Development of students' thinking through the school subject "Work and Technics"

The basic goal of the subject "Work and Technics" in the Bulgarian schools is to introduce the students systematically to the world of technology. In the same time this school subject is developing the students' general cognitive and thinking abilities. The conditions which secure the development of thinking are determined by two main factors. They are the subject matter and the methods of teaching which are now in the process of evolution: 1) Various methods for students' problem-solving have been seriously and responsibly shared and adopted. A special attention is given to the application of variants of the morphological methods. 2) The attitude towards the subject matter is changing. The goal is no more to teach the students how to make a certain object but to get an idea for some basic technological principles by whose help the modern technological artefacts are improved (the principles of integration; of separation; and of self-regulation and others).