SOME ASPECTS OF THE COMPETENCE-BASED APPROACH IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY AT THE UKRAINIAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

The article highlights the relationships between the features of the competencebased approach implementation and structuring goergraphic courses in the elementary school on the conceptual basis as well as some features of the disclosure of geopolitical issuesin the study of geography of Ukraine in the contex to global world processes and phenomena in the irrespective geographic courses for the secondary schools. The author of the article analyzes the views of some researchers in the area of the competence-based approach in education; therefore, this analysis is conducted in the light of learning geography of Ukraine. On this basis, general components of a competence, suchasknowledge, skills, abilities, values, experience, the ability to operate effectively and intrinsic motivation are determined. The author put an emphasis on the fact that different researchers have different opinions on the significance and importance of these components; however, they do not deny that knowledge gained as a result of training (formal or informal) lies in the base of the competence structure. Specificity of the implementation of the competence-based approach to the study of geography of Ukraine is revealed in the implementation of all components of a competence. It provides for a shift from «learning all around» to the academic achievements of the pupils of a comperehensive secondary school at a level that allows them to learn more. In the article, a special attention is paid to the analysis of the geography curriculum for primary schools in terms of the representation of the geopolitical concepts. It was found out that the consideration of the geopolitical issues should be based on a certain level of cognitive component that helps to understand the basic geopolitical category. On this background, the article provides a description of the main geopolitical concepts used in the geography courses of Ukraine.