Measurement key competencies of high school students in teaching of Natural Science and Mathematics subjects

Abstract This article addresses the issue of finding new methodological approaches to measuring the key competencies of high school students in the learning of subjects in the natural science and mathematics educational fields within the framework of a competency-based approach. The study analyzes existing developments in methods for measuring students’ competencies or their individual components, such as skills. Based on the analysis, the authors identified the urgent need for selecting and systematizing tasks that, when performed by students during the study of natural-science and mathematical disciplines, would demonstrate the level of competency development. This, in the authors’ view, would not only facilitate the formation of key competencies but also provide the tools for measuring students’ competencies. The authors substantiate the possibility of using students’ intellectual skills as a measure of competency for assessing their competencies. The researchers aim to develop methodological techniques for using formative (supportive) and diagnostic (informational) assessments based on an analysis of existing works on evaluating students and measuring their competencies. They also aim to establish criteria for selecting cross-disciplinary tasks of varying complexity. The use of methods such as primary research, information gathering on approaches to measurement, systematization, and structural analysis of tasks, along with data processing, allowed the authors to systematize tasks in natural science and mathematical disciplines that demonstrate the interdisciplinary connections of mathematics with other subjects and provide an opportunity to assess the students’ level of proficiency in mathematical modeling in the study of real-world processes. The article describes methodological recommendations for conducting formative assessment of students during the presentation of cross-disciplinary tasks. To confirm the effectiveness of measuring students’ key competencies, an experiment was conducted. The results confirmed that the implementation of a system of cross-disciplinary tasks of varying complexity and the use of formative assessment allows for identifying the current level of students’ competencies, relying on intellectual skills as a measure of their competencies.