Pedagogic sciences/5.Modern methods of teaching

E.Z.Zharlygasova

Kostanai State University named after A. Baitursynov, Kostanai

Information technologies in the organization of a teaching process in science courses

Сontemporary society sets up a claim to the skills and knowledge of young people and educational sphere, in which all these skills and knowledge are formed. In “World Declaration on Higher Education in XXI century” it says: «Institutions of higher education must play a leading role and provide qualitative results in education by means of creating new forms of teaching environment, with due consideration of the advantages and possibilities given by new informational and communicational technologies and in keeping with openness, equality and international cooperation… and develop highly qualitative systems of education for the benefit of social-economic progress and… other more essential priorities of society». These systems must be directed toward the realization of a competent approach to educational process, which envisages the formation of the most important common cultural and professional competences in the process of teaching. The variety of these competences for all specialities includes informational competences:

possessing the fundamental methods, approaches and means of getting, preserving and processing information, having PC skills as means of operating information, ability to work with information in global computer networks;

ability to collect the required data, analyze it and prepare for informational review, using home and foreign sources of information;

ability to use modern technical tools and informational technologies for solving communicative, analytical and investigative tasks.

It is obvious, that these competences are formed, first of all, while acquiring different informational courses. In addition, science courses such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and conception of contemporary natural sciences play an essential role in the development of these competences of intending specialists. They can be considered as a ground and platform for using new methods, approaches and forms of work, technologies, which develop cognitive, communicative and personal activity of students as well as ability to get oriented in informational sphere and realize optimal selection of information, ability to abstract from traditional setting and adequately estimate innovative processes in science, technology and economics. All of these contribute to the elaboration of relevant organization of intellectual activities and style of thinking as well as the formation of informational competences and informational culture.

On the other hand, nowadays the exploitation of contemporary informational technologies determines the effectiveness of realization the aims and tasks of teaching science courses. Informational technologies considerably expand the possibilities of visualization and increase efficiency of learning study materials. One of the most prospective and the fastest developing directions of informational technologies is presentational graphics (or computer-generated animation). It synthesizes and raises the abilities of earlier visual aids of teaching to a higher degree. A broad variety of software (PowerPoint, Flash, Visio and others) allows activating the perception of material in the optimal way, and provides opportunity for demonstrativeness even in learning the topics, which consider special and temporal scopes, excluding visual modelling from former tools. The significance of these technologies is difficult to overestimate. They open new horizons, as of in system of distance learning. Informational technologies qualitatively change all the types: lectures, practical lessons, seminars and laboratory work. A modern lecture – both classroom-based and distance – is a dynamic dialogue between a teacher and students, where a main tool is a qualitative presentation. In the system of distance learning it can be interactive. Such a lecture not only essentially increases the effectiveness of perceiving science materials, but also demonstrates (with the appropriate qualification of teacher) contemporary aspects of communicative culture, which contributes to the formation communicative competences. Development and approbation of these competences are carried out in practical and seminar lessons. Giving such lessons stipulates the elaboration study questions by the students, which includes: articulation of a problem, planning the project, studying conditions of the question, forming results and conclusions, making presentations and defence of the project. Students participate in evaluating the results and in process of elaborating a project. The projects and presentations worked out by students can be further used for the improvement of teaching process by the teacher. They can make up a bank of presentation tools, which will allow forming a taught course as a system of visual modules and optimizing the teaching and the mastering the course.

A virtual lecture demonstrations and virtual laboratory practicum play another significant role in innovative educational process. They allow students carrying out various virtual experiments, such as those, which is difficult to carry out in reality. This contributes to the improvement of quality not only in education, but also in economizing financial resources and creating safe and ecologically clean environment. It is desirable to involve students into the working out materials for these types of experiments. It is doubtless, that this elaboration is extremely labour-intensive and requires high qualification in possessing informational technologies. At the same time many HEI have purpose-oriented platforms, where even first year students have enough advanced PC skills and can take part in this work. In these conditions the elaboration of a new bank for the tools of visual modelling becomes an effective form for students’ solitary work (SSW). SSW is a central chain of modern technologies in education. It is a main way of establishing the skills of self-education, forming highly creative potential of intending specialists. Involving students into the working out the software for teaching process facilitates the formation of motivational disposition of the students, realising the aims of education and aims of mastering the taught course, improvement of cognitive skills, forming and developing culture of creativeness. Organization SSW in this direction presumes having a complete idea of the final product’s design and the scenario of its functioning by the teacher. Students get information about the material’s contents, its place and significance in the taught course, the assignment of the elaborated model and its features. The choice of computer technologies may be realized by a teacher as well as by a student. In the process of elaboration a student gains deep enough insight in the matter of question, structures the relevant material, points out problematic aspects and finds out their solution. All of these provide heuristic value of the given form of work, develop the ability to implement creative activities, being in demand and cultivate informational competence and culture.

The exploitation of informational technologies essentially alters educational environment, pulling out new requirements to forming a system of providing quality of teaching process and expands opportunities of achieving fundamental aims of modern education.