For more than a decade, scientists and methodologists have been talking about the two-sided essence of the pedagogical process. This phenomenon consists of the actions of the teacher and the student. To define learning activity is the main task of this article. This material will also provide information on the structure of knowledge acquisition, as well as on the forms of this activity.
Ignoring the problem
The fact that a holistic pedagogical process is a two-way phenomenon was first told to the world by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky several decades ago. His works contain ideas about the subject-subject essence of this phenomenon.
However, neither in the works of this figure, nor in other manuals and dissertations on this topic, the essence of the phenomenon is revealed. It may seem interesting that in the pedagogical reference book published in the fifties of the 20th century, as well as in a similar book of 1990, there are no articlesdefining the concept of "teaching".
Relevance of the issue
The need to consider this topic showed itself with the introduction of the Federal State Educational Standard. This document affirms the position of the ongoing process of acquiring knowledge, which should be carried out by the individual throughout his life.
And accordingly, it became necessary to explain this phenomenon from pedagogical, psychological and other points of view.
Students' learning activities: various formulations
As already mentioned, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was the first to indicate the relevance of this issue. However, he did not have time to develop this problem in detail, leaving a wide field of activity for his followers.
In his opinion, learning activity is a process of obtaining knowledge, skills and abilities under the guidance of mentors
This interpretation of the concept does not fully meet the requirements of modern society, since it reduces the essence of the entire educational path only to the transfer of information, and in finished form. Modern living conditions, rapidly developing technical progress, which makes it possible to access huge layers of information, require from today's education not only an informative function, but also instilling in a person the basics of independent learning activities aimed at improving one's personality.
The classic of Soviet pedagogy, Vygotsky, mentioned in this article, nevertheless expressed the opinion thatas a result of a holistic pedagogical process, the student should receive not only results in the form of knowledge of skills and abilities, but also carry out the transformation of his personality. However, this idea was not further developed in his writings.
Learning activity is work, as a result of which the student masters the universal skills of obtaining knowledge. This definition was given by the innovative teacher Elkonin
This interpretation of the phenomenon is more in line with the needs of our time. However, this author considered the process of obtaining knowledge only within the framework of one age category - students of lower secondary school.
He chose this framework because eight to nine year olds are in a unique time in life when learning takes precedence over other human activities.
His follower Davydov expanded the boundaries of research, recognizing the process of obtaining knowledge as a necessary component of the existence of people belonging to all age categories
In contrast to the ordinary understanding of the essence of such activity, which interprets education as any activity aimed at the perception of new information, these two teachers said that only such work during which development takes place can be called educational activity of students. universal competencies. That is, in simpler terms, a necessary component of this process is the focus on acquiring a skill that allows you to continue it.
Development of learning activities
In addition, these two prominent Soviet and Russian figures in the field of education argued that the pedagogical process must necessarily take place consciously - this applies not only to teachers, but also to the students themselves.
Motivation for learning activity is the first component of the structure of this phenomenon. It plays one of the most important roles, the level of its development determines the quality of all education.
If a child does not understand the reason for his stay in an educational institution, then the years spent in this institution turn into a necessary duty for him, which he must fulfill at any cost, and after leaving the school, forget like a bad dream.
Therefore, it is necessary at each stage to control how strongly the motivation of educational activity is developed.
The next link in the scheme, which is usually given in modern manuals on pedagogy, is the moment when you have to answer the question, what should happen as a result of getting an education, that is, why do you need to gain knowledge?
This component includes goals and objectives. It must be said that these two phenomena are, in essence, the answer to the same question: what is the expected result of learning? The only difference is that the tasks specify the goals, considering them in the context of real life situations. That is, they give an idea of what needs to be done to achieve the intended result.
There are a few important things to mention. First, goals and objectives do not have to apply only in a singlenumber. For each stage of education, it is optimal to set goals of two types: those that can be achieved in the near future, and those that are achieved as a result of studying several parts of the school curriculum.
The latter should also represent the ideal result of completing the entire course of a particular subject. For successful assimilation of the material, as well as the development of the necessary skills for obtaining knowledge, students need to be provided with information about why this or that topic is present in the plan, as well as what are the goals of passing the entire discipline.
In practice, this can be done by forming learning activities by introducing a special introductory part before each topic of the course. It is necessary to ensure that the whole class understands the goals and objectives of the new topic.
Theoretical consciousness
The most important feature of the modern approach to education is the need to provide knowledge not in a finished form, which involves a simple reproduction of them by students, but the implementation of the so-called problematic method. That is, the material, goals, and tasks should ideally be found by the students themselves.
Such a process of educational activity has a high task - instilling in the new generation a more perfect form of thinking - theoretical, instead of the currently widespread reproductive model of obtaining knowledge. That is, in this case, work should be carried out to achieve double-level results. In the pedagogical sphere, this is getting a person who owns the necessary for further education and professionalactivities with knowledge, skills and abilities. The introduction of a new kind of thinking is a goal that is achieved on a mental level.
The need for such an innovation was consciously formulated as a result of the activities of specialists in various fields of knowledge, such as psychology, pedagogy, anthropology, history and others. This is explained by the fact that any phenomenon of modern life should not be considered only from one point of view, but requires an integrated approach.
For example, in science there is such a branch as social anthropology, which studies human history and culture, trying to explain certain events, not relying on generalized schemes of certain processes, such as revolution and evolution, but tries to proceed from on the grounds that one of the causes of all these phenomena can also be the behavioral characteristics of people, including their mentality, beliefs, customs, and so on.
Pedagogy is also trying to follow a similar path, taking into account the achievements of related branches of knowledge, for example, such as sociology, psychology, and so on.
Varieties of Doctrine
This chapter will discuss the methods of learning activities. This issue has also been very little covered in the pedagogical literature. As a rule, attention is most often paid not to obtaining knowledge, but to learning, that is, the work of a teacher. Special literature is replete with numerous materials offering a variety of classifications of methods of pedagogical activity.
Usually, the main ones are such as visibility, accessibility, strength of the taught knowledge, and so on. It is believed that they should be present in the teaching of any academic subject. At the same time, almost no attention is paid to the activities of another subject of education, namely the student. But, almost without exception, manuals on the basics of pedagogy published in recent decades speak of the two-sided nature of this process.
Therefore, it is worth saying a few words about the methods of obtaining knowledge.
How can a student implement the third link in the structure of learning activities, that is, perform learning actions?
Many experts who de alt with this issue agree that the main classification of such actions is the following. All methods of this activity must be divided into independent assimilation of knowledge by schoolchildren and obtaining information, which is carried out in cooperation with the teacher.
In turn, the student's independent work can also be divided into a theoretical component, that is, knowledge obtained in the process of certain conclusions, such as synthesis, deduction analysis, induction, and so on, and research activities, such as experiments that the student is able to conduct yourself, and study various sources. The skills of searching for information on the World Wide Web can also be attributed to working with educational literature.
This method is not only not excluded by today's teachers, but is even recognized as one of the main ones. In the latest version of the lawabout education, it is said about the need to provide children with knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of modern computer technologies. For example, today's schoolchildren, in parallel with the study of writing by hand, go through the basics of typing on a computer keyboard. Therefore, the conversation about the need to instill the skills to search for the necessary information on the Internet is also extremely relevant.
Interaction with a mentor
The methods of this group include, along with the ability to ask questions related to the educational topic, also speaking in the classroom with reports, essays and other things. It may seem strange that these types of activities are considered here as a form of knowledge acquisition, and not control. Nevertheless, if we analyze these actions more carefully, we can come to the conclusion that in their process the child also receives the necessary skills, which means that his activity is of a cognitive nature.
Continuous cooperation
An important characteristic of learning activity is its mandatory relationship with the teacher's work. Despite the fact that today one of the main goals of education is the need to achieve maximum independence of the student in his cognitive activity, nevertheless, the whole process is carried out under supervision and with the obligatory assistance of teachers.
And since this is so, all forms of organization of the educational process can be transferred to the activities of the student. Thus, the main types of learning activities can be divided into the following categories: individual work, which can be carried out asin the classroom, while doing independent, control and other work, when answering at the blackboard, and at home, when preparing homework.
As has been repeatedly said, it is the development of this type of knowledge acquisition that is given great attention in the latest edition of the law on education, as well as in the Federal State Educational Standard.
It can be concluded that learning and learning activities are two parts of a single whole.
One on One
The next type of interaction between a student and a teacher in a holistic pedagogical process is the so-called individual learning, when a child works in tandem with a mentor. Such acquisition of knowledge also takes place during the traditional lesson, when students ask the teacher questions, and the teacher, in turn, explains to them the incomprehensible moments of the new topic.
However, this type of activity in modern practice is given the least amount of time. This is also due to the rather large number of students in the classes. Teachers simply do not have the opportunity to pay enough attention to each individual child. Nevertheless, schools provide for such a type of organization of the educational process as individual consultations, as well as work with the educational activities of lagging behind (its correction).
If we consider not only general educational institutions, but also others, then a striking example of the construction of the educational process with a large share of individual lessons are music schools. They have manysubjects are designed for the work of a teacher with one child.
A similar system exists at the next stage of music education - in schools and institutes.
The lack of such practice in mainstream schools is, in a sense, the reason for the often negative attitude of children towards teachers. The teacher is perceived only as a "commander", "supervisor" and so on. With individual long-term communication, the process often becomes more friendly. The teacher is no longer perceived as so hostile, and the very acquisition of knowledge becomes emotionally charged.
Individual education in mainstream schools
However, in ordinary institutions, the student has the right to receive such an education. Parents only need to write an application addressed to the director of the institution, where they need to justify the reason why the boy or girl should be educated individually in the classroom or at home.
As a rule, children with disabilities usually switch to this form, as well as those who, for one reason or another, have a significant lag behind others in one or a number of disciplines. However, the law states that a child who is professionally involved in sports and often participates in various competitions can also apply for educational services of this kind. There is also a clause in the law that states that other children can count on individual education.
Practice has shown that such education makes it possible to instill in schoolchildren the necessaryindependence. And the amount of attention that the teacher pays to checking and monitoring the exercises and other tasks of the child is many times greater than such care when studying in the traditional class-lesson system.
Collective type of knowledge acquisition
The next form of learning activity is its implementation in small groups. This system of organizing work in the classroom is one of the least developed at the moment. However, the first attempts to implement this type of activity were carried out in the thirties of the 20th century in the Soviet Union. Then, according to one of the methods, all the students of the class were divided into small groups, which mastered different fragments of a new topic, and then passed on the knowledge gained to others. The same was true for control. This type of learning activity gave very good results, and the pace of learning was quite high. This form of work is sometimes present in modern lessons, but more often as an exception to the rule.
Meanwhile, it is this type of organization of educational activity of a student, like no other, that contributes to the development of the ability to interact with other members of the team, listen to the opinion of comrades, come to a common solution to problems, and so on.
Last component of the process
In the scheme of the child's educational activity, which is presented in many manuals on pedagogy, the final link in the chain of such work is self-control and subsequent self-assessment. It is independentcorrecting one's own activity in the process of obtaining knowledge is the most important part of all activity. By the formation of this type of activity, one can judge the degree of learning ability of each individual student.
The results of learning activities, both final and intermediate, should be analyzed by the child. This means that he needs to compare what has been achieved with the ideal, which is prescribed in the goals and objectives.
The formation of educational activities does not occur immediately, but takes a relatively long period of time, equal in length to the entire period of the school course.
The child gradually begins to independently carry out various elements of learning activities. In order for the work of teachers and students to be effective, it is important to properly prepare the child for entering an educational institution. This can be both classes in preschool institutions, and the upbringing and education of the child at home.
Specialists say that in most cases, the bad behavior and poor performance of younger students, and sometimes middle school students, is a consequence of the fact that they went to school with insufficiently developed inclinations for learning.
perspective. Also, one of the proofs that the child is ready for learning is his reaction to the evaluation of his achievements.
As a rule, insufficiently developed foundations of educational activities in preschool age, very often they are the result of the so-called humane approach. Parents and educators are afraid to reprimand the child, to tell him that in this case he is doing wrong, and so on. Such good intentions, as well as the excessive liberality of parents and educators, are precisely the reason for the child's immunity to learning.
Conclusion
Learning activity is a key concept of pedagogy.
This article provided information about it, its structure and types. And also, some interesting facts from the history of this phenomenon were presented.
