Developmental learning is a way of organizing the educational process, in which the main emphasis is on the potential of the child. The purpose of this is to develop in students the skills of an independent search for knowledge and, therefore, the education of such a quality as independence, which is applicable in the surrounding reality.
Developmental learning takes
their origins in the writings of such famous teachers as Vygotsky, Rubinstein, Ushinsky, etc. Zankov and Davydov dealt with this problem in detail. These teachers have developed training programs in which the main emphasis is on the development of
cognitive processes in children. Their methods have been successfully used to this day by various teachers, especially in elementary school. All training is based on the “zone of proximal development,” that is, student opportunities. The universal method is the pedagogical requirement.
The main idea on which developmental education is based is that children's knowledge is divided into three types. One of them is what students have no idea about. The second type is the knowledge that children already have. And the last part is in between. This is the “zone of proximal development” that Vygotsky spoke about. In other words, this is a discrepancy between what the child knows and what he can achieve.
Developing education in pedagogy began to be applied from the middle of the last century. His principles were especially actively used in the schools of Elkonin and Zankov. Their programs are built with several features in mind.
First, Zankov noted that training at a higher level of difficulty contributes to the development of children's abilities and independence. The desire to overcome problems activates the mental abilities of students.
Secondly, the leading role should be given to theoretical material. The child does not just learn, but finds patterns and relationships between certain phenomena and processes. Repetition is not a basic foundation. A return to the old is done through the prism of studying new material.
Developing education provides that the child is aware of why he receives knowledge. The student should understand what is the best way for him to memorize material, what he learned new, how his worldview is changing, etc.
The basic principle on which developing education is based is an individual approach. Teachers categorically do not recommend comparing and sharing children. Each child is a unique personality that requires a special approach.
Davydov and Elkonin call for training to be based on a system of scientific concepts. Activities in the classroom should be based on the abstract theoretical thinking of children. Knowledge is given from the general to the particular. The teacher should use a deductive approach to learning.
Thus, the main idea of developing education is to emphasize the activities of the child with an emphasis on the formation of theoretical thinking. Knowledge is required not to be reproduced, but put into practice. The personality of the student is very important in the process of such training.