Strategies for effective vocational training of high school students in electrical engineering

Abstract

The vocational training in agricultural and technical High School should be provided and organized in a systematic, rational, effective ways. The integration of Ukrainian High School in European education considers the training of a universal specialist competent both in theoretical study and practical application of farming and engineering. The first attempts have already been done: dual education projects are encouraged by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. The paper reports on teaching Physics through the implementation of profession based elements. Therefore, the aims of this paper are threefold: (1) to characterize the scientific knowledge in connecting theoretical and practical areas of study, to determine the basic characteristics according to standardized training programme future specialists in agriculture and engineering should have, (2) to develop the strategies for integrating the profession-based approach to teaching academic disciplines on the basis of the pedagogical experiment that involved 176 student-respondents and 41 teacher-respondents and (3) to create integrated curriculum, profession-based lecture samples and problem book in Physics for students majoring in Power Engineering in Agricultural Complex. The survey was carried out on the basis of the State Agrarian and Engineering University in Podillia, Lviv National Agrarian University and Nizhyn Agricultural University. To gain evidence about the effectiveness of implementation of profession-based material in Physics course in vocational training of future power engineers we used specially designed questionnaires, interviews and observation of behaviour. The results of the study proved that the use of profession-based material promotes the formation of student natural knowledge, as well as a wide range of practical skills and abilities. Providing the professional competence in training stimulates cognitive interest in t studying Physics as a science, helps to absorb material from other science disciplines, to develop their cognitive and creative abilities and to influence on the formation of persistent motifs to obtain knowledge from special disciplines.