Pedology is a science that combines the approaches of medicine, biology, pedagogy and psychotechnics to the development of a child. And although as a term it is outdated and acquired the format of child psychology, universal pedological methods attract the attention of not only scientists, but also people outside the scientific world.
Story
The history of pedology begins in the West at the end of the 19th century. Its emergence was largely facilitated by the intensive development of applied branches of experimental pedagogy and psychology. The combination of their approaches with the anatomical, physiological and biological in pedology occurred mechanically. More precisely, it was dictated by a comprehensive, comprehensive study of the mental development of children, their behavior.
The term "pedology" was introduced by American scientist-researcher Oscar Chrisman in 1853. Translated from Greek, the definition sounds like "the science of children" (pedos - child, logos - science, study).
The origins
The first works on pedology were written by American psychologists G.S. Hall, J. Baldwin and physiologist W. Preyer. It was they who stood at the origins of developmental psychology and collected a huge amount of empirical material on the development and characteristics of children's behavior. Their work has become largely revolutionary and formed the basis of child and developmental psychology.
In Russia
At the beginning of the 20th century, a new scientific trend penetrated into Russia (then the USSR) and received a worthy continuation in the works of the psychiatrist and reflexologist V.M. Ankylosing spondylitis, psychologist A.P. Nechaev, physiologist E. Meyman and defectologist G.I. Rossolimo. Each of them, by virtue of his specialty, tried to explain and formulate the laws of child development and methods for its correction.
Pedology in Russia has gained practical scope: pedagogical institutes and the "Baby House" (Moscow) have been opened, a number of specialized courses have been conducted. Psychological tests were carried out in schools, according to the results of which classes were completed. Leading psychologists, physiologists, doctors and teachers of the country were connected to the study of child psychology. All this was done with the aim of a comprehensive study of child development. However, such a simple task did not completely justify the means.
By the 1920s, pedology in Russia is an extensive scientific movement, but not a complex science. The main obstacle to the synthesis of knowledge about the child was the lack of a preliminary analysis of the methods of science that make up this complex.
Mistakes
The main mistakes of Soviet pedologists were the underestimation of the role of hereditary factors in the development of children and the impact on the formation of their personalities in the social environment. In a practical aspect, scientific miscalculations include the flaw and application of tests for intellectual development.
In the 30s, all the flaws were gradually corrected, and Soviet pedology began a more confident and meaningful path. However, already in 1936 it became a “pseudoscience”, an objectionable political system of the country. Revolutionary experiments were curtailed, pedagogical laboratories closed. Testing, as the main pedological method, has become vulnerable in educational practice. Since, according to the results, the children most often gifted were priests, White Guards, and “rotten” intelligentsia, and not the proletariat. And this went against the ideology of the party. So the upbringing of children returned to traditional forms, which became the reason for stagnation in the educational system.
Principles of Pedology
The development of pedology in Russia has brought certain fruits, it has formed the basic scientific principles:
- Pedology is holistic knowledge about the child. From this point of view, it is not considered "in parts", but in general, as the creation of both biological, social, psychological, etc. All aspects of his study are interconnected and intertwined. But this is not just a random data set, but a clear compilation of theoretical principles and methods.
- The second guideline for pedologists was the genetic principle. He was actively studied by the psychologist L.S. Vygotsky. Using the example of child’s egocentric speech (“speech minus sound”), he proved that babble or “mumbling under the nose” is the first stage of a person’s internal speech or thinking. The genetic principle demonstrates the prevalence of this phenomenon.
- The third principle - the study of childhood - proved that the social environment and life significantly affect the psychological and anthropomorphic development of the child. So, neglect or rigidity of education, malnutrition affect the mental and physiological health of the child.
- The fourth principle is the practical importance of pedology - the transition from cognition of the child’s world to its change. In this regard, pedological counseling, conversations with parents, and psychological diagnosis of children were created.
Pedology is a complex science, therefore its principles are based on a comprehensive study of the child. Psychology and pedology have long been identified with each other, the second concept emerged from the first. Therefore, the psychological aspect still dominates in pedology.
Since the 50s, the ideas of pedology partially began to return to pedagogy and psychology. And 20 years later, active educational work began using tests for the intellectual development of children.