Developing subject-specific and key competencies of 7th-grade students through competence-oriented chemistry tasks

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of forming subject-specific and key competencies of 7th-grade students in the process of learning chemistry within the framework of the competency-based approach. The study substantiates the effectiveness of competency-oriented tasks as a means of organizing students’ learning activities aimed at applying knowledge in practical contexts.

A structured model of a competency-oriented task (context – task – actions – result) is proposed, which ensures its didactic integrity and promotes inquiry-based learning. The article presents examples of different types of tasks, including everyday-life, calculation-based, and historical-cultural contexts, demonstrating the potential of integrating chemical knowledge with real-life situations.

The results of a pedagogical experiment conducted with 7th-grade students are presented. The findings indicate that the systematic use of competency-oriented tasks contributes to improving students’ academic achievement, particularly by increasing the proportion of students with sufficient and high levels of performance, as well as enhancing their ability to apply knowledge in practice.The study confirms the effectiveness of competency-oriented tasks as an important tool for implementing the competency-based approach in teaching chemistry at the lower secondary level.