Formation of the components of engineering expertise of generation Z students

The article is devoted to the study of the features of generation Z of secondary school age and their influence on the formation of engineering competence. The necessity of introducing classes for the formation of engineering competence from the 5th grade is justified. The importance of the problem is due to the lack of case studies on the impact of age and psychological characteristics of generation Z on the process of forming engineering competence in extracurricular activities of students in grades 5–9. The analysis of thematic scientific literature has shown that in most cases the work is limited to the study of local aspects of the declared topic. Therefore, the main goal was to study the age peculiarities of pupils of generation Z in the formation of engineering competence (within the framework of extracurricular activities of pupils of 5–9 classes). Methodological base of the research is represented by a set of general scientific methods (description, comparison, generalization and system analysis) and a private scientific method – descriptive content analysis. Scientific novelty defines a set of qualities that are inherent to representatives of generation Z in middle school age and have a direct impact on the development of design and research skills of students in extracurricular activities. The practical and theoretical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of using them as a basis for drawing up methodological programs of students, writing fundamental compilation and original scientific papers, as well as creating a new classification of characteristics of representatives of the «new generation» in the educational process. The main conclusions: work on the formation of engineering competence and each of its components separately must begin at secondary school age; for a deeper and better development of the components of engineering competence, you should refer to the resources of extracurricular activities; generation Z needs a special approach to the formation of engineering competence in view of its inherent interests, needs and psychological and age characteristics.