The concept of didactic principles of teaching in pedagogy was introduced by the creator of the now-famous class-lesson system Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670). Over time, the content of this term has changed, and at present, didactic principles are understood as such ideas, methods and patterns that organize the educational process in such a way that training is carried out with maximum efficiency.
Basic didactic principles
Simplified, this term can be understood as a list of the main requirements for the organization of training. The basic didactic principles are as follows:
- The principle of orientation is determined by the need of society in the production of a comprehensively developed and complex personality. It is implemented by compiling comprehensive training programs and putting them into practice, which helps to intensify the educational process, increase its effectiveness and solve a wide range of tasks in the lesson.
- The principle of scientificness assumes that the knowledge obtained in the lesson is consistent with scientific facts. This is achieved by creating textbooks and additional materials, taking into account the changes in science. Since the time of the lesson is limited, and because of age, students are not able to perceive complex information, one of the main requirements for the textbook is to exclude controversial and unverified theories.
- The principle of the relationship between learning and life, that is, providing students with such information that they can subsequently be able to implement in everyday life or in production activities.
- The principle of accessibility assumes that the educational process will take into account the age and psychological characteristics of the class. Both oversaturation with complex concepts, and deliberately simplified language lead to a drop in motivation and interest of the student, so the main task is to find the necessary level of complexity.
- The principle of activity in learning. From the didactic point of view, the student should act as the subject of the educational process, and new knowledge is most effectively acquired during independent work. Therefore, it seems necessary to create situations in the lesson in which the student is forced to express his point of view and argue for it.
- The principle of visibility, which includes not only the demonstration of posters, diagrams and illustrations, but also the conduct of various experiments and laboratory work, which together leads to the formation of abstract thinking.
- The principle of an integrated approach to the topic, implemented in accordance with its content and the tasks contained in it.
The effectiveness of the educational process is achieved only by applying the entire system of didactic principles of instruction. The specific gravity of a single item may be smaller or larger depending on the subject or topic being studied, but it must be present in one form or another.
Features of the implementation of didactic principles of teaching in preschool pedagogy
At this stage, the child is taught the basics of knowledge and norms of behavior, which is somewhat facilitated by the high rate of personality formation during this period. However, the development processes of the intellectual and psychological sphere must be controlled from the standpoint of humanity and integrativity, not forgetting that a preschooler is also a subject of the educational process. Therefore, in modern preschool pedagogy, the prevailing point of view is that education should be conducted in an interesting and meaningful way for the child.
The basic didactic principles of teaching preschoolers essentially coincide with the general theoretical ones: the educational process should be accessible, systemic, promote development and upbringing. However, experience shows that at this stage it is necessary to introduce the principle of the strength of knowledge. Its essence is the relationship of knowledge received from the teacher with everyday life. This is achieved by completing practical tasks, which, moreover, contributes to the formation of skills for completing training tasks.
The content of educational programs for preschool children
Guidelines for teachers of preschool educational institutions suggest that the child will eventually learn from two main interrelated sources:
- everyday interaction with the outside world;
- specially organized classes.
According to the didactic principles of the learning process in a preschool educational institution, both sources must be represented in three blocks: the objective world, the living world, and the world of people. Upon obtaining this knowledge, a wide range of problems is solved. In particular, this is the accumulation of experience in the process of the practical development of knowledge and the child's awareness of his place in the world and society. An important role is played by mastery of a communicative skill and an increase in the general level of culture.
Personality-oriented interaction model
The implementation of didactic principles of education in preschool institutions implies the existence of a trusting relationship between the child and the teacher. The latter should not turn into an overseer and tightly control his charges, otherwise it will lead to the closure of the child in himself, and his creative potential and cognitive capabilities will not be implemented in practice. At the same time, the soft forms of control and the leading role of the teacher are fully realized in the subject-object model of interaction, when the teacher selects the necessary material in accordance with the topic and offers children different ways to get to know him.
Of greater importance for the development of fantasy, imaginative thinking and communication skills is the object-subject model, in which participants in the educational process seem to change places. Children independently study the problem proposed by him, draw conclusions and report it to the teacher. It is not recommended to intervene in this process, even if the child goes the wrong way: errors also play a significant role in the accumulation of experience.
The third model involves subject-subject interaction, that is, the teacher and the child are equal in their capabilities and solve the problem together. With such relationships, it becomes possible to discuss ways to solve the problem in the process of finding them.
The use of these models varies depending on the object and the forms of its study. The didactic principle of accessibility of education determines the existence of such methods of obtaining new information as an excursion, experiment or game. In the first case, the teacher has no choice but to apply the subject-object model in order to direct and retain the attention of children on new subjects of study or to demonstrate what is already known from an unexpected angle. But when conducting an experiment, it is more important to listen to the opinion of the group, which corresponds to the object-subject model, and the game assumes the equal rights of all its participants, that is, the subject-subject interaction strategy works.
Didactic games
This method of training causes the greatest interest of children and at the same time is an incentive to cognitive activity. The teacher organizes the activities of the group, establishing rules within which children must find a solution to their task. The main feature of didactic games is that they do not have a hard scenario, but allow the child to sort through all the possible options in search of the best.
At the same time, the game can become more complicated with the age of the child, contain elements of professional work: drawing, modeling, and so on. A special role in this is played by the child’s desire to imitate the actions of adults: ready, wash, clean the room. The didactic game, therefore, becomes one of the stages in the formation of attitudes toward work.
Didactics of secondary and higher education
Leonid Vladimirovich Zankov at the turn of the 60-70s of the last century formulated additional didactic principles of the learning process. Proceeding from the point of view that education should be ahead of the development of the child in order to prepare him for an independent knowledge of the world, he proposed consciously raising the level of requirements for schoolchildren. Another Zankov’s principle: new material should be studied quickly, and the pace should increase all the time.
The basis for knowledge of the world is the baggage of theoretical knowledge, which is why Zankov’s methodology requires that more time be devoted to this aspect of the educational process. The teacher should be engaged in the development of each student, not depriving his attention of the weakest.
Zankov’s system follows the basic didactic principles of training in that it is personality-oriented. This follows from the installation of confidence in the strengths of students: a quick and deep assimilation of the material contributes to the fact that they are ready to receive new knowledge. Separately, the student’s right to make a mistake is specified. This is not a reason to lower the score, but the whole class to think about why such a mistake was made precisely at this stage of solving the problem. Studying and discussing the wrong strategies together will help the student immediately exclude them in the future.
Features of training tasks
One of the most important requirements of the Zankov system is the rejection of cramming. The exercises performed in the classroom and on their own should teach the child the skills of distinguishing common features, classifying and analyzing the elements included in him. Here, both deductive (from general to particular) and inductive (from particulars to generalization) approaches are possible.
As an example, we can cite the topic of determining the gender of non-declining nouns in the Russian language lessons. Students can be asked to determine, for starters, how borrowing behaves in the Russian language, to reflect on why some connect to the declination system, while others ignore it. Student statements are ultimately summarized by the teacher, and a new rule is derived from them.
Profile training
Specific didactics and didactic principles of teaching a new generation developed by Zankov formed the basis of the concept of in-depth or profile study of individual subjects in high school. This approach allows the student to choose one of the educational complexes, which involves the allocation of more time to subjects of interest by reducing hours on others. Another element of the profile system is the introduction of additional classes in the curriculum that are not provided for by general education programs, on which an in-depth study of a specific topic will take place. Recently, the introduction of individual programs into the learning process has also become popular.
The main problem is to find a balance between general and specialized courses in the content of training. Didactic principles require such an approach to education, where everyone would have equal starting opportunities and would receive the necessary resources to express their abilities and interests. Compliance with this rule is the basis for the subsequent choice of vocational guidance. The profile system allows you to implement the didactic principle of continuity between secondary and vocational education.
Principles of Vocational Training
At the stage of higher education, the ratio of the proportion of didactic principles of instruction within their system changes. This does not negate their use in the complex, however, game activities clearly recede into the background, realized only in the playing of typical situations.
First of all, the didactics of vocational training requires that educational standards correspond to the current state of production. This is achieved by adding new information to the theoretical course and using modern equipment for practical training. The didactic principle of developing training follows logically from these requirements: the student not only must know the existing production base perfectly, but also be prepared to independently perceive its further development.
In establishing the connection between theory and practice, it is necessary to implement the principle of visualization. The theoretical course must be accompanied by illustrative diagrams and illustrations.
An indispensable element of higher education is the availability of industrial practice, where students get the opportunity to test and consolidate their knowledge.
Finally, independent work plays almost the most important role in the process of obtaining a vocational education. Even the highest quality lectures and an extensive course of practical classes do not contribute to such a solid mastery of the necessary knowledge as independent studies. Only thanks to them are the skills of planning the labor process, obtaining the necessary information from technical documentation, controlling your work and the ability to take responsibility.
The meaning of didactic principles
Thanks to didactics, a comprehensive mastery of new knowledge is carried out, and the educational process is focused on the personality of the student. Almost all didactic principles of teaching are implemented in subject courses: some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent. However, their application together allows you to create a child from a person who is ready for independent knowledge of the world and himself, capable of professional activity and beneficial to society.