ALL-RUSSIAN COMPETITION "JUNIOR" FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TRAINING THE FUTURE GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS
The article presents an analysis of the results of the All-Russian competition of scientific works of schoolchildren "Junior" from the point of view of training the future generation of scientists of the Russian Federation, the formation of creative potential for setting and solving research problems. The competition is an intellectual contest of schoolchildren, including an Olympiad in the profile and the defense of the results of the project carried out in the areas of "Engineering Sciences" and "Natural Sciences". The correlation between the success in the subject Olympiad, the independence and the participants' own contribution to the project implementation, the depth of understanding of the results obtained, and the ability to interpret them is revealed. It is noted that it is not always possible to evaluate the creative potential of the participant objectively based on the results of the competition. The results depend on the contribution of the manager, the equipment of laboratories with modern analytical equipment. This is confirmed by the high level of projects developed in cooperation with research laboratories of academic institutes and universities and carried out under the guidance of leading scientists. Such works have a pronounced practical scientific or educational significance, so their performers take prizes at Intel ISEF competitions. It is established that the results of the participants shown in solving the Olympiad tests are significantly lower than the results of the project defense, which, in our opinion, is the result of the formalization of training aimed at memorizing patterns, the knowledge of which facilitates the passing of the Unified State Exam, the reduction in the number of hours allocated to natural science disciplines, and the progressive trend towards narrow specialization of schools and classes. It is noted that, in general, the involvement of schoolchildren in project activities really allows them to develop their abilities for independent learning, creative activity, and also develops non-standard thinking, although it does not fully reveal them.