In the conditional intensive development of a market economy, with ever-increasing competition, more and more highly qualified specialists are required every day. We need people who are not only excellent executors of decrees and generally accepted schemes. Now in society, more than ever before, there is a need for innovators, that is, those workers who are able to creatively solve the tasks assigned to them. And this applies not only to the arts. Specialists of any industry can take an extraordinary approach to the implementation of their activities. Of course, there are gifted people whose natural abilities allow them to constantly invent something new in their professional activities. However, the percentage of such talented individuals is not so great.
Here, research learning technologies can come to the aid of social development.
Problem history
Countries that have embarked on the path of marketeconomy many years ago, faced the problem of educating a creative person much earlier than our state. Western educators of the past at one fine moment posed the question: is it possible to instill in a person the desire to act outside the box and develop fundamentally new ideas? Many experts give a positive answer to this. In their opinion, the necessary qualities of a person can be brought up if the research technology of education is used.
Formulation
Research learning technologies are usually called such methods of transferring knowledge and skills, in which the student does not receive new information in a finished form. Instead, the teacher offers him to obtain the necessary information in the process of solving a specific problem. That is, a schoolboy or student needs to conduct a study. This technology is not fundamentally new. American educators were the first to talk about the need for such training. Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they conducted experiments to introduce elements of research into education. For example, about a hundred years ago, a school was organized in the United States, where each child mastered all subjects while working in the laboratory. However, at that time, this exploratory learning technology did not produce the expected results.
The reason why teachers failed to achieve what they wanted in their work, that is, to educate talented, non-standard-minded people, can be considered the neglect of theoretical subjects during the preparation of the curriculum. It is known that in this educational institution group classes,which taught the basics of various sciences, lasted no more than one hour a day.
Accordingly, the entire training process was aimed at educating artisans who are able to do their job and invent new ways of solving problems. But the lack of theoretical knowledge did not give such specialists the opportunity to advance far in their endeavors. The number of disciplines that were taught according to the new methodology (learning during activity) did not exceed four. So, the horizons of schoolchildren were extremely narrow. They were not able to solve the assigned tasks using knowledge from various fields.
Domestic experience
Research technology of teaching in pedagogy was also developed by scientists from our country. Some school subjects cannot be imagined without the use of such methods by teachers. For example, the use of research technology in the teaching of chemistry and physics has always been one of the main ways to transfer knowledge in these disciplines.
Any person who has graduated from high school probably remembers laboratory work. This is an example of many years of successful use of research technology in chemistry and physics lessons.
From small to big
However, despite the vast experience of domestic pedagogy in the use of research technology in teaching chemistry, physics or biology, education as a whole, until recently, could not yet be called aimed at the formation of information competence.
This phrase denotesthe ability of a person to navigate in a large number of diverse information, which today is easy to obtain from a variety of sources. It is to its development that modern Russian education should be directed, as stated in the latest version of the law regulating it.
Activities of innovative teachers
In the 70-80s of the twentieth century, a group of teachers appeared in the Soviet Union who began to offer new approaches to teaching and education. Many of them spoke about the need to be present at the lessons of independent study of new material.
Elements of such activities gradually began to be introduced into traditional lessons. For example, students were asked to prepare a report on a new topic. This form of work was reminiscent of seminars in higher educational institutions.
But this type of activity did not always take place during the passage of new topics. He appeared at the lessons sporadically and was perceived by schoolchildren and teachers themselves rather as an exception. Often even teachers did not fully understand the need for such work. Most often, research technologies for teaching schoolchildren were used by teachers only to diversify the lessons, to give children a break from the monotony of the process of obtaining knowledge by the traditional method, when the mentor is a translator of information in finished form.
A fundamentally new approach to learning was discussed only at the turn of the present, 21st century. What is the difference between the old education system and the one proposed in the current law "On Education"?
Under conditionsdevelopment of computer technology and the Internet, when a person has access to a much larger amount of information than before, he must be taught to navigate in this environment. That is the challenge facing schools today. Teachers are responsible for educating a person with critical thinking, developed enough to not only select the necessary information on a topic of interest to him, but also filter out false data that are useless for practical activities, and sometimes can be harmful.
Therefore, the research technology of teaching in pedagogy is considered today as the main way of transferring knowledge and the main tool for educating the younger generation.
This means that the child should be engaged in search work not occasionally, as an exception, in order to briefly escape from the routine of everyday life, but constantly. The new law "On Education" says that each new topic in any subject should be taught to the student only in this way.
There are many reasons for choosing this approach, several of which were discussed earlier in this article. Firstly, this is a huge sea of information in which modern man needs to navigate.
And secondly, the reason for the introduction of problematic teaching methods is the frequently changing economic situation in Russia and the world, which suggests that for successful professional activity and life in general, it is necessary to constantly learn. "Education as long aslife" - this is the slogan of the modern policy of the state in this area.
In addition, the market economy implies the existence of competition between enterprises and individual employees. Therefore, in order to be successful in such conditions, a person needs to be able to act not according to a template, but to propose and implement original ideas.
Preschool education
Methodologists say that a new approach to learning should be introduced not from elementary school, but several years earlier, when the child attends nursery and kindergarten.
Everyone knows that children are explorers by nature. They are interested in experiencing the world through experience. And what is often perceived by parents as a simple prank, in fact, is nothing more than an inept attempt to learn a certain subject in a practical way. Here, parents and educators face a difficult task.
On the one hand, it is required to support the desire for self-education in a small person. On the other hand, one should not forget about the elementary discipline that a child must observe. In other words, you don't have to use curiosity to justify every misbehavior.
Technology of research education in preschool educational institutions is the implementation of teaching preschoolers on the principle of conducting a small research work. This type of activity can be of several types:
- Events that are prescribed in the educational program for preschool educational institutions. Such activities are necessary for the development of curiosity and research skills in children.work.
- Work carried out by children together with educators. These include observations, performance of labor tasks, drawing and making various crafts. What are observations for? The technology of research education in a preschool educational institution is to encourage children to be active, aimed at obtaining the knowledge necessary for practical activities. For example, before asking a child to draw a bird, you can arrange a trip to the park, where the little artist will first observe the birds. He will study the structure of their body: the number of wings, paws, and so on. Also, the child will look at the birds during the flight, noting the characteristic movements that they make in the air.
- Laboratory work of children. Here, students are given clearer objectives. And the results of such activities themselves are drawn up like real scientific works, with a discount for the age of the participants in the research and the peculiarities of their thinking. The results of the work, as a rule, are not recorded, but spoken out. This activity has goals, objectives, rationale for its relevance, and so on. In a word, the work should contain sections characteristic of academic research. Topics should be chosen based on the interests of the children. Sources of information in this case can bebe considered parents, caregivers, books, TV shows and so on.
- Joint research activities of children and their parents. To perform such tasks, in addition to preschoolers, parents are involved. During such activities, kids learn how to interact with other people, they should get used to not being afraid of communicating with representatives of other generations from a very early age. Such skills will undoubtedly help them at all stages of their education, as well as in their future professional activities.
All this will be useful to him during the creation of the drawing. In addition to the fine arts, this method can and should be used in other activities. It is necessary to remember the need to draw the attention of the kids to the fact that their observations have certain goals and objectives.
Technologies of research learning in elementary school also suggest that the acquisition of knowledge at this stage occurs with significant assistance from adults (teachers).
Stages of work
Technology for teaching research activities to children of all ages suggests that the teacher first explains the difference between the scientific approach to assessing the situation and all others.
What is the difference? A person, faced in life with problematic situations (difficulties), is inclined immediately after their perception by his consciousness to make a judgment on this issue. It happens instinctively. That is, the reaction to a specific situation includes three stages:
- Awareness of difficulty.
- Identification of the cause.
- Formation of one's own judgment on this issue.
Scientists usually act differently in their practice. Here is their thinking algorithm:
- Awareness of the problem.
- Hypotheses.
- Exploring the problem.
- Development of waysaction.
- Checking methods in practice, adjusting them.
It is according to this plan that the educational activities of modern children should be carried out.
In obtaining knowledge in this way lies the information competence, which is mentioned in the new law "On Education".
Knowledge
Do not, however, forget that the knowledge gained must be solid. After all, in addition to the ability to find the right information and apply it correctly, a person must also have the necessary intellectual baggage. It is on it that the worldview, attitude to the world around, and so on is based. This is noted by many modern educational scholars.
Without a certain intellectual baggage, a person, no matter how good he is at finding the right information and applying it in practice, turns into a soulless machine.
Ethical side of the issue
In addition to the difference between the scientific and everyday approach to assessing the situation, the teacher must explain to the students the essence of such a concept as "cooperation". A child from an early age must be taught that when working in a team, he must respect not only his own opinion, but also the point of view of his colleagues (classmates).
It's good if a person already at the beginning of his life is aware of the need to cultivate the ability to objectively evaluate the results of his own activities. He must adequately perceive the successes of others, without trying at all costs to convince everyone of hisrightness. Children should be taught that the success of the whole group depends on the ability of its members to recognize the superiority of someone else's idea over their own. Of course, leadership qualities, such as the ability to lead others, are very valuable. But the desire to always and in everything to be the first, to be the leader - this is already a purely negative character trait that can be called selfishness.
Therefore, experienced educators are advised to explain to children the difference between these two personality characteristics. In a conversation with the pupils, this idea can be reinforced with a joking question: what do you think will happen if a baker becomes the head of the hospital? Surely the guys will say that nothing good can be expected from such an appointment. Even if the baker has every possible leadership quality.
Research technology classification
Exploratory teaching methods are usually classified as problematic. That is, they do not involve the transfer of knowledge in a finished form, but finding the necessary information, and sometimes reinventing something.
In the technology of exploratory problem-based learning, there are three types of such methods:
- Problem presentation of new material. Here, the teacher, as in classical teaching, reveals to the students the essence of a new topic, but he does not immediately communicate certain rules or facts, but conducts research. The role of the students is reduced to careful observation of what is happening.
- Partial search method. With such training, students are encouraged to complete some elements of the study. An example of the implementation of such a search and researchteaching technology in the classroom can be considered a heuristic conversation. It assumes that the teacher will present new material to the student, but not immediately, but after they ask him relevant questions on the specified topic. This method has a rich history. This is how the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers passed on knowledge to their students.
- Research learning technology. The method assumes a large share of independence of schoolchildren. Therefore, in its classical form (as happens when writing real scientific papers), it is possible when the child has already sufficiently formed the ability to perform all possible mental operations (analysis, synthesis, and so on).
When can exploratory learning technologies be used? Teachers and psychologists say that this method is universal. That is, due to the natural ability of a person to such conclusions, this method of obtaining new information can be used when working with children of any age. At the forefront here is the observance of the principle of conformity. That is, teachers should take into account the age characteristics of children. This rule should be followed when helping students in choosing a topic, as well as using one form or another of search activity.
Founder
Many innovative educators based their developments on the achievements of the American teacher and psychologist John Dewey. It was he who was one of the first to scientifically substantiate the need to develop technology for problem-based learning. Dewey argued that human educationshould be conditioned by his vital needs and take place in the process of carrying out by people their main activities. This is the mission of exploratory learning technology.
At preschool age, for example, play is the main activity. When working with such pupils, problem situations can be presented to them in an appropriate form. The purpose of research learning technology is to create the necessary conditions for the development of the child. The American educator said that while educating and educating the younger generation, one should take into account the instincts that can help students gain knowledge. Of these, he singled out three main ones:
- The need for activity. The student must actively participate in the process of learning new things.
- The need for contact with art. The child should learn new things from works of art: paintings, books, theatrical productions and so on.
- Social instinct. Since human life is inextricably linked with society, with other people, the technology of teaching research activities should consist not only in individual forms of obtaining knowledge, but also in joint activities.
Assimilation of new material will be perceived by the child as a natural process if, in addition to the need for the necessary information, the above instincts are also satisfied.
Conclusion
This article revealed the essence of the technology of teaching researchactivities. This material can be useful for teachers (currently working and future, that is, students), as well as those who are interested in the problems of modern education. In our country, research teaching technology is most often practiced in chemistry or physics classes, but children can be taught in this way in other disciplines, and even in kindergarten.
