational (worldview,

the formation of a system of personal development);

content-organizational (formation of conceptual con-

nections between theory and practice, planning the

study of fundamental disciplines, creating a ﬁeld of

interaction); applied cognitive-activity (implementa-

tion of project activities: independent reﬂection, anal-

ysis, work with the teacher); evaluative reﬂexive-

analytical (study of best practices, development of in-

novations).

The purpose of the system of preparing students

to study STEM disciplines is the formation of world-

view, which is the result of value-motivational system

of personality development (Osadchyi et al., 2020a).

Any activity is the result of the action of “value” reg-

ulators, which determine the motives and behavior of

the individual. Based on the value attitude to technol-

ogy, the following requirements can be distinguished

(Sipiy, 2018):

• awareness of the place and role of technology in

human life;

• effective use of equipment (competent, rational,

timely, effective;

• safe use (both for yourself and others);

• environmental consequences of use.

The system of preparing students for the study of

STEM disciplines is based on didactic and pedagogi-

cal principles of teaching and their system integrity:

• the principle of accessibility and awareness of

cognitive activity, which provides the actualiza-

tion of scientiﬁc knowledge and activation of cog-

nitive activity through the differentiation of ed-

ucational tasks and the use of modern teaching

aids;

• the principle of scientiﬁcity, as a basis for the fun-

damentalization of knowledge and the formation

of the content and organizational component of

the model of personality-oriented system of stu-

dent training. The leading idea of this principle

is not the simpliﬁcation of “scientiﬁcity”, but the

Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions

provision of knowledge that corresponds to the

objective reality, in accordance with the age and

knowledge levels;

• the principle of systematization, as a basis for the

integration of disciplines in order to form log-

ical thinking and a holistic scientiﬁc career of

the world, taking into account the already formed

ideas about the functioning of the environment;

• the principle of linking learning with the needs of

real life, as a basis for the formation of skills in

demand in the XXI century (Gray, 2016);

• the principle of student-centeredness and

personality-oriented learning, as the appropriate

direction of the educational process from the

needs and level of development of the applicant,

through the construction of an individual educa-

tional trajectory, in order to implement the tasks

of STEM education;

• the principle of emotional participation, as a ba-

sis for further involvement in solving educational

problems and project activities related to real life

situations. The leading idea of this principle is the

formation of a value-motivational component of

the model of personality-oriented system of stu-

dent training;

• the principle of cooperation and mentoring, as

an opportunity to organize teamwork and support

continuity in the system of knowledge transfer.

Formal features of the structure of students’

preparation for the study of STEM disciplines deﬁne

(Valko, 2019):

• the existence of an educational environment, part

of which are professional communities that ad-

here to the norms of introduction of new technolo-

gies in the professional activities of students, and

is a center of support and dissemination of inno-

vation;

• the presence of disciplines in training, the princi-

ple of organization of which is based on integra-

tion and project activities;

• availability of scientiﬁc problems, the solution

of which is based on the integration of scientiﬁc

methods and innovations into educational activi-

ties;

• availability of tools and technologies that will en-

sure the use of innovative approaches.

The concept of preparing students for the study of

STEM disciplines is based on the following method-

ological approaches: personality-oriented, compe-

tence, integrative, axiological, activity.

Personality-oriented approach is the basis of the

educational process and determines the forms, meth-

ods and means of developing the professional qual-

ities of the student, gaining their own experience.

It is closely related to the axiological approach and

embodies the student’s subjective choice of forms,

means, and methods of teaching in future professional

activities. Therefore, the issue of proper organization

of personality-oriented educational process is gaining

importance, in order to stimulate important patterns of

life of students. Behavioral models, in the context of

STEM education, are the ability to choose their own

educational trajectory and be active in the application

of STEM technologies.

The competency approach directs the process of

professional training to the formation of the student’s

readiness and ability to effectively use external and in-

ternal resources (informational, human, material, per-

sonal). This approach allowed identifying the com-

ponents of student training and presenting them as

a holistic system of professional, personal and social

orientation.

The integrative approach is part of the process of

fundamentalization of the system and performs the

function of system integration of all components as a

whole, taking into account the interconnectedness of

all components of student training (Semerikov, 2009).

The activity approach serves not only as a basis

for practical training of students, development of its

cognitive forces and creative potential. It can also be

a criterion for choosing possible areas of activity and

inﬂuence the forms, methods and means of cognitive

activity.

The axiological approach builds the value-

motivational component of the student training sys-

tem. It deﬁnes the guidelines of professional activity

and contains social, psychological and ethical princi-

ples of behavior, which are related to the integration

of technology and research into the educational pro-

cess, determining their pedagogical value.

Based on these provisions, we can formulate the

task of professional training of students to study

STEM disciplines as the integration of these com-

ponents, which are expressed in the formation of his

skills and abilities to:

• independent construction of teaching your sub-

ject using modern technological and engineering

knowledge with the help of modern technological

tools;

• preparation of the individual for the decision of

global questions with application of technological

decisions in the course of training and being based

on innovations in the ﬁeld of technologies;

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

• identify trends in the modernization of world tech-

nologies and their impact on educational activi-

ties,

• involvement of students in research activities and

management of their project activities using inno-

vative technologies;

• dissemination of innovations and knowledge

about them in the professional circle and in ev-

eryday life.

We will distinguish between different levels of

formation of the value-motivational component de-

pending on the activity that underlies such a divi-

sion, and, consequently, the purpose of such activities.

The initial level is characterized by activities aimed at

forming an environment of communication and de-

veloping interest in the study of STEM disciplines.

The next level is based on quasi-professional activ-

ity, the value of which is determined by the degree of

conscious use of STEM technologies. The third level

is characterized by awareness of the value of knowl-

edge through the prism of scientiﬁc and technological

picture of the world and readiness for such activities.

The ﬁnal level is the formed need and ability to trans-

fer experience, knowledge, values in the process of

communication.

The purpose of the content and organizational

component of the system of preparing students to

study STEM disciplines is to form conceptual links

between theory and practice, planning the study of

fundamental disciplines, creating a ﬁeld of interac-

tion between participants in the educational process.

The structure of the unit is compiled in accordance

with industry standards, educational programs and

curricula: technical and fundamental disciplines, spe-

cial elective courses and participation in extracurric-

ular activities. Accordingly, an educational environ-

ment for STEM oriented learning should be formed,

which would ensure the implementation of this unit.

Resource components of the content-organizational

stage are software and hardware, educational and

methodological support of the educational process

and inﬂuence the formation of the educational envi-

ronment of STEM oriented learning.

The content and organizational component of the

system of student training is determined by the plan of

studying fundamental disciplines and the formation of

a knowledge base for further study. It is formed un-

der the inﬂuence of both objective and subjective fac-

tors. Objective factors are the educational regulatory

framework, these are: industry standards, updated ed-

ucational programs, curricula of specialties. The sub-

jective ones include cognitive activity, the choice of

which depends on the student himself: special elec-

tive courses, master classes, extracurricular activities.

Each of these factors is crucial for meeting the re-

quirements for student learning outcomes and indi-

rectly affects the formation of their professional be-

havior. These factors can both promote and hinder

the formation of self-determination and training.

The cognitive-activity component has an applied

character and is directly related to the training of fu-

ture specialists. This block reﬂects the process of

learning and includes both formal and non-formal and

informal education: basic knowledge, project activi-

ties, cooperation with research centers and communi-

ties.

We conducted a survey aimed at establishing the

experience of using different teaching methods in stu-

dents. We interviewed students of natural sciences

and mathematics. The questionnaire consisted of two

types of questions: choose one or more answers, as

well as questions with a score on the Likert scale.

The questionnaire also provided the opportunity to

add your own comments to the questions, in case there

were no answers in these options.

The process of preparing future teachers of nat-

ural and mathematical disciplines for the application

of STEM technologies in their professional activities

takes place in the course of the sequential implemen-

tation of ﬁve stages, namely: initial, introductory,

quasi-professional, professional-practical and result-

ing. Moreover, each of the deﬁned stages has its own

goal and objectives.

So, the purpose of the initial stage is to determine

the initial state of readiness of future teachers of nat-

ural and mathematical disciplines to use STEM tech-

nologies.

The objectives of this phase include:

1) preparation for experimental work;

2) involving future teachers of natural and mathe-

matical disciplines in experimental work;

3) determination of the initial state of readiness of

future teachers of natural and mathematical disci-

plines to use STEM technologies.

The introductory stage of preparation is aimed at

actualizing future teachers of natural and mathemati-

cal disciplines as the main providers of STEM educa-

tion to schools and initiating their interest in the use

of STEM technologies.

The main tasks of this stage are:

1) awareness by future teachers of the importance

of their professional activity as a teacher of nat-

ural and mathematical disciplines for STEM edu-

cation;

2) awareness of the complexity and multidimension-

ality of the professional activity of a teacher of

Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions

natural and mathematical disciplines in the con-

text of STEM education;

3) initiation of the interest of future teachers of nat-

ural and mathematical disciplines in the applica-

tion of STEM technologies in professional activ-

ities by preliminary acquaintance with the means

of STEM education;

4) providing students with the opportunity to express

their own experience and impressions received

during their acquaintance with their future profes-

sion and STEM education;

5) actualization of future teachers of natural and

mathematical disciplines as the main providers of

STEM education in schools.

The quasi-professional stage of preparation

should ensure the formation of knowledge, skills and

value-motivational guidelines for future teachers of

natural and mathematical disciplines, necessary for

the application of STEM technologies in their future

professional activities.

At this stage, the main tasks are:

1) theoretical training of future teachers of natural

and mathematical disciplines for the use of STEM

technologies in professional activities;

2) the formation of pedagogical and technological

components of the readiness of future teachers

of natural and mathematical disciplines and their

content components;

3) the direction of the cognitive activity of future

teachers of natural and mathematical disciplines

to acquire a quasi-professional experience of us-

ing educational information in situations that imi-

tate professional activities;

4) the formation of value orientations among future

teachers of natural and mathematical disciplines,

united around the conscious use of STEM tech-

nologies;

5) the formation of future teachers of natural and

mathematical disciplines of a holistic understand-

ing and vision of their future professional activi-

ties in the context of STEM education.

The professional-practical stage of preparation

provides for testing students in the role of teachers of

natural and mathematical disciplines and the correc-

tion of ineffective behaviors using STEM technolo-

gies.

The objectives of this stage are:

1) testing students in the role of teachers of natural

and mathematical disciplines;

2) testing the pedagogical readiness of the future

teacher of natural and mathematical disciplines;

3) testing the technological readiness of the future

teacher of natural and mathematical disciplines;

4) the awareness of future teachers of natural and

mathematical disciplines of the value of the

knowledge, skills and quasi-professional experi-

ence acquired by them for further professional ac-

tivity in the conditions of STEM education;

5) the awareness of future teachers of natural and

mathematical disciplines of their own readiness to

use STEM technologies in their professional ac-

tivities.

The goal of the ﬁnal stage is to determine the ﬁ-

nal state of readiness of future teachers of natural and

mathematical disciplines to use STEM technologies

in their professional activities.

The objectives of this stage are:

1) determination of the ﬁnal state of readiness of fu-

ture teachers of natural and mathematical disci-

plines for the use of STEM technologies in pro-

fessional activities;

2) summing up the results of the experimental work

and drawing conclusions regarding the effective-

ness of the developed model of the system of fu-

ture teachers of natural and mathematical disci-

plines for the use of STEM technologies in pro-

fessional activities;

3) if it is necessary to adjust the developed model of

the system of future teachers of natural and math-

ematical disciplines to the use of STEM technolo-

gies in professional activities.

The developed model takes into account a set of

organizational and pedagogical conditions that ensure

the effectiveness of the implementation of the system

of training future teachers of natural and mathemat-

ical disciplines for the use of STEM technologies in

professional activities, namely:

1) updating the content of professional training of

future teachers of natural and mathematical dis-

ciplines to use STEM technologies;

2) implementation of STEM projects in robotics by

future teachers of natural and mathematical disci-

plines;

3) ensuring during the training of future teachers of

natural and mathematical disciplines their social

interaction in a professional environment.

In terms of the organization of environmental re-

search and analysis of empirical data, it is necessary

to ensure the study of STEM disciplines by means

that effectively help: conduct research, create models

to describe systems, organize experimental activities,

conduct statistical processing of empirical data. The

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

theory and practice of research can be linked through

the use of simulators and virtual laboratories (Osad-

chyi et al., 2020b).

As part of the creation of a distance course “Fun-

damentals of Robotic Systems” for undergraduates,

we used the above provisions regarding the techno-

logical and pedagogical aspects of the course. To do

this, the following elements were introduced into the

course:

1. Short motivational videos about the achievements

of modern technologies and robotics. The moti-

vational component is crucial for the formation of

the worldview of future professionals, which is

the result of the formation of value-motivational

system of personal development. Any activity, in-

cluding professional, is the result of the action of

“value” regulators, which determine the motives

and behavior of the individual. One can use the

following topics to form a valued attitude to tech-

nology:

• awareness of the place and role of technology

in human life;

• effective use of technology (competent, ratio-

nal, timely, effective;

• safe use of technology (both for themselves and

for others);

• environmental consequences of the use of tech-

nology.

The value-motivational component has different

levels of formation, depending on the type of ac-

tivity and its purpose. The initial level is charac-

terized by activities aimed at forming an environ-

ment of communication and developing interest in

the study of STEM disciplines. The next level is

based on quasi-professional activity, the value of

which is determined by the degree of conscious

use of STEM technologies. The third level is char-

acterized by awareness of the value of knowledge

through the prism of scientiﬁc and technological

picture of the world and readiness for such activi-

ties. The ﬁnal level is the formed need and ability

to transfer experience, knowledge, values in the

process of communication.

2. The content of training is a decomposition of el-

ementary topics of connection of robotic devices.

Execution of such elementary task allows to carry

out activization of cognitive activity on related

subjects: physical properties and laws, designs

and algorithms of programming, engineering of

designs, etc. Each of the tasks has a clear practi-

cal signiﬁcance. The purpose of such construction

of the material is to form conceptual connections

between theory and practice, to plan the study of

fundamental disciplines, to create a ﬁeld of inter-

action between the participants of the educational

process. Due to the unavailability of robotic de-

signers for the quarantine period, the Tinkercad

environment was chosen to perform the work. A

number of projects were created that simulated

various robotic systems in a virtual environment.

3. Each completed task was available for discussion

in the team through a system of links in the course.

Thus, students could get acquainted with the work

of classmates and make suggestions for improv-

ing the presented projects. Such social expertise

proved to be effective enough to form a critical

view of their own projects and to analyze and dis-

cuss the results of modeling robotic systems.

Thus formed STEM training course provides the

implementation of the functioning of distance STEM

education. Resource components of the distance

STEM course for teaching undergraduates the ba-

sics of robotics – software, hardware, teaching and

methodological support (Valko and Osadchyi, 2021)

– were adapted to the distance educational process in

order to form an educational environment for distance

STEM learning.

4 CONCLUSIONS

As a result of the study, it was found that the tran-

sition to distance learning requires teachers and ed-

ucational institutions to change approaches to teach-

ing and building courses. Such changes must be jus-

tiﬁed not only at the technological but also at the ped-

agogical level. Based on the various models of dis-

tance learning, the article identiﬁed the features of

distance learning STEM disciplines. The components

of the system of teaching students to study STEM dis-

ciplines are determined: value-motivational, content-

organizational, cognitive-activity for the implementa-

tion of project activities, reﬂexive-analytical. The dis-

tance learning model must take these components into

account and ensure their integrity. The principles of

preparing students for the study of STEM disciplines

were taken into account in the organization of dis-

tance learning in STEM specialties. Pedagogical and

technological aspects of distance learning construc-

tion are considered. Pedagogical aspects are the acti-

vation of cognitive processes and active involvement

in the cognitive process. The technological aspect is a

set of rules for organizing the elements of the distance

course. The skills that should be formed as a result of

such training are singled out.

Therefore increasing the efﬁciency of the distance

educational process and solving the pedagogical as-

Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions

pect is possible through the correct technical organi-

zation and structure of the distance course.

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Construction of an Education Model of Natural Disciplines’ Students in the Distance Learning Conditions