Development of research competence: a task approach

In the article the relevance of the development of the student's research competence in the context of the requirements of current federal state educational and professional standards is proved. The purpose of the article is to prove the possibility of developing research competence by solving research problems. Methods of systematic, competent and person-oriented approaches applicable to development of trainees’ research competence are used for analysis. The concept of research competence is considered, the list of research skills as its constituent elements is defined, the levels of skills formation are described. The article considers various approaches to the definition of the concept «research task» provides an overview of the main scientific ideas about this type of task. Essential distinctive characteristics of research tasks are presented. Species and level classifications of research tasks are considered. Being based on the analysis, the following distinctive features of research problems are highlighted: the problematic nature, the development of the researcher's resources, the subjective and objective difficulty of solving the problem, the presence of normative and real complexity of the problem, the need for a deep study of the solution of the problem, the novelty of the solution, the variability of the solution, the insignificant dependence of the development of research skills on the number of solved problems. The article describes the stages and algorithms for solving research problems. The pedagogical practice of learning the skill of solving research problems at a university has been generalized. The author focuses on the possibility of using research tasks to develop research competence in all forms of educational activity in higher school (theoretical and practical training, performing qualification work at different stages of training). It was concluded about the role of research tasks in the development of students’ research competence and the assumption that the use of multi-level research tasks will create conditions for the effective development of research competence.