The new quality of general education is largely determined by the students’ involvement in independent thinking activities when studying various subjects. As one of the tools, creative practice-oriented tasks of a divergent type are proposed for use in the subject-related training of students. The authors have proposed divergent tasks of an original design consisting of information, thinking, and search parts, based on solving classical, specific, and “live” situations. They have provided information about the results of students’ work with such tasks and provided necessary explanations. Purpose of the article. theoretical substantiation, development, and testing of creative practice-oriented tasks of a divergent type to improve the quality of students’ subject training. Research methodology and research methods. The methodological basis of the work is a creative and active approach that involves actively searching for solutions to problems, including real-life problems. Students become full participants in the educational process, and the teacher acts as an organizer of the search rather than a transmitter of ready-made solutions. A special study was organized and conducted in secondary schools of the Republic of Mordovia, in which 112 ninth-graders of the 2025 graduating class took part. The diagnostic materials obtained allow us to state that they do not use their thinking actions sufficiently when performing educational tasks. The material also included specially selected information reflecting the essence of divergent tasks, types and kinds, their optimal design for perception and performance by students. The research methods were: 1) theoretical – analysis of publications, systematization, and generalized presentation of materials on divergent tasks and their design for use in subject training; 2) empirical – performance of divergent tasks, quantitative and qualitative processing of the obtained results. Conclusion. Targeted work on the approbation of creative practice-oriented tasks of a divergent type showed that most ninth-graders were able to complete them by mobilizing the potential of mental actions – analysis, comparison, and establishing causal relationships. The study is significant for filling in the gaps in the organization of teachers’ activities to include students in active search activities.