Savenkov Alexander Ilyich research activity. Children's research activity (technology Savenkov A

Valentina Yakovleva
Children's research activity (technology Savenkov A. I.)

MBDOU " Kindergarten №122"Sun light" general developmental type with priority implementation activities on cognitive and speech development of children in Cheboksary

Children's research activities

(technology Savenkov A. AND.)

Prepared:

educator

Yakovleva Valentina Sergeevna

Cheboksary 2016

Children's research activities of preschoolers(technology Savenkov A. AND.)

Modern children live and develop in the era of information and computerization. In a rapidly changing life, a person is required not only to possess knowledge, but, first of all, the ability to obtain this knowledge himself and operate with it, to think independently and creatively.

A child - a preschooler in itself is already researcher, showing a keen interest in various kinds of . Preparing a child for research activities teaching his skills and abilities research search is becoming the most important task of modern education.

I present to your attention the "Methodology for conducting training research in kindergarten", the author of which is Savenkov Alexander Ilyich, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Department of Developmental Psychology, Moscow State Pedagogical University.

Study- search for information on a problem, followed by its generalization (writing research work and conclusion)

main feature research learning - to activate the educational work of children, giving it exploratory character, and thus give children the initiative in organizing their cognitive activities.

Educational preschooler research, also,

like study conducted by an adult researcher, inevitable

but includes the following elements:

Identifying and posing a problem (choice of topic research) ;

Development of hypotheses;

Search and offer possible solutions;

Collection of material;

Analysis and generalization of the obtained data;

Preparation and defense of the final product (message, report,

layout, etc.).

The proposed method allows you to include the child in his own research search in any subject classes in kindergarten. It is designed not only to teach children observation and experimentation, but includes a full cycle research activities. From defining the problem, to presenting and defending the results.

In order to acquaint children with the methodology, 1-2 frontal training sessions will be required, for which it is better to divide the group into subgroups of 10-13 people.

"Training sessions"

Preparing for classes:

Cards with symbolic images are required for classes. "methods research» : on the back of each card, a verbal designation of each method, cards with pictures indicating the topics of possible children's research.

In addition, you need to prepare pens, pencils, felt-tip pens and small pieces of paper for fixing by children obtained during research, information.

Small lecterns, robes and academic headdresses will not be superfluous.

Conducting a lesson:

To show children how to behave at each stage research search, it is necessary to single out a couple of the most active guys on a voluntary basis. It is advisable to pick up energetic, active children with well-developed speech.

Together with the teacher they will do the main work researchers from the first to the last stage, all other children in the first lessons will participate as active helpers.

1. Choosing a theme

Step one - the pair we selected « researchers» determines the theme of research. In order for children to be able to do this, offer them prepared cards with various images - themes of future research.

After a short discussion directed by the teacher, the children usually opt for a topic - they choose one or another card.

2. Making a plan research

Let's explain researchers that their task is to obtain as much new information as possible about what (who) is the subject of their research and prepare a message about it - a short report

Let's start with the usual problem questions, For example: "What should we do first?" "Where do you think it starts? research scientist?»

In a group discussion, children usually name methods research, the sequence of its implementation and it is necessary to lay out cards with the designation methods:

"think for yourself".

"ask someone else"

"observation and experiment".

"learn from a book"

"look on computer"

"contact a specialist".

3. Collection of material

The pictographic writing used at this stage allows you to reflect the information received through various sensory channels. (vision, hearing, taste, temperature, etc.).

4. Generalization of the obtained data

At this stage, it is necessary to highlight the main ideas, note the secondary ones, and then the tertiary ones.

5. Report.

When conducting training research, to report on what has been learned is important, first of all, to the one who prepared this message.

After the speech researchers- the completion of the report, it is necessary to arrange a discussion of it, give the audience the opportunity to ask questions.

After mastering the general scheme activities, you can move on to another option for organizing this work - independent research practice of children. Now each child will conduct his own study.

preparation

Once again, cards with images of themes will be needed for future research, special "folder researcher» for each child in the group and an unlimited number of small pieces of paper and a pen.

folder device- researcher: on a sheet of A4 cardboard on-

glued small (3X3 cm) thick white paper pockets. On the

each pocket is a schematic representation of the "method research-

niya". In these pockets, children will put their pictographic

information notes.

At this stage, active exploratory search are involved

all participants in the class. During the lesson, children should have complete freedom of movement in the group.

Having chosen a topic, each child receives a special “folder research

provider", sheets for collecting information and a pen, pencil and fl-

masters. Plan research in this case, it is not necessary to pronounce

important, because it is outlined and already fixed on the pockets of the folder.

Armed with everything necessary, each child begins to act on one's own: included in own exploratory search. The task of the teacher is to perform the duties of an active assistant, consultant researchers to help those who need help at this moment.

As soon as the first messages are prepared, the children can be gathered and seated to listen to the reports. We put on the speaker a mantle and a special headdress. A small table can serve as a pulpit.

Rules for educators when using technology A. AND. Savenkova

Do not instruct; help children act independently, do not give direct instructions about what they will do.

o Based on careful observation and evaluation, identify children's strengths and weaknesses.

o Do not hold back children's initiatives and do not do for them what they can do on their own.

o Teach children to trace interdisciplinary connections; don't rush into judgments.

o Help children learn to manage the learning process.

o Get creative with everything.

o be able to see the problem and ask questions;

o be able to prove;

o draw conclusions;

o make assumptions and make plans to test them.

Bibliography:

1. Savenkov, A.I. Children's study as a method of teaching older preschoolers”: Lectures 5–8. / A.I. Savenkov. - M.: Pedagogical University "First of September". - 2007. - 92 p.

2. Savenkov, A. I. Methodology research teaching preschoolers / A.I. Savenkov. Series: - publishing house: House of Fedorov. – 2010.

Alexander Ilyich Savenkov(born September 25, 1957) - Soviet and Russian psychologist and teacher, specialist in the field of diagnostics and development of children's giftedness, education of gifted children, psychology of research education, founder of the scientific school "Psychology of Giftedness and Creativity". Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor. Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education (2016), full member of the Academy of Pedagogical and Social Sciences.

Biography

In 1983 he graduated from the graphic arts department of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical Institute.

In 1988 he completed full-time target postgraduate studies at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V.I. Lenin and the scientific guidance of Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor T. S. Komarova defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences on the topic “Formation of a social orientation among younger schoolchildren in the process of extracurricular visual activity” (specialty 13.00.01 - theory and history of pedagogy).

In 1997 he graduated from the full-time target doctoral studies at the Moscow State Pedagogical University and defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences on the topic “Pedagogical Foundations for the Development of Productive Thinking of Gifted Children” (specialty 13.00.01 - General Pedagogy, History of Pedagogy and Education) Scientific consultant - Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education A. M. Matyushkin.

In 2002 he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Psychology on the topic "Development of children's giftedness in the context of education" (specialty 19.00.13 - developmental psychology, acmeology).

Director of the Institute of Pedagogics and Educational Psychology of Moscow State Pedagogical University, Head of the Institute-wide Department of Educational Psychology. Lecturer at the distance learning faculty of MSUPE.

In 2012, he graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical University with a Master's Degree in Psychology (program "Psychology of Education Management").

Scientific and pedagogical activity

Head of the "Psychology" section of the Central House of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The developer and leader of the experimental program - "Gifted child in a mass school", which is being implemented in schools in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Arzamas.

Social activity

Assistant member of the Federation Council V. S. Kosourov for work in the Federation Council on a voluntary basis.

Member of the Expert Council of the Committee of the Federation Council on Science, Education, Culture and Information Policy, member of the group of experts in the development of the social infrastructure of childhood, the industry of children's goods, the security of information and children's products.

Member of the Expert Council of the Committee on Family, Women and Children of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Awards

Diploma of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Scientific works

Monographs

Savenkov A.I. Gifted children in kindergarten and school. M., 2000;
Savenkov A.I. A gifted child in a public school. M., 2001;
Savenkov AI Diagnosis and development of children's giftedness. M., 2001;
Savenkov A. I. The path to giftedness. Exploratory behavior of preschoolers. St. Petersburg, 2004;
Savenkov AI Content and organization of research education for schoolchildren. M., 2004;
Savenkov A. I. Psychological foundations of the research approach to learning. M., 2006.
Savenkov A. I. Pedagogical psychology: In 2 volumes. Volume 1. - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 2009. - 416 p. ISBN 978-5-7695-5308-0
Savenkov A. I. Pedagogical psychology: In 2 volumes. Volume 2. - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 2009. - 240 p. ISBN 978-5-7695-6295-2
Savenkov A.I. Psychodidactics. - M.: National Book Center, 2012. - 360 p. ISBN 978-5-904827-68-7

Articles

Savenkov A.I. Development of children's giftedness in the educational environment // Development of personality. - 2002. - No. 3. - S. 113-146. - ISSN 2071-9788.
Savenkov A. I. Theory and practice of using research methods of teaching in preschool education // Kindergarten from A to Z. - 2004. - No. 2. - P. 22-56.
Savenkov AI Social intelligence as a problem of psychology of giftedness and creativity // Psychology. - M.: NRU HSE, 2005. - No. 4. - S. 94–101. - ISSN 1813-8918.
Savenkov A.I. Indoctrination of personality // Development of personality. - 2006. - No. 1. - S. 53-61. - ISSN 2071-9788.
Savenkov AI Emotional and social intelligence as predictors of success in life // Bulletin of practical psychology of education. - M.: MGPPU, 2006. - No. 1. - S. 30–38.
Savenkov A.I. Indoctrination of personality (end) // Development of personality. - 2006. - No. 2. - S. 46-60. - ISSN 2071-9788.
Savenkov A. I. Vicarious learning and imitation as factors in the development of a creative personality // Development of Personality. - 2007. - No. 4. - S. 58-70. - ISSN 2071-9788.
Savenkov A. I. "Indigo Children". Pedigree of a dangerous myth // Modern preschool education. Theory and practice. - 2009. - No. 2.
Savenkov A. I., Lvova A. S., Vachkova S. N., Lyubchenko O. A., Nikitina E. K. Training of teachers in the magistracy of the new generation // Psychological Science and Education. - M.: MGPPU, 2014. - V. 19, No. 3. - S. 197–206. - ISSN 2311-7273.

Savenkov A.I. Psychological foundations of research education of schoolchildren // Physics: problems of vykladannya. - 2007. - No. 3. - S. 14-24.

The author considers the following foundations of research education: connection with modern education, research abilities, IQ, teaching principles, the main elements of the educational program, teacher training, etc.

Research learning and contemporary education

The world around us is changing rapidly, and in order to survive in it, a person is less and less able to rely on the mental stereotypes and typical behavioral models worked out by his ancestors or by himself. For a full-fledged existence in an intensively changing environment, modern man increasingly has to show exploratory behavior. Therefore, at present, in pedagogical psychology, pedagogy and educational practice, there is an extremely high interest in the natural search activity of the child as the most important educational resource.

This circumstance brought to life a fundamentally new phenomenon for Russian education - research education (the English equivalent is explorer education). Exploratory learning is based on the child's biologically predetermined need to explore the world around him. It does not involve the partial use of search methods in education, but an appeal to a fundamentally new model of education, where the priority position is occupied by the cognitive activity of the child himself. The main feature of research education is to activate the educational work of children, giving it an exploratory, creative character, and thus transfer the initiative to students in organizing their cognitive activity.

It is important to understand that if the objectives of exploratory learning are reduced to encouraging the student to be naturally inquisitive, to ask questions and try to find answers to them on their own, then it turns out that we are defending only what many talented teachers of the past have been talking about for a long time and even putting into practice. History has preserved many statements about the importance of stimulating, supporting the search activity of the child in education and a lot of documentary evidence of how effectively teachers of different times used in their own practice the natural desire of the child to learn about the environment.

At present, there is a need for a different solution. Moreover, we are not talking about a new round of using research methods in education, but about a special type of education that is fundamentally different from others. Exploratory learning should not be reduced to a private technique - stimulating the search activity of children through the use of research teaching methods in education. First of all, it involves moving along the path of a fundamental revision of cultural and educational traditions, radically changing the goals of education, attitudes towards knowledge itself and the ways of obtaining it.

The phenomenon of exploratory behavior

The desire to explore the world around us is one of the most amazing features of the psyche of living beings. Nature endowed this not only with people, but also with animals. This desire is universal and manifests itself in exploratory behavior. It can be observed in all spheres of life and in all types of activity without exception. Exploratory behavior is one of the most effective tools for learning, improving cognitive functions at all levels, and acquiring social experience. In humans, it is the most important source of personal development and self-development.

The first manifestations of the mutual connection between success in life and exploratory behavior in a person can be observed already from childhood. Even in the course of ordinary observations, it is easy to see that the level of development of the research abilities of the child directly depends on his success in cognitive and affective development. The presence of developed research abilities largely determines the likelihood of transformation of the development process into the process of self-development.

Despite the fact that the very phenomenon of exploratory behavior has been known to mankind for a long time, its special scientific study has a relatively short history and traces its genealogy to the works of I.P. Pavlov on orienting-research reactions. According to Russian and foreign scientists, it was his works of the beginning of the 20th century that gave rise to scientific, psychological research in this area.

Traditionally, in psychology, the study of exploratory behavior has been and is being conducted on the widest possible front: the features of the exploratory behavior of animals, the specific characteristics of the exploratory behavior of adults, the mechanisms for diagnosing and developing the exploratory abilities of children are studied. Currently, the interest of psychologists in the problems of exploratory behavior is growing. Special, fundamental studies of the general foundations of the psychology of exploratory behavior are being carried out, problems of diagnostics and the development of research abilities are being developed (A. V. Leontovich, A. S. Obukhov, A. N. Poddyakov, A. I. Savenkov, and others). Research is especially intensive in the field of pedagogical psychology and pedagogy, where exploratory behavior is considered as one of the effective tools to transform the process of personality development into a process of self-development.

Research activities and research abilities

Research activity should be considered as a special kind of intellectual and creative activity generated as a result of the functioning of search activity mechanisms and built on the basis of research behavior. But if search activity is determined only by the presence of the very fact of search in an uncertain situation, and research behavior describes mainly the external context of the functioning of the subject in this situation, then research activity characterizes the very structure of this functioning. It logically includes the motivating factors of exploratory behavior (search activity) and the mechanism for its implementation. Thinking acts as this mechanism in a person. The most productive in this case is the division of thinking into convergent and divergent. Both types of productive thinking identified by J. Gilford are important for the successful implementation of exploratory behavior in situations of uncertainty.

Obviously, the presence of the very fact of search activity does not and cannot exhaust research activity. It also includes an analysis of the results obtained, an assessment on their basis of the dynamics of the situation and, in accordance with this, forecasting (building hypotheses) for its further development. You can also add here the modeling and implementation of your future, intended actions - the correction of exploratory behavior. In the future, all this, being tested in practice (observation and experiment) and re-evaluated, brings the search activity to a new level, and the entire schematically described sequence is repeated.

The successful implementation of research activities requires the subject to have a specific personal education - research abilities. Research abilities are logically qualified, in accordance with the traditions of Russian psychology, as individual psychological characteristics of a person, acting as subjective conditions for the successful implementation of research activities. Like all other abilities, they can be considered from different angles.

Research abilities are found in the degree of manifestation of search activity, as well as in the depth, strength of mastering the methods and techniques of research activity, but are not limited to them. Moreover, it is very important to understand that we are talking about the very desire for a search, and the ability to evaluate (process) its results, and the ability to build one's further behavior in a developing situation, relying on them.

Under the methods and techniques of research activities, one should understand the methods and techniques necessary for the implementation of research activities. This is the ability to see problems, the ability to develop hypotheses, the ability to observe, the ability to conduct experiments, the ability to define concepts, etc.

Research abilities should be considered as a complex of three relatively autonomous components: search activity; divergent thinking; convergent thinking. The first parameter - search activity - acts as the primary source and main engine of exploratory behavior. It characterizes the motivational component of research abilities. The desire for search activity is largely biologically predetermined, however, this quality develops under the influence of environmental factors. High motivation, interest, emotional involvement are the necessary components of exploratory behavior, indicating the presence of search activity.

When evaluating the exploratory behavior of an animal, this could be limited, but a person is capable of rather complex variants of mental actions. Therefore, the following parameters of research abilities are divergent and convergent thinking.

It is easy to see that divergent productivity is an extremely important element of the individual's psychological readiness, absolutely necessary in situations of exploratory behavior. This is required both at the stage of identifying problems and at the stage of searching for possible solutions (hypotheses). Such important characteristics of divergent thinking as productivity, originality and flexibility of thinking, the ability to develop ideas, are necessary conditions for the successful implementation of research activities. For example, the ability to find and formulate problems, to generate the largest possible number of ideas in response to a problem situation, originality, the ability to respond to a situation in a non-trivial way - all these are not only manifestations of the ability for divergent thinking, but also integral components of human research behavior. They must be considered as a component of research abilities.

In addition, we must understand that in real situations that require exploratory behavior, both search activity and divergent thinking are of little use without highly developed convergent thinking. It is not only closely related to the ability to solve a problem on the basis of logical algorithms, through the ability to analyze and synthesize, but it is also fundamentally important at the stages of analyzing and assessing the situation, at the stages of developing judgments and conclusions. Convergent thinking is an important condition for the successful development and improvement of the object of study (or situation), evaluation of the information found and reflection. Diagnostics and the development of research abilities involve the identification and improvement of these three characteristics.

Research ability and IQ

In a number of special psychological works, a fact that is recognized by everyone as paradoxical has been repeatedly recorded. We are talking about empirical studies that consider the ratio of the levels of intelligence development (detected according to the IQ system), on the one hand, and exploratory behavior, on the other. In these studies, specialists observe, as a rule, negative correlations.

For example, a well-known specialist in the field of psychology of exploratory behavior A. N. Poddyakov, relying on his own research and research by a number of psychologists (J. Beckman, Yu. Gutke, B. Henderson, etc.), notes that the results of surveys on intelligence tests and on tests of research ability are more often associated with an inverse rather than a direct relationship.

But does it follow from this that people who have a high intelligence quotient (IQ) must necessarily demonstrate low levels of ability to independently, practically explore new objects, and vice versa, people who show high research abilities must have low intelligence? It is also important how all this correlates in general with modern ideas about children's giftedness.

Analyzing the reasons forcing scientists to talk about the inverse correlation between IQ and research abilities, A. N. Poddyakov rightly notes that the main problem lies in the unresolved conceptual issues. “Neither intellect, nor exploratory behavior, nor creativity are defined by anyone precisely ...” . This is true, and, undoubtedly, this circumstance is one of the good reasons for the resulting confusion. Everyone knows that both the definition of these psychological constructs and the procedures for measuring the levels of their development are very far from the theoretically possible ideal.

From the point of view of solving social and educational problems, it is also fundamentally important that the concepts of "intelligence" and "intellectual giftedness" are not identical to modern ideas about children's giftedness as an integrative, dynamic indicator that ultimately determines the potential of the individual as a kind of foundation for subsequent outstanding achievements. achievements. In most modern conceptual models (D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya, V. N. Druzhinin, J. Renzulli, K. Heller, etc.), giftedness is no longer identified with any separate function or complex of conditionally distinguished mental processes, as was customary in a number of theoretical models of the past. It is not limited to high intelligence, or high creativity. And this makes comparisons like "intelligence and creativity", "intelligence and research abilities", "creativity and research behavior" interesting from the point of view of exercising one's own research skills, but unproductive from the point of view of psychology and educational practice.

Another important feature of the modern understanding of giftedness is that it is considered not as a constant, but as a dynamic characteristic. This understanding has led to the creation of theoretical models of the development of giftedness, the structure of which includes, along with factors characterizing the potential of the individual, also environmental factors (Yu. D. Babaeva, F. Monks, A. I. Savenkov, etc.).

According to the majority of modern specialists in the field of educational psychology, one of the leading factors that ensure the positive dynamics of the development of children's giftedness is exploratory behavior, activated by exploratory learning. This explains such a high attention to the theory and methodology of research teaching in theoretical and methodological works devoted to the problems of teaching gifted children (A. M. Matyushkin, J. Renzulli, X. Passov, A. I. Savenkov, N. B. Shumakova and others .). Therefore, research teaching methods are actively used in the practice of schools for gifted children.

Particularly curious in the considered opposition of the levels of development of research abilities and intelligence is that this opposition provides an unexpected and very plausible explanation for the phenomenon of the fading of the abilities of child prodigies. Giftedness is considered in modern psychology as a dynamic characteristic, it is not constant and evolves during the life of an individual, developing qualitatively and quantitatively, changing over time. Children who qualify as geeks on the basis of high IQ scores (which are often known to be closely associated with academic achievement) are likely to lose much of their advantage by adulthood because they do not show a pronounced desire for exploratory behavior.

To a large extent, the problem of the paradox indicated above is clarified by the answers to the question of what is meant by research abilities by those researchers who speak of an inverse correlation between the IQ and the level of development of research abilities.

Thus, when conducting empirical research based on these methods, we find ourselves in a methodical "trap" built by them. Private information obtained as a result of diagnostic actions of this kind does not actually characterize the indicated mental phenomena themselves. Only understanding of giftedness as an integral personality characteristic and consideration of exploratory behavior as a complex complex, including both the receipt and processing of information obtained in the course of exploratory search, allows us to see these phenomena in their entirety and actually removes the contradiction noted above. Considering exploratory behavior and children's giftedness in such a broad context, we find ourselves in a situation where this contradiction disappears. And the opposition between the levels of development of intellect and research abilities, which are mistakenly identified with search activity, noted in special studies, is deprived of an intriguing touch of paradox.

This allows us to conclude that not only testing for intelligence and assigning the right to be considered a universal characteristic of mental abilities to the intelligence quotient (IQ), but also a methodology for assessing research abilities as manifestations of the search activity of the subject, are inadequate for the tasks set.

Most of the specialists who develop these methods actually reduce research abilities to elementary levels of manifestation of search activity (elementary experimentation, etc.). More precisely, we are talking about the degree of manifestation of the desire to manipulate objects, as well as the ability and desire to extract new information from this manipulation. This is an undeniably important and interesting phenomenon, it can be described as search activity, but neither exploratory behavior, nor even exploratory activity, is exhausted by this. As we have already noted, research activity, in addition, includes an analysis of the results obtained, an assessment of the development of the situation on their basis, and forecasting, in accordance with this, their further actions.

Origins of the practice of research learning

The question of when children's own research began to be applied in educational practice has a clear and quite precise answer: they have always been used and have been in demand since ancient times, from the moment the very need for learning manifested itself in the human community.

As you know, initially this social need stems from two sources. The first is the instinctive, basically biological, desire of the younger ones to master a new experience for themselves, imitating the older ones and independently exploring the world around them. The second source is the natural, fixed in the genotype and manifested throughout the animal world, the desire of the elders to take care of transferring the skills of adaptation to the environment to the younger ones.

Some part of the information about the world the child has always perceived through reproduction from the elders, and some has been mastered independently, imitating adults, playing, exploring reality. At the same time, he had to observe, experiment and draw his own conclusions and conclusions on this basis. Thus, we can conditionally distinguish two ways for a child to get an education - reproductive and productive. At different times, the ratio of these two fundamentally different ways of enriching the experience of the individual has changed significantly, first one or the other came to the fore in educational practice. In general, the line of research education developed inconsistently, within the framework of the general democratization of education, the approximation of education to cognitive activity, to the interests and needs of the student himself. The development of culture in all its aspects not only led to the emergence of new phenomena, but also contributed to the increase in the dynamics of the changes themselves. This gradually made the world more and more dynamic and unpredictable, and at the same time more and more insistently forced the education system to refuse the dominance of dogmatic content and reproductive teaching methods over flexible content and productive methods.

Investigative learning and the beginning of the "age of the child"

The ideas of research education were especially developed at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century - during the period of the establishment of reformist, progressive pedagogy in Western Europe, Russia and the USA. It was not a time of simple enthusiasm for the previously expressed ideas of "free education", but of the active introduction into practice of fundamentally new approaches to learning. Criticizing the old Herbartian school system for authoritarianism, one-sided "intellectualism", "book science", the most advanced teachers and child psychologists insisted on the need to create a new "active school", "school of action". The time was coming, named after the book of the American journalist Helen Kay (1849-1926) "the age of the child."

It was a time of intensive development of the ideas of research education in the works of Russian scientists, representatives of alternative pedagogy. The need to establish a research approach in education was most clearly expressed in one of his works by the famous Russian teacher Konstantin Nikolaevich Wentzel (1857–1947): the deeper roots will be put down by this theoretical interest in the practice of life, the more vital, tenacious, more stable it will become.

KN Wentzel was a consistent supporter of the idea of "free education". Attaching exceptional importance to the child's exploratory behavior and its application in teaching, he wrote that the child should be looked at not as a student, but as a little "seeker of truth." He urged to support and “nourish in him the spirit of the restless search for truth”, “to cherish the awakened thirst for knowledge”. K. N. Wentzel emphasized that teachers themselves should try to set an example of exploratory behavior for the child, create situations of personal and indirect (with the help of books) interaction with great thinkers and scientists, “in whom this spirit of the great search for truth is alive.”

During this period, the American philosopher and educator John Dewey (1859–1952) began to develop, implement and promote the ideas of research education. According to him, other people's words and books can give knowledge, but they do not bring up, but experience. It is experience that is the key concept of the theory of J. Dewey. He writes that the vocation of the school is not to withdraw young people from the surrounding active environment and force them to study “reports on how other people knew the world”, the school should provide an opportunity for the manifestation of aspirations to master the world, for the intellectual initiative of the child.

In the learning process, J. Dewey believed, one must proceed from four basic children's instincts: the doing instinct, the research instinct, the artistic instinct, and the social instinct. On their basis, the interests of the child develop; using them, the school can turn learning into a productive, rewarding and fun process. For this, schooling must be organized in such a way that the child finds himself in the position of a researcher.

Briefly, J. Dewey characterizes this mechanism as follows: in the course of his own practice, in the “process of doing”, the child has cognitive needs and cognitive interests are formed; they awaken an exploratory instinct that can make learning fun. In the labor process, on the basis of conjugation of creativity and labor, the child develops the need to comprehend a task or problem, build hypotheses, choose ways to solve them, and achieve the desired result.

John Dewey was one of the first to express indignation at the extreme suppression of all manifestations of children's activity in a traditional school: “The restrictions placed on physical movement in a traditional classroom with its fixed rows of desks and military discipline for students who were allowed to move only on certain established signals , - all this pretty much fettered intellectual and moral freedom. He rightly notes: "... if we want to create conditions for the normal intellectual growth of students, it is necessary to do away with the methods of shackles and straitjackets." Without freedom, says J. Dewey, there is no guarantee of development. Physical immobility imposed on the child interferes with the awareness of educational problems, prevents the necessary observations and experiments that test the proposed ideas. There is very little space in the school room for the child himself, for his active, independent, research work. At the same time, the full cycle of independent learning activity, according to J. Dewey, requires research and experimentation, verification of one's own ideas regarding the objects under study, and the acquisition of dexterity in handling materials and devices. “A workshop, a laboratory, materials, tools,” he writes, “with which a child could build, create and independently explore, even the necessary place for this - all this is in most cases missing.”

The increased interest in research learning during this period led school practice to radical changes in the procedural, content and organizational basis of education. These searches allowed pedagogy to take an important step from the "class-audience" to the "class-laboratory". True, the further development of the educational system of our country shows that, having taken this step, pedagogy could not help the school to take it.

General characteristics of research education

The approach to the formation of a scientific picture of the spiritual and moral structure of the world, dictated by the tasks of research education, involves not only mastering by the child a certain amount of information obtained through special research, but also revealing the embryology of obtaining new knowledge based on mastering the methods of its discovery. Since science is inseparable from the reflection of the way in which knowledge is obtained, the student must also master in education not only the final product in the form of some positive knowledge, but be well acquainted with the evolution of the comprehension of truth, as well as with the ways and means of its search.

When solving the problem of forming a student's scientific picture of the world in the content of education, it is necessary to take into account that the ideas of science can be fully understood only in the context of their emergence and further research conditioned by them. The manner of a fragmentary, ascertaining presentation in modern conditions is of little use. Therefore, the content of research education should be built in such a way that the experience of mankind is presented to the student not as a sum of dogmas, not as a set of unshakable laws and rules, but as a living, constantly developing organism.

In research teaching, research is not just a set of teaching methods and techniques, but is its content and meaning. The student thus forms an idea of research not just as a set of particular cognitive tools that allow productively solving cognitive problems, but as a leading way of contact with the outside world and even more broadly, as a lifestyle.

The traditional approach adopted in education is characterized by the consideration of the problem of developing research skills and abilities as a service task, which is updated only when mastering a particular discipline. In research education, the task of developing general research skills and abilities in children is considered not as a particular way of learning, but as the main way to form a special lifestyle. Such a lifestyle in which search activity will take a leading place. Under these conditions, work on the development of general skills and abilities of research search among students appears as a task that has independent value. This is not just one of the ways of entertaining exploration of any area of reality, but a way of developing behavior based on the dominance of manifestations of search activity in various life situations.

In the context of research education, the concept of "research" should be interpreted as broadly as possible, without limiting it to empirical knowledge. In the scientific and pedagogical literature, this concept is often reduced to the empirical side of children's research practice and is often associated with the methodology of educational observations and experiments in the field of natural sciences. Despite the obvious inconsistency of such a restriction, one cannot fail to notice that this view is very common.

This limitation is due to several reasons, and one of them is a narrowed understanding of the content of the concept of "research". Thus, many subject methodologists are convinced that the concept of “research” can be limited only to empiricism, and as a result, they include only those that are directly related to empirical knowledge to research skills and abilities. Everything that is formally outside it, for example, the ability to see problems, the ability to structure the material obtained as a result of one’s own research, the ability to prove and defend one’s ideas, and even the ability to extract fundamentally new information based on the analysis of texts written by others, is already slipping out of the field. their attention.

It is easy to see that the skills and abilities listed above are absolutely necessary for any researcher, but with such a methodological approach, they are not considered as related to research and are not perceived as subject to development in the course of children's research practice. At the same time, the task of their development is very important. In big science, for example, there is the concept of "theoretical research". Research search can be conducted not only empirically, but also by analyzing literary sources (texts), the latter can be both artistic and scientific, telling about other research. Full-fledged research is carried out with the help of "thought experiments", through virtual experimentation with mathematical or computer models.

Principles of Investigative Learning

The fundamental ideas on which research learning is based include the following principles.

The principle of orientation to the cognitive interests of the student. Research is a creative process, creativity cannot be imposed from the outside, it is born only on the basis of an internal need, in this case, the need for knowledge. This is where the next principle comes in.

The principle of freedom of choice and responsibility for one's own learning. Only under the condition of its implementation can education become adequate to the individual goals of the individual.

The principle of mastering knowledge in unity with the methods of obtaining it. The approach to the formation of a scientific picture of the spiritual and moral structure of the world, dictated by the tasks of research education, includes not only the development of a certain amount of information obtained through special research, but necessarily involves the opening of the embryology of obtaining new knowledge on the basis of mastering the methods of its discovery. Science is inseparable from the reflection of the way in which knowledge is obtained, and therefore the student must master in education not only the final product, in the form of some positive knowledge, but be well acquainted with the evolution of knowledge, as well as with the ways and means of obtaining it.

The principle of reliance on the development of skills of independent search for information. The main task of modern education is not only the communication of knowledge, but, first of all, the development of the child's need and ability to acquire this knowledge. Only on this basis it is possible to ensure the transformation of knowledge into a tool for the child's creative exploration of the world.

The student not only consumes information, but generates knowledge himself. The near-philosophical conversations that took place in pedagogy and the psychology of creativity about the discovery by the child in educational and research activity of a “subjectively” and “objectively” new thing are as meaningless as they are fruitless. The knowledge offered for mastering by a student in traditional education is new only to him. In conditions when the main value of education is not knowledge, but the methods of obtaining it, it becomes not important how new the information obtained by the child is.

The principle of combining productive and reproductive teaching methods. The psychology of assimilation testifies that the material that is included in the active work of thinking is easily and involuntarily assimilated, but far from everything that a child should master in education, he should discover in the course of independent research. Therefore, the use of research teaching methods should be combined with the use of reproductive methods. Moreover, in the work of any researcher there are traditionally many tasks of a reproductive nature, which can be considered as routine, but do not become unnecessary.

From the point of view of research teaching, it is fundamentally important to remember that ready-made conclusions offered for unconditional assimilation in a textbook or teacher's presentation give the student the impression of completeness and indisputability of knowledge. Such a presentation of knowledge is economical and compact, but it omits the most important feature of any information - its relative nature, susceptibility to revision. This approach does not allow students to feel the very process of obtaining knowledge on the basis of data obtained in specially planned and conducted observations and experiments. The idea is lost that such generalizations and conclusions, in turn, become the foundation of new questions, give rise to the formulation of new problems.

Investigative learning, on the contrary, emphasizes the relativity of knowledge, and the entire learning process is permeated by an “invitation to discovery”. Thus, through the discovery of new questions, the supra-situational activity of the child is stimulated.

The principle of forming ideas about the dynamism of knowledge. When solving the problem of forming a student's scientific picture of the world in the content of education, it is necessary to take into account that the ideas of science can be fully understood only in the context of their emergence and further research conditioned by them. The manner of a fragmentary, ascertaining presentation in modern conditions is of little use. Therefore, the content of research education should be built in such a way that the experience of mankind is presented to the student not as a sum of dogmas, not as a set of unshakable laws and rules, but as a living, constantly developing organism.

The principle of forming the idea of research as a lifestyle. In research teaching, research is not just a set of teaching methods and techniques, but is its content and meaning. The student thus forms an idea of research not just as a set of particular cognitive tools that allow productively solving cognitive problems, but as a leading way of contact with the outside world and even more broadly, as a lifestyle.

The traditional approach adopted in education is characterized by the consideration of the problem of developing research skills and abilities as a service task, which is updated only when mastering a particular discipline. In research education, the task of developing general research skills and abilities in children is considered not as a particular way of learning, but as the main way to form a special lifestyle. Such a lifestyle in which search activity will take a leading place. Under these conditions, work on the development of general skills and abilities of research search among students appears as a task that has independent value. This is not just one of the ways of entertaining exploration of any area of reality, but the foundation for the development of behavior based on the dominance of manifestations of search activity in various life situations.

The teacher should be a learning facilitator, not just a relayer of information. The main factor in the development of a child's creativity, as many studies show, is not so much his inclusion in creative activity as the presence in his environment of a "model of creative activity". In any creativity, and educational and research activities are no exception, fundamentally non-formalizable elements predominate, which can be transmitted and assimilated only in direct contact with those who themselves are capable of creating. Most of these non-formalizable, intuitive elements cannot be singled out and verbalized, since they are often not recognized either by the creators themselves or by those who observe their creativity.

The paradox of research learning is that a teacher working in line with the ideas of such learning can teach a child even what he himself does not know how to do. He must, of course, be a creator-researcher, but not the bearer of all knowledge in the world. In the conditions of research teaching, the teacher is not obliged to always know the answers to all questions, but he must be able to explore various problems, thus find any answers and be able to teach children this.

The principle of using copyright training programs. A curriculum designed for creative learning and research interaction between student and teacher “... cannot be purchased in a “supermarket” selling frozen ideas; it must grow out of the lives of those people who will interact. The curriculum, being always author's in research education, is built on the basis of the general educational program of the school.

Main elements of the educational program

The educational program, built in accordance with the idea of research learning, consists of three components, and, therefore, includes three relatively independent subprograms.

Training. Special classes for the acquisition by students of special knowledge and the development of their skills and abilities of research search.

Research practice. Conducting independent research by students and their implementation of creative projects.

Monitoring. The content and organization of activities necessary for the evaluation and management of the process of solving the problems of research education (mini-courses, conferences, defense of research papers and creative projects, etc.).

During the training for the development of research abilities, students should acquire special knowledge, skills and abilities of research search. These include the knowledge, skills and abilities of:

see problems;

ask questions;

put forward hypotheses;

define concepts;

classify;

observe;

conduct experiments;

make inferences and conclusions;

structure the material

prepare the texts of your own reports,

explain, prove and defend their ideas.

The programming of this educational material is carried out according to the principle of "concentric circles". Classes are grouped into relatively solid blocks, which are independent links in the overall chain. Having passed the first round in the second and third quarters of the first grade, it is advisable to return to similar classes in the second, third and fourth grades. There is a need for special training sessions in elementary school, in incomplete secondary school, in high school, and even in higher educational institutions. The frequency of this work should be determined, focusing on the individual characteristics of students. Naturally, while maintaining the general focus of tasks, they should become more difficult from class to class. Moreover, many of the tasks used in these classes can be performed repeatedly by children of different ages. In these cases, the depth of the solution to the problem should be changed.

The main content of the work within the framework of the subprogram "Research practice" is the conduct of independent research by students and the implementation of their own creative projects. This subroutine acts as the main, central. Classes within its framework are structured in such a way that the degree of independence of the child in the process of research search gradually increases.

The subprogram “Monitoring” is also of particular importance. The child must know that the results of his research and creative design are of interest to others and he will definitely be heard. He needs to master the practice of presenting the results of his own research, to master the skills to argue his own judgments.

Preparing the Educator for Investigative Teaching

A teacher prepared to solve the problems of research learning must have a number of characteristics. He also needs to master a set of specific skills. The main ones are those that are characteristic of a successful researcher. In addition, special abilities and skills, specifically pedagogical, are required, such as:

to have hypersensitivity to problems, to be able to see "amazing in the ordinary"; be able to find and set real educational and research tasks for students in a form understandable to children;

be able to captivate students with a didactically valuable problem, making it a problem for the children themselves;

be capable of acting as a coordinator and partner in an exploratory search. Helping children to be able to avoid directives and administrative pressure;

be able to be tolerant of the mistakes students make in their attempts to find their own solution. Offer help or refer to appropriate sources of information only when the student begins to feel hopeless in their search;

organize events for conducting observations, experiments and various "field" studies;

provide an opportunity for regular reporting by the working groups and exchange of views through open general discussions;

to encourage and in every possible way to develop a critical attitude towards research procedures;

be able to stimulate proposals for improving work and advancing new, original areas of research;

closely monitor the dynamics of children's interests in the problem being studied. Be able to complete research and work on discussing and implementing solutions in practice before the children show signs of losing interest in the problem;

be flexible and, while remaining highly motivated, allow individual students to continue working on a problem on a volunteer basis while other students find ways to approach a new problem.

At present, developed research behavior is no longer considered as a highly specialized personality trait required for a small professional group of scientists, but as an integral personality characteristic that is part of the structure of ideas about professionalism and competence in any field of culture. And even wider - as a lifestyle of a modern person. Therefore, modern education requires not just a fragmentary inclusion of research teaching methods in educational practice, but purposeful work to develop research abilities, specially organized training of children in the skills and abilities of research search.

Literature

1. Wentzel, K.N. Ideal kindergarten / K.N. Wentzel // Free education: Sat. fav. works / ed. L.D. Filonenko. - M., 1993.

2. Dewey, J. Democracy and Education / J. Dewey. - M., 2000.

3. Dewey, J. School and society // Reader on the history of foreign pedagogy. - M., 1971.

4. Klarin, M.V. Innovative models of teaching in foreign pedagogical searches / M.V. Clarin. - M., 1994.

5. Pavlov, I.P. Complete collection of works / I.P. Pavlov. - M. - L., 1951. - T. III.

6. Poddyakov, A.N. exploratory behavior. Cognition strategies, help, counteraction, conflict / A.N. Poddyakov. - M., 2000.

7. Rogers, K. Freedom to learn / K. Rogers, J. Freiberg. - M., 2002.

8. Rotenberg, V.S. Brain. Education. Health / V.S. Rotenberg, S.M. Bondarenko. - M., 1989.

9. Savenkov, A.I. Psychological foundations of the research approach to learning / A.I. Savenkov. - M., 2006.