THE ESSENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH COMPETENCE IN THE PERSONAL AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

The article defines the essence of students’ research competence, characterizes its role in the formation of a teenager’s personality, which includes promoting the development of critical thinking, fostering the skills of independent learning and self-organization, and stimulating students’ creative activity by encouraging idea generation. It also ensures the development of social skills, such as cooperation, communication, and more. The main components of research competence are identified, namely: knowledge, abilities, and skills that ensure successful research and develop the capacity for independent, creative, and critical work with information. The importance of research competence is described, which lies in the development of creative and intellectual potential, subject-specific and general skills, as well as in stimulating students’ interest and motivation for learning activities. An analysis of the scientific contributions of scholars who, based on pedagogical theory and practice, demonstrate the importance of developing research competence in teenagers during the learning process is provided. We have demonstrated the importance of a favorable learning environment for the formation of students’ research competence, which includes interactive lessons, projects, experiments, pedagogical support, free access to educational resources, and more. The factors of successful research activity are also analyzed, and its influence on motivating teenagers to learn and develop is characterized, as it provides an opportunity to apply acquired knowledge in practice, making learning more meaningful and purposeful. The statement that the development of research competence is essential for the formation of a competent, creative, and independent citizen capable of adapting to the challenges of the modern world is substantiated.