NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION: PROBLEMS AND INNOVATIONS

Development of education system in various countries is based on some definite concepts which form its methodological foundation. Those include systematic, activity, subject, competence, learner-centered and culturological approaches. Natural science education is one of the education areas changing much more rapidly than the others; and the directions of these changes depend on the problems comprehension and selection of approaches to their solution. Content of natural science education and the process of its learning are among the problems whose solution could facilitate students' cognitive activity. The content of natural science education of schoolchildren is presented in the textbook “The World around Us”. There are more than ten alternative editions of textbooks recommended for teaching in schools nowadays. Therefore we face the need to develop a system of basic (supportive) knowledge that could enable the schoolchildren to continue their natural science learning at the next stage. The present article gives a brief characteristic of basic knowledge on the school subject. The appropriate learning process organization is vital for the basic knowledge included in the educational programs and textbooks to become the supportive means in schoolchildren's activity. It should be noted that while the content of education is predetermined, a teacher determines the process of its learning and chooses the methods of teaching. Good results in natural science education could be achieved provided that the teacher's activity is innovative and focused on educational process improvement. Scientists and teachers search innovative ways of teacher-student interaction as well as support for student's position as the subject of the learning process.