Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of

Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

Vladyslav Ye. Velychko

1 a

, Elena H. Fedorenko

1 b

and Olga Yu. Serdiuk

2 c

Donbass State Pedagogical University, 19 Henerala Batiuka Str., Sloviansk, 84116, Ukraine

Kryvyi Rih National University, 11 Vitalii Matusevych Str., Kryvyi Rih, 50027, Ukraine

Keywords:

Free Software, Teacher Training, the Concept of Implementation.

Abstract:

Modern development of education is associated with the use of information and communication technologies.

To date, there is considerable experience in the use of computer training systems. New forms and methods

of teaching based on modern information and communication technologies are being developed and used,

the concept of e-education has appeared. In relation to free software, the period of systematization of the

accumulated experience and its theoretical substantiation of application in educational activity has come. The

proposed theoretical basis provided an opportunity to develop a system of free software in the training of pre-

service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, which contains the conceptual, semantic,

technological subsystem and subsystem of qualitative and quantitative indicators. The main purpose of the

use of free software in the training of pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

is to increase the level of formation of information competence, which can not be fully formed without free

software.

1 INTRODUCTION

At all stages of development and functioning of the

education process its formation was carried out us-

ing certain methods, techniques and tools (Semerikov

et al., 2021). The peculiarity of the current stage of

development of education is that in the arsenal of

techniques and tools used in the preparation of pre-

service specialists are both traditional (printed) and

digital (electronic) materials. Ensuring open around

the clock, access of students to electronic education

today is one of the priorities of information science,

education and culture of Ukraine. In this regard, the

role and functions of teachers are signiﬁcantly chang-

ing. It should be noted that a special role in this

process is played by information and communication

technologies (ICT) as part of information-educational

environment and include digital libraries, electronic

educational resources, search engines and aggrega-

tion of information, which are based on the use of free

software.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9752-0907

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1897-874X

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0505-0800

2 RESEARCH QUESTION

Free software is the release of ideas of open scientiﬁc

achievements in the ﬁeld of computer science. It is

because of this that free software has been developed

in direct dependence on the academic environment.

Despite its origin, it is not sufﬁciently represented in

education due to a number of factors that constrain

its spread (Velychko, 2016). Outsourcing has allowed

to develop not only social networks and electronic re-

sources, but also free software. Despite the fact that

free software does not have marketing support for its

distribution, its occasional use raises questions about

its use in educational activities.

Today, various universities around the world are

conducting research on the use of free software in ed-

ucational activities. The results of application stud-

ies at Chu Hai College of Higher Education (Hong

Kong, China) are presented by Duan and Lee (Duan

and Lee, 2020). The largest free software project in

education, involving 6 million students and 200,000

teachers each year in Kerala, India, is described in

a study by Thankachan and Moore (Thankachan and

Moore, 2017). An interesting review of the applica-

tion of free and open source software is published by

Gupta and Surbhi (Gupta and Surbhi, 2018). The pa-

Velychko, V., Fedorenko, E. and Serdiuk, O.

Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science.

DOI: 10.5220/0010923600003364

In Proceedings of the 1st Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology (AET 2020) - Volume 1, pages 261-271

ISBN: 978-989-758-558-6

261

per presents not only analogues of application soft-

ware but also training software. The authors con-

ducted a study among Delhi teachers. This analysis

gives an idea of the low prevalence of free and open

source software and its causes.

Coca Bergolla and P

erez Pino (Coca Bergolla and

erez Pino, 2021) offer free software to study artiﬁ-

cial intelligence. To do this, the authors have devel-

oped a model of integration of educational free soft-

ware to the educational process of studying artiﬁcial

intelligence. The experiment allowed to draw a con-

clusion about the efﬁciency of the proposed model

and the possibility of its application to the study of

other sections of computer science. A similar study is

described by Horvati

c et al. (Horvati

c et al., 2020) on

the use of free and open source software in electrical

engineering education.

For most information technology users who use

free and open source software, the motivations of

software developers are still unclear. The answer to

the question of motivation to develop free and open

source software is given by Daniel et al. (Daniel et al.,

2020). Examining the internal and external motiva-

tions of the authors on the developers of free and open

source software, the authors found those that promote

the development of free and open source software and

those that hinder its development. Another problem

for free and open source software developers is out-

lined in Lee (Lee, 2018) work. The author explores

the problem of involving volunteers in open projects

and their short-term participation in projects.

Summing up, we present the conclusions of UN-

ESCO on free software – ”model provides interest-

ing tools and processes with which women and men

can create, exchange, share and exploit software and

knowledge efﬁciently and effectively. FOSS can play

an important role as a practical instrument for devel-

opment as its free and open aspirations make it a natu-

ral component of development efforts in the context of

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” (UN-

ESCO, 2020).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The content of the educational process in higher edu-

cational pedagogical institutions is determined by ef-

fective programs used to train pre-service specialists

in that particular university. The content of the ed-

ucational training of a university is being approved

by the Council of the pedagogical university, while

the choice of content, forms, means and methods

of work is determined by the individual departments

and teachers with consideration of speciﬁcs of each

educational direction. Software products which are

used and guidelines developed by university teachers

taking into account speciﬁcs of preparation of pre-

service teachers create the basic component of fun-

damental training. In the modern paradigm of educa-

tion, it is necessary to develop educational standards

which provide content of training upgrade as well as

education of the younger generation on the principles

of humanization, differentiation and integration.

The main objective of introducing of free software

in the training of pre-service teacher of Mathemat-

ics, Physics and Computer Science lays in the for-

mation of a new citizen of the information society,

who feels comfortable in society, freely operates with

information through ICT, respect the opinion of oth-

ers and has his own opinion and knows how to de-

liver it, is capable of self-education, self-analysis and

has a motivation to obtain new knowledge and to self-

improvement, while also understands the importance

and inevitability of information education and society

at large, giving preference to the latest information

and educational technologies. In this case it refers to

the use of free software for the transition to a new type

of training of pre-service of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science, which includes:

• creation of optimal conditions for the acquisi-

tion of general and professional competencies

and actualization of the intellectual potential of

pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science;

• promoting comprehensive and harmonious devel-

opment of pre-service teacher of Mathematics,

Physics and Computer Science as subjects of ed-

ucation process and information society;

• creating suitable conditions for the emotional and

intellectual enrichment of pre-service teacher of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science as

the basis of development and strengthening of po-

litical, social, economic, humanitarian, cultural

and informational aspects of public life in the in-

terest of the welfare of citizens, economic efﬁ-

ciency and country’s growth.

Strategy aims related to the use of free software

in preparation of pre-service teacher of Mathematics,

Physics and Computer Science need to be determined

in accordance with the beneﬁts that its implementa-

tion provides to the educational process, which, in our

opinion, are:

• free access to software and its source code;

• safety, reliability and stability of the software;

• overcoming of the digital divide;

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

262

• open standards and independence from the devel-

oper;

• compliance with intellectual property rights, ﬁght

against piracy;

• ability to fully adapt to suit individual needs;

• unlimited number of simultaneous installations on

multiple computers in educational institutions and

at home;

• the ability to obtain derivative software products,

use it in their own development;

• possibility of software localization.

To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to pro-

vide the following basic measures:

• analysis of didactic capabilities of free software

through the procedure of examination and cre-

ating repositories of the recommended software

provider;

• creating methodological, psychological and tech-

nological support for the use of free software in

the preparation of pre-service teacher of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science;

• analysis of readiness of subjects of the educational

process for the use of free software;

• changing priorities as to the use of ICT in pro-

fessional ﬁelds from studying certain software to

studying technologies used to process information

which in turn results in fundamentalization (see

deﬁnition (Semerikov, 2009)) of the training of

pre-service teacher of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science).

Introduction of free software in the process of

professional training of pre-service of Mathematics,

Physics and Informatics is not an aim in itself – it is

ﬁrst of all a way of enhancing performance based on

changing priorities of study and use of ICT in edu-

cation. Currently, there is no single approach to the

introduction of free software in the educational pro-

cess; however, a considerable attention should be paid

to implementing the following key principles.

The principle of reforming educational processes.

The main prerequisite for the successful use of free

software in the training of pre-service teachers of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science is the

understanding that these changes are not only in the

analysis of its capabilities and in creating guidelines

for such a process – primarily to create a new vision

and new priorities for use of ICT. The use of free soft-

ware, due to its openness and accessibility, expands

the possibilities of using ICT anytime and anywhere.

Such opportunities make it possible to create open in-

formation systems, without which it is impossible to

obtain modern quality education and lifelong learn-

ing. The alternative of free software gives grounds

to talk about its use as a means of solving problems,

and not as an object of study – so the information

and communication technologies, their mastery and

use, and not the means of implementation come to

the fore.

The principle of motivation to use free software.

The use of free software, like any innovation, requires

modern changes in the principles of learning and use

of ICT in education. In order to include free software

products in the list of software used in the profes-

sional training of pre-service teachers of Mathemat-

ics, Physics and Computer Science in higher peda-

gogical education, it is necessary to have both inter-

nal and external motivations for this process, based on

the need for multifaceted and thorough training. pre-

service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Com-

puter Science in the direction of awareness of infor-

mation and communication technologies and an in-

ternal vision of their current state and the ability to

analyze the constant updating of the information and

communication technology industry. Motivation is

the great impetus that will allow to gain direct sup-

port from the state and implement initiatives to use

free software, adapting them to today’s pedagogical

tasks in the training of pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science.

The principle of strategic initiative. Taking into

account the realities of austerity and taking into ac-

count the current needs of education, in particular the

need to ﬁnance the training of pre-service teachers of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, we out-

line the main priority projects, which would be funded

on a “protected” basis. Such projects should be char-

acterized by a clear educational value, measured by

certain criteria.

In terms of content, we are close to the position of

UNESCO experts, who attributed it to strategic initia-

tives (UNESCO, 2014):

• introduction of information and communication

technologies in the development of education, sci-

ence and social knowledge (harmonization of gen-

eral principles of building social knowledge; ex-

panding learning opportunities through access to

various content and delivery systems; improving

research, dissemination of information and cul-

tural exchanges; the use of ICT to build intellec-

tual capacity, empowerment, governance and so-

cial participation);

• lifelong learning, including by means of distance

education (expanding access of adults to higher

education; organization of education near the

place of residence; providing access to higher ed-

Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

263

ucation by distance methods; reorganization of

the learning process and structure of educational

institutions taking into account the educational

needs of adults);

• training of professional and pedagogical staff

to work in a high-tech educational environment

(expanding training opportunities for teachers

through the use of technological means; improv-

ing the training process based on technological

support in the form of appropriate programs and

pilot projects that contribute to the successful im-

plementation of educational tasks; popularization

of ideas to ensure the quality of professional and

pedagogical training of teachers, growth of a pos-

itive image of pedagogical professions).

The principle of cooperation. The need to in-

troduce new forms of relationships both between the

subjects of the educational process and in cooperation

with the community of developers and users of free

software. First, teachers must overcome their unwill-

ingness to work with pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science to create and

use e-learning resources based on open standards and

free software. Overcoming such unpreparedness can

occur through the introduction of educational disci-

plines in the educational process, the content of which

is based on the study of the principles of development

of electronic educational resources, rather than the ac-

quisition of apathetic user skills. Second, coopera-

tion in the development and application of free soft-

ware will help the subjects of the educational process

to carry out effective reforms, which will accelerate

the process of practical application of free software in

the training of pre-service teachers of Mathematics,

Physics and Computer Science.

The principle of open systems. One approach to

implementing this principle is to create an informa-

tion and educational environment that contains soft-

ware, hard-ware, communication mechanisms, inter-

faces, data formats and protocols that are based on

available and generally accepted standards and that

provide multi-platform, interoperability and scalabil-

ity of applications and shared data. Software created

for use in teaching and research should be as accessi-

ble as possible to scientists and educators. Informa-

tion resources that can be extremely useful in teach-

ing and research should also be as open as possible to

their use. Another approach is to use functional stan-

dardization methods – building and using a proﬁle,

i.e. a coherent set of basic standards needed to solve

a speciﬁc task or a whole class of tasks. The standard

system (Open System Environment Reference Model

– OSE / RM), adopted in the basic document ISO/IEC

14252, is used for standardization of open systems.

The general properties of open information sys-

tems can be formulated as follows:

• interaction (ability to interact with other applica-

tion systems on local and (or) remote platforms

(technical means on which the information system

implemented by the network is implemented);

• standardization (information systems are de-

signed and developed on the basis of agreed in-

ternational standards and recommendations, the

implementation of openness is carried out on the

basis of functional standards in the ﬁeld of infor-

mation and communication technologies);

• extensibility / scalability (the ability to move ap-

plications and data in systems and environments

that have different performance characteristics

and different functionality, the ability to add new

features to information systems);

• mobility / porting (providing the ability to trans-

fer applications and data in the process of upgrad-

ing or replacing hardware platforms of informa-

tion systems and the ability to work with them

professionals who use information and communi-

cation technologies, without their special retrain-

ing when changing information systems);

• user-friendliness (developed uniﬁed interfaces in

the processes of interaction in the system ”user

– computer device – software”, which allow the

user to work without special system training).

The principle of the rule of law, legality, equal-

ity of all subjects of the educational process before

the law. The principle of the rule of law is based

on the provision that not a person is subordinate to

each other, but everyone follows the rules that deter-

mine, including the form of direct interpersonal rela-

tions – through a system of status-es or agreements.

Such rule of law includes degrees of freedom of free

software, copyleft (an antonym for copyright), and li-

censing agreements under which free software is dis-

tributed.

The principle of freedom of intellectual, creative

activity. We deﬁne creativity as the ability of an in-

dividual that can be applied in any ﬁeld of activity,

whether production, social communications, scien-

tiﬁc or research activities, and so on. Mental activity

and achievements of mankind are key factors in the

development of society. In countries where science,

culture and art are respected, the standard of living is

much higher, because the achievements of intellectual

activity determine the level of development of produc-

tion, culture, education and so on. We are convinced

that in order to increase the level of development of

society, the state must be interested in the develop-

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

264

ment of science and education and, accordingly, com-

prehensively protect and support these areas of activ-

ity. In our opinion, such support includes direct bud-

get ﬁnancing, certain tax beneﬁts, a system of incen-

tives and support for investment in research and de-

velopment, and so on. Note that a striking example of

innovative mental activity is the development and cre-

ation of software in the case when the results of such

activities are the subject of public use, have signs of

openness and focus on increasing and improving the

heritage of mankind. Such intellectual, creative activ-

ity meets universal needs and can be used in educa-

tion.

The principle of social responsibility is a social

phenomenon, which is a voluntary and conscious im-

plementation, use and observance by the subjects of

social relations, regulations, social norms both to the

general doctrine of educational development and to

the implementation of speciﬁc steps of its implemen-

tation. This principle is directly related to the in-

formatization of education (Fedorenko et al., 2019).

The process of using free software must comply with

both legal and social norms, which is of particular im-

portance in the educational process. Responsible atti-

tude to the results of scientiﬁc, practical, creative and

intellectual activities should be an important factor in

the humanization of education and upbringing of a so-

cially responsible member of society.

Deﬁning the role and place of free software in the

process of informatization of education, we note that

the use of free software in the training of pre-service

teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Sci-

ence at the current level of informatization of educa-

tional activities plays a special role in terms of form-

ing a certain level of information culture and intel-

lectual development. and in terms of forming a sci-

entiﬁc worldview, understanding the essence of the

practical orientation of computer science disciplines.

At the same time, the level of such training in the

future should enable pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science in the process

of their professional activity to create and implement

new technologies, even those whose theoretical basis

may not yet be developed during training.

The main features of modern information society

are: introduction of information to different spheres

of life; concentration in the ﬁeld of information and

intellectual services of more than 40–50% of the pop-

ulation; development of general theory of information

society; exponential growth of knowledge and accu-

mulation of information; combining computer sys-

tems into a single information environment through

means of communication; creating information in a

digital code; extremely high development of produc-

tion of technology and telecommunication technolo-

gies and means of communication requires a radical

change in the ﬁeld of education through information

and adequate response to the demands of the informa-

tion society.

According to the Law of Ukraine on the National

Informatization Program, informatization means a se-

ries of interrelated organizational, legal, political, so-

cioeconomic, scientiﬁc-technical, manufacturing pro-

cesses aimed at creating conditions aiming to meet

the information needs of citizens and society through

the creation, development and use of information sys-

tems, networks, resources and information technol-

ogy that are based on the use of modern computer

and communications technology (Verkhovna Rada of

Ukraine, 1998).

Computerization is driven by industry trends, in-

cluding the informatization of education, by deﬁni-

tion of Bykov (Bykov, 2010), is a set of interrelated

organizational, legal, socio-economic, scientiﬁc-

methodological, scientiﬁc, technical, manufacturing

and administrative processes aimed at meeting infor-

mation, computing and telecommunication needs of

subjects of the educational process. Informatization

of education is associated with a wide introduction

of methods and means of ICT in educational system,

the creation on this basis of computer-based infor-

mation and communication environment, ﬁlling this

environment with electronic research, education and

management of information resources enabling enti-

ties to carry out the educational process, provide ac-

cess to environmental resources, to use its tools and

services for solving various problems.

Let’s deﬁne the role and place of free software in

the informatization of education. The use of free soft-

ware in preparation at the present level of informa-

tization of educational activity plays a special role

in preparation of pre-service teacher of Mathemat-

ics, Physics and Computer Science in the formation

of a certain level of informative culture and intellec-

tual development as well as in the formation of a sci-

entiﬁc outlook, understanding the essence of practi-

cal orientation of informatics disciplines. The level

of this training should equip pre-service teacher and

make them to be able to create and implement new

technologies theoretical framework of which might

yet not be developed while they are still in their train-

ing.

One of the steps of informatization of educational

process, improving the quality of training of pre-

service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Com-

puter Science, enhancing teaching and learning and

scientiﬁc and research activities, the disclosure of cre-

ative potential, the increasing role of self-education,

Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

265

according to Zhaldak (Zhaldak, 2003), is the cre-

ation and widespread adoption into teaching prac-

tice of computer-oriented methodology of teaching

based on the principles of progressive and not de-

structive embedding of ICT in active didactic sys-

tems, a harmonious combination of traditional and

computer-oriented learning technologies, involving

past achievements of pedagogical science of the past,

improving and enhancing their achievements through

the use of the achievements in development of com-

puter technology and communications.

When looking at the methodological training sys-

tem of A. M. Pyshkalo using a systematic approach

to the understanding of teaching methods, where all

components of the educational process form a sin-

gle system with deﬁned internal connections, who

deﬁned methodical system of education as a set of

ﬁve hierarchically related components: learning ob-

jectives, contents, methods, tools and organizational

learning, which form a single integrated functional

structure focused on achieving the learning objectives

(Zhaldak, 2003). The described methodical system is

a condition for sustainable development, stability and

control of the educational process, which is impossi-

ble for teaching disciplines of informatics cycle and in

view of the role and place of self-education in the ed-

ucational process (Ponomareva, 2021). Similar argu-

ments are used by Morze (Morze, 2003). Considering

the combination of methods, tools and organizational

forms of traditional methodical teaching system all if

which answer the question “how to teach?”, Chernykh

(Chernykh, 1995) that this is the formation of a uni-

ﬁed system of subsystems, called technology of ed-

ucation. Based on this structure of subsystem, they

determine target, contents and technological compo-

nents of methodical system of training (Semerikov

et al., 2021).

Society shapes the social demand to preparation

of pre-service teacher and deﬁnes objectives of any

educational discipline. Thus, the modern information

society is characterized by high development and use

of information technology and advanced technologies

which guarantee the production of information re-

sources and access to these, processes of automati-

zation of all sectors of production and management.

While formulating the learning objectives of any dis-

ciplines, particularly fundamental, characteristics and

requirements of the information society must be taken

into account. Learning objectives, according to Tryus

(Tryus, 2010), is the initial condition for the creation

of methodical system as the most speciﬁc and well-

deﬁned element of the system, that is, any modiﬁca-

tion of methodical system should, according to Morze

(Morze, 2003), relate to the learning objectives which

describes the basic principle of improvement of me-

thodical system – commitment.

The implementation of the principle of purpose-

fulness is possible only by deﬁning and developing

the speciﬁc content of the components of the method-

ological system, and vice versa, the development of

content will make it possible to determine the pur-

posefulness of the methodological system. When de-

signing a methodological system in which free soft-

ware is used as a learning tool, the main principles and

main trends in the development of higher education

should be taken into account. Such a system should

become a basis for overcoming the shortcomings of

the higher education system and promote the imple-

mentation of ways to overcome them, to meet the new

educational paradigm in terms of using ICT to inten-

sify the learning process. The system of free software

in the training of pre-service teachers of Mathemat-

ics, Physics and Computer Science should be based

on the modular principle of building curricula and

programs of disciplines, apply innovative pedagog-

ical learning technologies, widely use ICT, contain

self-educational and research activities, use various

methods and technologies training, apply effective or-

ganizational and pedagogical forms of training. The

result of the development of the methodological sys-

tem should be a methodological complex suitable for

use in any form of education, as well as be a compo-

nent of the information and educational environment

of higher education.

The main tasks of using free software in the train-

ing of pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics

and Computer Science are:

• demonstration of the essence of the scientiﬁc ap-

proach to the study of information processes and

phenomena, the role of information and commu-

nication technologies in the development of sci-

entiﬁc research and technical progress;

• mastering by pre-service teachers of mathematics,

physics and informatics of methods of using infor-

mation and communication technologies in pro-

fessional activity, methods of selection and analy-

sis of software capabilities;

• formation of skills of harmonious use of ICT in

education and skills of independent processing of

information and choice of appropriate technolo-

gies and means.

The use of free software in the preparation of pre-

service teacher of Mathematics, Physics and Com-

puter Science should ensure formation of individual-

ity of pre-service teachers, develop their intellectual

abilities, analytical and synthetic thinking, informa-

tion culture, mastering information technologies nec-

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

266

essary for professional basic training and professional

work, mastering techniques of information technol-

ogy based on free software necessary to analyze so-

cial, economic, technical, manufacturing and infor-

mation systems, search for optimal solutions to im-

prove the efﬁciency of the systems, ability to choose

the best ways to implement these solutions, process-

ing and analysis of experimental results.

The results of the introduction of free software

in the process of professional training of pre-service

teacher of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Sci-

ence, in our view are:

• development of information culture of a person,

computer literacy (due to a change in priorities

from studying of certain software to studying

information technologies and their implementa-

tion);

• development of content, methods and means of

education to international standards (due to lack

of legal and ﬁnancial restrictions on access to so-

phisticated achievements in information technol-

ogy ﬁeld);

• reducing the term and improving the quality of

education at all levels of training of personnel

(through enabling the use of information tech-

nologies anywhere and at a convenient time);

• integration of academic, research and production

activities (through access to the source code of

software and means to change it according to in-

dividual needs);

• improving the management of education activities

(through the use of open standards for interoper-

ability) ;

• opportunity to intensify the training of pre-service

teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer

Science (through fundamentalization of profes-

sional training).

An important factor of the concept of implemen-

tation of free software in the professional training

of pre-service teacher of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science is compliance with international

and national standards. In view of this, special atten-

tion should be paid to standards of electronic docu-

ments that must conform to the principles of openness

and accessibility. These standards include interna-

tional standards for open ﬁle formats, such as OASIS

Open Document Format ODF 1.0 (ISO/IEC 26300)

and Ofﬁce Open XML (ISO/IEC 29500). Unfortu-

nately, the national standard DSTU in this ﬁeld does

not exist, though, in our opinion, the existence of a

national standard is needed to provide a framework of

using open ﬁle formats.

The next step of standardization for Ukraine

should be the deﬁnition of free software. This kind

of standard was adopted in the Russian Federation

(GOST R 54593-2011), which contains general pro-

visions for free software and is based on international

standard classiﬁcation software (ISO/IEC TR 12182-

2004) and processes life cycle software (ISO/IEC

12207:2016). Classiﬁcation meets the standard of

the types of programs and policy documents (GOST

19.101-77 operates in Ukraine) and the general re-

quirements for policy documents (GOST 19.105-78

operates in Ukraine).

Describing the purpose, objectives, classiﬁcation

and criteria of free software, we note that free soft-

ware is created and used to form a market where

any information service, such as copying, duplication,

modiﬁcation, error correction, functionality, etc. can

be sold and bought on a competitive market by free

contract of two parties (supplier and buyer of the ser-

vice) without appeal to a third party. This wording

deﬁnes the general provisions of the licensed purity

of free software in accordance with certain degrees of

freedom. The speciﬁc tasks of free software include:

• ensuring import substitution of proprietary com-

ponents of information systems, reducing depen-

dence on monopolists, and, consequently, free-

dom of action in the Ukrainian information space;

• stimulating the development of the domestic in-

dustry of software development for computer sys-

tems;

• expanding the possibility of participation of do-

mestic developers in the performance of works

and provision of services for state, municipal

needs and the needs of the private business sec-

tor;

• providing additional investment in the develop-

ment of domestic producers;

• ensuring a high level of technological indepen-

dence;

• reducing the number of violations related to the

legal protection of software products for computer

systems.

Based on the general criteria of freedom, which

must meet the free software, we note that free soft-

ware in the training of pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science should corre-

late with:

• the ability to freely use the software for any pur-

poses not prohibited by applicable law;

• studying how the software product works and re-

work it for their own goals and needs;

Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

267

• free distribution of copies of both original soft-

ware products and modiﬁed versions;

• dissemination of own property and research re-

sults.

Drawing from these tasks, we believe that in-

frastructure of development and use of free software

should include:

• isolated environment of software packages

(means of obtaining the source code of software

binary ﬁles are directly loaded onto computer

systems) and other means of collective develop-

ment;

• single repository of software for computer sys-

tems and source code for various hardware and

software platforms including ready distributions

of basic software application and standard soft-

ware solutions;

• control system of software for computer systems,

providing records and the right to use and reuse of

software and their components;

• infrastructure support for users and developers;

• infrastructure implementation (application) of

open standards and speciﬁcations, including au-

tomation assess of compliance with standards

(speciﬁcations).

Expected outcomes of introduction of free soft-

ware are, above all, in the transformation of educa-

tional technology, due to:

• transition from delivering already formed knowl-

edge and its memorization to independent infor-

mation search and constructing their own knowl-

edge;

• joint training activities of pre-service teacher in

different educational situations and simulating fu-

ture professional situations;

• providing educational material in a nonlinear for-

mat;

• opportunity to study independently according to

individual path and in his optimum pace;

• modeling of world processes and events during

educational activities;

• revitalization of intellectual and emotional pro-

cesses of perception, understanding, comprehen-

sion and interpretation of educational material

through the integration of verbal, graphic and au-

diovisual information;

• satisfactory qualiﬁcation of teachers and pre-

service teachers in the ﬁeld of information and

communication technology (equal to the level of

International / European Computer Driving Li-

cense);

• satisfactory qualiﬁcation of graduated in the ﬁeld

of information and communication technology;

• quality access for teachers and students to their

own internal and external e-learning and teaching

resources;

• quality access for teachers and senior students to

scientiﬁc electronic resources;

• automated control of their own activities for

teachers and students;

• use of wholly licensed software.

The result of preparing of pre-service teacher of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science to be

able to use free software in their own training will

serve as their willingness to use free software in their

own teaching careers.

The considered scientiﬁc and methodological ap-

proaches allowed us to develop a system of free soft-

ware in the training of pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science (see ﬁgure 1).

We will describe the components of the created

system of using free software in the training of pre-

service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Com-

puter Science. The purpose, tasks, approaches and

principles of functioning of the system of application

of free software in preparation of pre-service teach-

ers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

which make a conceptual subsystem of system are de-

scribed. Therefore, we provide a detailed description

of the components of the content subsystem.

The computer competence of pre-service teachers

of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science deter-

mines the content line of application of the free soft-

ware system in their preparation and forms, accord-

ingly, the content subsystem.

Given the activity nature of teaching, we have

identiﬁed such components of information compe-

tence of preservice teachers of Mathematics, Physics

and Computer Science, as:

• motivational and value (identiﬁcation, under-

standing and updating of goals and objectives of

their own educational activities; awareness of the

importance of knowledge, skills and abilities in

the use of free software in educational activities;

focus on professional and pedagogical develop-

ment and self-development);

• cognitive (possession of the content of theoretical,

psychological and pedagogical, professional and

methodological knowledge of the process of using

free software in educational activities);

AET 2020 - Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

268

Figure 1: The system of using free software in the training of future teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science.

• activity (use of knowledge, skills and abilities in

the process of studying both psychological and

pedagogical and professional disciplines, and ed-

ucational disciplines of the information cycle;

choice of technologies, forms, methods, teaching

aids, planning of educational tasks and their im-

plementation);

• organizational and communicative (creation of

own information and educational environment by

means of free software; use of information and ed-

ucational environment for professional communi-

cation, dissemination of pedagogical experience,

professional activity);

• reﬂexive (control, self-control, evaluation, self-

evaluation).

The content of the motivational and value compo-

nent of information competence of pre-service teach-

ers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

is their ability to solve issues related to the use of

free software in professional activities. Motivational

and value component is characterized by the formed

need for systematic teaching and research activities,

developed cognitive and exploratory motives, goal-

setting skills, conscious desire and direction for in-

tellectual self-development, readiness to meet edu-

cational needs, use of new methods and planning of

self-educational activities. The effectiveness of train-

ing pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science to use free software in professional

activities is impossible without a clear understand-

ing of the need to take into account the didactic ad-

vantages and disadvantages of free software, creating

favorable conditions for using free software to meet

their educational needs in harmony with other teach-

Theoretical Bases of Application of Free Software in Preparation of Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science

269

ing aids.

The cognitive component involves the presence

of pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science knowledge about the nature and

features of free software in their professional teach-

ing activities, possible options for using free software

in the classroom system, self-education, research ac-

tivities; features of methods of teaching proﬁle dis-

ciplines and involvement of information and commu-

nication technologies in educational activities; deep

awareness of the importance of such functions as

knowledge, skills, abilities and their improvement;

ability to search and analyze the possibilities of free

software in terms of its didactic direction; ability to

learn and receive information; information and com-

munication skills (planned and effective use of ICT

tools for search and analysis); ability and willingness

to work with free software.

The presence of pre-service teachers of Mathe-

matics, Physics and Computer Science skills to use

free software in professional activities and mastery of

methods of organizing educational and cognitive ac-

tivities determine the content of the activity compo-

nent of training pre-service teachers of Mathematics,

Physics and Computer Science to use free software.

The presence of such a component in the structure of

information competence allows to increase the profes-

sional potential of pre-service teachers of Mathemat-

ics, Physics and Computer Science, as the necessary

skills and abilities to use free software can more effec-

tively solve the problems of teaching, education and

development.

In the context of our study, the activity component

acts as a system of clear, understandable, purpose-

ful actions of pre-service teachers of Mathematics,

Physics and Computer Science, related to the plan-

ning and construction of educational activities and the

organization of self-education.

The organizational and communicative compo-

nent determines the ability of pre-service teachers of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science to cre-

ate their own information and educational environ-

ment by means of free software. The environment

is created to meet personal needs for learning, train-

ing, aggregation of new knowledge, structuring exist-

ing knowledge. The created information and educa-

tional environment can be used in further professional

activity after graduation from higher pedagogical ed-

ucation. The obtained structured and aggregated edu-

cational materials by means of information and com-

munication technologies are distributed among those

wishing to study with the purpose of their further use

in future professional activity.

The reﬂexive component is a component that

presupposes the presence of self-analysis and self-

assessment skills; self-control and self-regulation; re-

ﬂection skills (analysis of professional results, task

planning to improve self-education); reﬂecting the at-

titude of students to the process and results of pro-

fessional activity; ability to review and analyze one’s

own professional activity, distinguishing positive and

negative components; compare the results with the

planned tasks and consider ways to improve and ver-

ify them.

Thus, the information competence of pre-service

teachers of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Sci-

ence formed through the use of free software neces-

sary for their own professional activities is the result

of special training, which is a fundamental education

of pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science, professional knowledge, skills,

pedagogical experience and reﬂection; meets the re-

quirements for professional pedagogical activity. The

integrity of this education is determined by the full de-

velopment of motivational-value, cognitive, activity,

organizational-communicative and reﬂective compo-

nents, the core of which is the conscious actions

of pre-service teachers of Mathematics, Physics and

Computer Science with mandatory use of free soft-

ware in their professional activities.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The proposed conceptual basis is an open system en-

abled by its interaction with the environment (social

order, standard of professional education, etc.) and

integration of knowledge of pre-service teacher of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science in such

scientiﬁc ﬁelds as philosophy, psychology, pedagogy,

theory and methods of teaching mathematics, theory

and methods of teaching physics; theory and meth-

ods of teaching information technology as well as

fundamental disciplines in the ﬁeld of preparation of

Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science. Con-

ceptual framework can be supplemented and extended

depending on the conditions and characteristics of

the operation and can be used in the preparation of

pre-service teachers to design the educational process

from various disciplines based on their speciﬁcs.

The proposed conceptual basis is an integrated

system. Each structural element of the proposed prin-

ciples of the system is its subsystem. This concept of

integrity is ensured through:

• the presence of such properties and qualities

which are not inherent in its structural elements;

• coherence and mutual dependence of all structural

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270

elements of conceptual principles as structural

and logical and functional links between them.

Structural and logical connection provided by re-

lationships and relationships of structural elements

with each other and with over-system (social de-

mand, state educational standard of higher education

in “Pedagogical Education”). Functional connections

of structural elements are deﬁned by concept of efﬁ-

cacy provide by the aggregate of the basic principles

and conceptual provisions.

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