Elective courses play an important role in specialized informatics education. Among their features, it is possible to note the opportunity to organize student research activities within the course, for example, for students in socio-economics classes as they become familiar with economic professions. The article describes in detail the elective course "Spreadsheet processor in solving economic problems" which focuses on mastering a range of spreadsheet functions in the "Financial" category. The goals and objectives of the course and its thematic planning are presented. The course content is examined in detail, with an emphasis on practical assignments. Through these assignments, students not only master the spreadsheet's new built-in functions but also learn to effectively solve economic problems related to real-life situations. Methodological developments for several practical assignments are provided, outlining possible research processes. The practical assignments include research-based tasks, which enhance students' understanding of the course material.

The article discusses a system of engineering competitions using the Cuboro constructor, implemented within the framework of the "TEXcommunity55" project carried out at the Omsk State Pedagogical University.

The Cuboro construction set is a set of wooden cubes with gutters and tunnels of various shapes. From these cubes you need to build a structure according to the given conditions so that the ball rolls freely from start to finish, and at the same time score as many points as possible. You can play Cuboro from the age of three to infinity. The development of spatial concepts, engineering skills, the consolidation of many concepts of mathematics, physics, informatics, as well as the formation of the ability to work in a team — these are only part of the competencies that can be developed in students with the help of Cuboro.

One of the most effective tools for encouraging children to engage in Cuboro modeling is engineering competitions. They are a synthetic educational form that combines elements of project-based learning, teamwork, sports passion and expert assessment.

The system of engineering design competitions, developed within the framework of the TEXcommunity55 project, is aimed at both children and adults, both professionals and those just starting to master the design. The article provides brief descriptions of all competitions included in the system, the regulations of some of them and examples of tasks.

The article examines the problem of integrating an upbringing component into the subject content of informatics lessons, a topic relevant to modern education, in accordance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard for Basic General Education.

Using the theme "Measuring information" as an example, it presents a methodology for developing teaching materials that simultaneously develop students' subject knowledge and a value-based attitude toward Russia's cultural and historical heritage.

The main result of this work is a system of didactic cards with tasks on calculating the information volume of text, graphic, and audio information, containing historical, cultural, and regional context. Methodological recommendations have been developed for each card, including a definition of the subject and educational didactic tasks, a historical commentary for the teacher, questions for discussing the educational content, problem-solving tasks, and creative projects aimed at developing students' civic stance.

These materials can be useful in the work of informatics teachers in general education schools, as well as in organizing extracurricular activities and as part of supplementary education.

The article actualizes the potential of the academic subject "Informatics" as a tool for patriotic education of students. It is proved that informatics has unique opportunities for the formation of civic identity due to the interdisciplinary nature of project activities, the presence in the content of the subject of examples of the contribution of Russian scientists to the development of science and technology, the possibility of solving personally significant practice-oriented tasks, the inclusion of legal aspects in the content.

As an example, the article presents the interdisciplinary project "The combat path of a veteran". Its implementation includes searching for information about relatives of students who participated in the Great Patriotic War on the "Memorial of the People" portal, analyzing this information, comparing the veteran's personal combat path with key historical events of the Great Patriotic War, and creating a multimedia presentation.

Students' work on such projects contributes to the formation of their systemic knowledge of the country's history, the development of a sense of pride and respect for the heroic past of the people, the fostering patriotism and civic responsibility, and the formation of analytical abilities.

The article presents the experience of integrating artificial intelligence into the educational process in secondary schools. By reviewing relevant literature and summarizing accumulated practical experience, conclusions are drawn regarding the prospects for using neural network technologies in the educational process, based on an analytical and theoretical approach. The program of a seminar for teachers on mastering methods of working with neural networks is presented, as well as the results of a rapid survey among participants in educational trainings dedicated to the development of modern neural network services and tools. The author's trainings revealed that the use of artificial intelligence can significantly improve the efficiency of educational activities, ensuring the objectification of student assessments, the automation of assignment checks, and a reduction in teacher workload due to the automation of routine operations and the generation of unique and adapted educational materials. Thus, the article demonstrates the potential of neural network technologies for modernizing the educational environment and expanding the methodological arsenal of the modern teacher.

The Federal working program of basic and general secondary education in computer science at an advanced level involves introducing students to recursive algorithms: students should be able to analyze ready-made recursive subroutines and develop their own.

A condition for the meaningfulness of students' actions when solving a programming problem is the organization of their sign-symbolic activity at the stages of transition from solving a problem for specific input data to a visual and verbal description of the algorithm, and from the description of the algorithm to the commands of a programming language. When developing recursive algorithms, the intermediaries between the problem and the program for its solution are sign-symbolic structures that are unfamiliar to students: recurrence relations and tree-structured diagrams. The appropriation of these structures by students is facilitated by their performance of tasks on the verbal description of recurrent sequences, the determination of recurrence formulas and base cases for them, finding a specific term of a recurrent sequence given a formula and initial values, and constructing a recursion tree for a ready-made recursive subroutine. The article provides examples of tasks of these types and also describes an educational software environment developed by the authors that allows students to analyze the features of the operation of recursive subroutines.

Recently, tasks on the theme of "Combinatorics" have ceased to be the prerogative of Olympiad training for schoolchildren. Students learn the concepts and methods of combinatorics in informatics, mathematics, probability, and statistics courses. The task 8 of the Unified State Exam in informatics assumes that students have the ability to enumerate and calculate configurations from objects of a finite set constructed in accordance with certain rules. The article describes various methods for solving these problems: nested loops, using the itertools library, using recursive functions and recursive generator functions. The last two methods allow students to get an idea of iterated objects and better understand the structure of generator objects. Solving one problem in several ways develops criticality of thinking, has a positive effect on the creation of intrasubject connections in the studied material, and promotes deeper learning of the material.

The article investigates the organization of project-based learning for students within pre-professional IT training programs. The relevance of the study is driven by the need to bridge the gap between the heterogeneous entry-level competencies of school students and the quality standards required for engineering and technical projects. Using the "Apps Development" program implemented within the "school — university" ecosystem (Moscow Pedagogical State University) as a case study, a comparative analysis of two methodological models is conducted: a linear blended model and a differentiated adaptive model.

The article describes the transformation of the course's instructional design, which includes the implementation of an introductory leveling module, the parallelization of learning and development processes, and the integration of professional tools (Git, Trello) alongside a mentorship system.

The results of the pedagogical experiment demonstrate that the transition to individualized learning trajectories and a consultative support model ensures a qualitative improvement in educational outcomes. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is confirmed by a substantial increase in the conversion rate of student projects into award-winning entries at specialized conferences and a significant rise in student engagement.

The article presents an analysis of the two-year experience of preparing the MKA team from Yakutsk for the All-Russian Robofest Robotics Festival in the AutoNet14+ category. The relevance of the research is determined by the need to identify effective pedagogical mechanisms for the formation of engineering thinking among schoolchildren. Based on the analysis of regulations, engineering documentation and a retrospective analysis of the decisions made, it is shown how key competencies of students are formed during the design and programming of an autonomous robot: analysis of technical requirements, development of alternative solutions, work in conditions of incomplete information and time constraints. Special attention is paid to the concept of "speed of engineering thinking", implemented in the team's ability to quickly refine the design and make the necessary changes to the program code. The result of the formed competencies was the victory at the Robofest robotics festival. Many years of experience in participating in robotics competitions allows us to build an individual preparation trajectory for the All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren in Informatics of the Robotics profile.