STEM CLUSTER AS A FORM OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ORGANIZATION IN ACADEMIC LEVEL PHYSICS PROFILE EDUCATION

Abstract

The article provides a theoretical substantiation of the STEM cluster as a form of organizing the educational environment in specialized physics education at the academic level. The relevance of the study is determined by the implementation of specialized secondary education and the need to identify effective models for integrating educational content, pedagogical technologies, and digital resources aimed at developing students’ STEM competencies. It is shown that the cluster approach makes it possible to interpret the educational environment not as a set of isolated conditions, but as a holistic, structurally organized system of interrelated components united by a common goal and functional logic. The study analyzes scientific approaches to interpreting the concept of a “cluster” in an interdisciplinary context and identifies the features of its adaptation to the educational sphere. The essence of the STEM cluster is clarified as a holistic, open, and dynamic model of organizing the educational environment focused on integrating physics content with mathematical, technological, and engineering components based on interdisciplinarity, research and project-based activities, and the use of digital technologies and computer modeling tools. The main result of the study is the development of a structural and functional model for the formation of STEM competencies of students in specialized physics education at the academic level under STEM cluster conditions. The proposed model includes theoretical and methodological, conceptual and content-based, design and activityoriented, as well as monitoring and result-oriented levels and reflects the logic of designing, implementing, and evaluating the educational process. It is substantiated that the STEM cluster environment acts as an active factor in organizing learning activities, providing pedagogical conditions for the formation of cognitive, activity-based, motivational, and reflective components of students’ STEM competence.