Use of digital tools as a component of STEM education ecosystem

The authors investigate the theoretical foundations of the concept of ecosystem, interdisci-plinary approaches and features of integrated STEM education in the educational process, analyzed thecomponents of the educational ecosystem and proved that they all directly affect the quality of STEM subjects. The authors conducted a survey to identify ways to develop components of the ecosystem of STEMeducation, which involved 105 respondents, students of pedagogical specialties of Borys Grinchenko KyivUniversity and teachers of secondary schools in different regions of Ukraine. The analysis showed thatthe successful implementation of STEM education, involving all components of the ecosystem, involves the development of science education, in particular, the introduction of inquiry-based learning and the use of digital technologies in the educational process. Process skills are described, which are formed usinginquiry based learning, examples of tasks for the formation of basic and integrated skills of the scientificprocess are presented. Based on the research, the role of digital tools in the development of scienceeducation is demonstrated and groups of digital tools are identified that are necessary for ecosystemdevelopment and will help increase the efficiency of the educational process, make STEM learning interesting and productive; examples of digital resources that support students’ learning in variousintegrated STEM environments are given and their role in the development of the STEM education ecosystem is described. Digital tools can be used to increase students’ positive motivation, expand their experience and accelerate learning, they help to study STEM subjects and encourage students to explore scientific ideas in new ways