PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPING STUDENTS' RESEARCH SKILLS

Introduction. To successfully implement the updated standard of general secondary education, it is necessary to develop the educational process on the basis of three defined approaches: personally oriented, activity-based and competence-based.The student-centered approach focuses the educational process primarily on the effective development of each student's personality, the uncovering of their abilities, and the construction of the student's intellectual educational trajectory based on the identification and consideration of their personal characteristics, preferences, and learning capabilities.The activity-based approach directs the educational process towards maintaining active, personally significant, and conscious educational activities for the student.Purpose. Outline the features of project-based learning for the development of students' research skills. Identify and analyse the features of project-based learning for the development of students' research skills in biology and ecology.Methods. One of the pedagogical technologies that focuses not on the integration of factual knowledge but on its application and acquisition of new ones is the project method.Project-based learning is an effective tool for developing students' research skills, especially in the study of biology and ecology. This approach allows students to join active learning through practical activities. Develop skills in independent research, critical thinking, teamwork, and presentation of results.Results. The study of the application features of project-based learning in biology and ecology lessons was conducted at the Tyliavskyi General Secondary Education Institution of the Shumsk City Council. The chosen topic for the research was «Metabolism and Energy Transformation»from the 10th-grade textbook «Biology and Ecology»authored by V.I. Sobol. Prior to the experiment, a pre-test was administered to assess knowledge, using test tasks that covered the material studied. Each task was graded ona scale from 0 to 3 points based on its complexity, and the results from a brain ring were also taken into account.Conclusion. The results of the conductedanalysis indicate that students in the experimental group demonstrated significantly better outcomes compared to those in the control group. Distribution of students by level showed that 66.7% of students in the experimental group achieved high levels of proficiency. These students exhibited strong familiarity with the material, providing correct answers independently, without additional explanations from the teacher.In contrast, the knowledge of students in the control group corresponded to average levels at 66.7%. While these students were active, they made frequent errors. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers focus on incorporating more research activities in biology lessons moving forward.