The course of research has allowed to introduce the term "pedagogical creativity" and respectively, expound its essential and semantic content. It has been elucidated that pedagogical creativity incorporates such components as motivation, professional and personal qualities, and professional competence. The dissertation has proposed the concept of a "creative teacher of biology " and has revealed its substance as an innovator, which is characterized by creative confidence, unconventional and original thinking, agility, and the ability to generate new non-standard ideas.
This paper addresses the issue of developing creativity among teacher-trainees of biology from the perspective of the Individual Activity-Based approach and the Competency-Based approach. The former focuses on the needs of the individual student and aims to emphasize teaching via activity in which students participate rigorously and bring about efficient learning and professional experiences. Another scientific trend conducive to developing creativity is Neuropedagogy. Within the framework of Neuropedagogy it has been found out that the human brain is programmed for creative potential; its special state, due to theta rhythms, determines their direct connection with creative processes. Developing creativity of teacher-trainees of biology is subject to clear pedagogical principles of the mentioned above approaches.
In the course of research, the pedagogical conditions of developing creativity of teacher-trainees of biology have been substantiated. Among the proposed pedagogical conditions are the following: shaping a creative personality and professionally determined ecological worldview, use of multisensory and multimodal teaching, and implementation of heuristic and activity-based learning.
Theoretically substantiated pedagogical conditions of developing creativity of teacher-trainees of biology create an appropriate educational environment that correlates with a corresponding methodology, which provides relevant technologies and methods of teaching and learning activities, namely: interactive; graphic-visual; design and construction; narrative. Among a number of modern organizational forms that displace traditional forms of higher school didactics, there have been highlighted: lectures, educational intensives, trainings, workshops, meet-ups, networking, creative groups, creative readings, heuristic conversations, Socratic dialogues, etc.
The key aspect that has also been explored in the paper is a structural-functional model of advancing creativity of teacher-trainees of biology in the process of professional training. The model distinguishes four essential blocks: the target block thast involves setting goals and idendifying specific tasks; the structural block, which contains the basic principles of the outlined approaches and pedagogical conditions of the educational environment; the pragmatic block that offers modern tools of advancing creativity, which are apposite to employ at nine stages of the creative process; the control and monitoring block that determines the criteria of developing creativity and levels of creative competence of teacher-trainees of biology.
A great deal of emphasis in the thesis has been placed on a system of professionally determined creative activities with different levels of complexity for enhancing creativity of teacher-trainees of biology: the first level involves reproductive activities, the second level combines reproductive activities and stimulates a creative ability to generate ideas, and the third level comprises creative heuristic activities.
The proposed system of tasks is subject to the author's concept of seven keys to creativity – such personality traits that should be accumulated and developed in order to provide efficient creative activity at different stages of the creative process. The proposed keys to creativity enclasp: enthusiasm and non-standard thinking aiming at developing neuroplasticity and overcoming cognitive inertia; originality of thinking and energy for cultivating creative proactivity; innovative thinking in order to restructure creative consciousness; self-confidence in order to be able to defend one's own creative product. The system of professionally oriented activities incorporates the stages of a creative process, the conditions of a creative situation, the qualities of a creative personality and the tools of enhancing creativity of teacher trainees of biology.
The thesis represents the positive results of a pedagogical experiment designed to expose how the suggested methodology, pedagogical conditions and structural-functional model can facilitate developing the high level of creative competence of teacher-trainees of biology. The developed methodology is compatible with teaching students of other fields, which outlines a perspective for further research.
