On the Challenge of Developing Key Competencies Through Natural Science Education of Primary School Students

The formation of key competencies as a contributing factor to the development of human personality is among the many challenges of our time. Based on the results of the participation of fourth graders in national and international assessments, the article presents the author’s conceptual model for developing key competencies through natural science education of elementary school students, structured and operating at a synergistic level. The synergistic approach is applied in the complex and unbalanced process of developing key competencies, which emphasizes the paradoxical property of ‘emergence’ as a consequence of the overactive effect of forming competencies in the development of the student’s personality. Adaptive solutions for sustainability of the processes are proposed through progression and multiplication of the effects of developing competencies in the field of natural science education.