FAIRY TALE AS A TOOL OF (SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION) STEM EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN

Abstract

The article aims to provide scientific evidence and empirical confirmation of the effectiveness of using fairy tales as a teaching tool to develop STEM competencies in children. The article reveals the potential of fairy tales as a pedagogical tool for integrating humanities, natural sciences, and technology in a single educational environment. Methodology. The study is based on a combination of theoretical modelling and empirical verification, in the form of a questionnaire survey of 235 teachers. The survey is structured into three analytical categories: productive indicators (level of understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, validity of explanatory models, quality of engineering solutions, and ability to transfer knowledge to new contexts); procedural indicators (development of critical thinking, logical sequence of reasoning, and collaborative interaction in educational activities); methodological indicators (effectiveness of epistemic framing, use of modelling as a tool for testing hypotheses, and formation of reflection on the boundaries of knowledge). Results. Generalisation of the empirical data revealed a high level of pedagogical recognition of the effectiveness of fairy tales in STEM education. The majority of respondents (63.0%) consider fairy tales to be an effective means of forming an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships in natural and technical phenomena, while 51.5% consider them to be an effective tool for developing design and modelling skills. Over two-thirds of respondents (69.8%) noted the positive impact of the fairy-tale context on critical thinking development, and 60.0% emphasised its role in fostering co-operation skills. At the same time, indicators of the reflective component remain low (37.5%), suggesting a need to enhance metacognitive skill development and scientific knowledge boundaries awareness. Practical significance. The results obtained confirm the effectiveness of fairy tales as an integrative didactic tool in STEM education, capable of ensuring the cognitive, emotional and social integrity of the educational process. The proposed approach can form the basis of educational modules aimed at developing critical, engineering and reflective thinking skills in schoolchildren. The scientific novelty lies in the development and empirical confirmation of a model for assessing the effectiveness of fairy tales in STEM education. This model combines productive, procedural and methodological indicators to form a new approach to the study of narrative technologies in scientific and technical education.