CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAIN COMPONENTS AND CRITERIA OF THE FORMATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL CULTURE OF FUTURE SCIENCE TEACHERS

Nowadays, the problem of optimizing the interaction between man and nature by increasing the level of environmental culture of young people is relevant. The views of scientists on the specifics of the formation of environmental culture of higher education students are analyzed. Five interrelated components of the readiness of students of higher education for the formation of an ecological culture of students are characterized: motivational and valuable (deep interest of students in studying the ecological state of the environment, their conviction in the education of moral and ecological qualities in schoolchildren), cognitive (the formation of a certain system of psychological pedagogical, chemical, geographical, ecological, biological knowledge, which ensures the development of ecological thinking), procedural (formation of ecological and professional skills, skills and experience necessary for the implementation of environmentally safe activities with students), reflective and personal (formation in higher education students of the skills to realize the results of their ecologically oriented activities, to objectively evaluate them and determine one's attitude towards them). According to the components, the criteria for the formation of the ecological culture of future teachers of natural sciences are defined: value-orientational, cognitive, practical-active, reflective-evaluative. Value-orientational (the formation of the ecological and professional orientation and personal motivation of the future teacher of natural sciences in the process of professional training); knowledge (availability of a certain amount of knowledge from professional disciplines, understanding of the content, essence, signs and stages of ecological and pedagogical activities aimed at the formation of ecological culture in students); practical and active (availability of skills to use typical forms, methods and means of teaching students of natural sciences in educational work; skills of applying pedagogical innovations, the latest technologies, active methods and techniques in one's environmental and professional activities); reflexive-evaluative (formation of environmental-professional reflection in the future teacher of natural sciences; ability to diagnose his environmental-professional activity with the aim of its further modeling). According to the selected criteria and indicators, three levels of the formation of ecological culture of future teachers of natural sciences in the process of professional training are defined: low, medium, and high. It has been established that a teacher of natural sciences with a high level of ecological culture formation plays a decisive role in the implementation of ecological education of children and youth. Pedagogical conditions that contribute to the formation of the ecological culture of future teachers of natural sciences are also defined and substantiated.