Regional aspects of developmental teaching implementation at primary school

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The urgency of the study is due to the current requirements for the professional competence of future specialists in the labor market, the foundations of which are laid in elementary school. A significant role in this kind of training belongs to the developmental teaching. The aim of the new Ukrainian school to identify and develop the creative potential of the educational process participants is defined in the existing methodological and legislative documents: the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, the National Strategy for the Development of Education in Ukraine for 2012-2021, the Concept of the New Ukrainian School, the Concept of Education in terms of the Development of the Ukrainian statehood, the State National Program “Education” (“Ukraine of the XXI Century”). According to the National Strategy for the Development of Education in Ukraine for 2012-2021 (2011), the key task of education in the 21st century is the development of thinking with a focus on the future”.

The research aims to substantiate theoretically and verify experimentally the effectiveness of introducing developing teaching technologies into primary schools of Transcarpathia.

The tasks of the study are as follows:

1) to consider the issue by means of reviewing psycho-pedagogical literature on the topic in order to clarify the essence of the concept of developmental teaching.

2) to analyze the ways of the implementation of the principle of developmental teaching in elementary school of Transcarpathia.

3) to check the effectiveness of introducing developmental teaching technologies in elementary school in an experimental way.

The experiment was conducted in two secondary schools of the Transcarpathian region Mukachevo school №10 and Velikolyuchkivska secondary school (Mukachevo region). 103 2nd grade school students took part in the experiment. They were divided into 2 groups: experimental (EG=53) and control (CG=50).

To find out the peculiarities of implementing the technology of developmental teaching into the elementary school process, we conducted a survey of 23 teachers working in the above mentioned educational institutions.

To solve the research tasks, theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, systematization, generalization of psychological and pedagogical and educational-methodical literature) were used for comprehensive study of different views on the issue, the definition of the main concepts of the research; as well as empirical methods (surveying, interviewing) for checking the effectiveness of the introduction of developmental teaching into Transcarpathian schools.

When selecting diagnostic techniques for experimental work with primary schoolchildren, we focused on the techniques of E. Zambatsavichene (Rean, 2003) (for evaluating the level of the respondents' mental development); “Inserting Words” method as a modification of H. Eysenck's test by N. Golovan (for examining indices of criticality, flexibility and constructiveness of thinking). In addition, in order to assess the development of the respondents' creativity and originality of thinking, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Unfinished Figures Method) was used (Roblyer, 2013); besides exercises for “mental gymnastics” were applied during the lessons of creativity according to the technology of developmental teaching, as well as control papers.

Methods of mathematical statistics were used to confirm the validity of the research outcomes. developmental teaching elementary

The developmental teaching term was introduced by J. Pestalozzi (Pestalozzi, 1963). In domestic pedagogy, the implementer of the ideas of developmental teaching was K. Ushynsky. The scientist created a holistic didactic system of primary education, identified main ways and means of developmental teaching, revealed the exceptional role of labor in the mental and physical development of an individual. The formation of a holistic theory of developmental education was promoted by L. Vygotsky's idea of the possibility and expediency of teaching focused on the development of personality (Dychkivska, 2004). He believed that the child with the help of an adult can perform not any kinds of actions, but only those ones for which he/she is ready/prepared to some extent. “The things a child can do today in cooperation, tomorrow will be performed by him/her independently” (Vygotsky, 1956).

The new didactic concept of developmental teaching in terms of primary education developed by L. Zankov differs from the traditional system, first of all, by its purpose, in which the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities is carried out on the basis of general development of children, that is, it is a means of achieving the main goal. According to D. Elkonin and V. Davydov, the basis of developmental teaching is the goal of implementing not just one but a system of tasks (Davydov, 1996).

The content of the developmental education system implies the formulation of perspective goals of the development of children's creative abilities with their gradual complication; achievement of close interconnection of speech, mental processes and work of younger schoolchildren; conducting lessons of thinking in nature (outdoors); a system of creative tasks on speech development; stimulation of the intellectual and aesthetic feelings of children (Sukhomlinsky, 1977).

The system of developmental teaching is the most effective type of educational practice for primary school students, which is based on the activity approach. It involves systemic changes in education, changing goals, content, methods and means of teaching, forms of interaction between teachers and students, changing conditions and opportunities for creative activity and self-realization of both teachers and students. On the basis of these changes, the quality of teaching becomes more effective (Rubtsov, 2010).

The theory of developmental teaching is a direction in the theory and practice of education, whose content, methods and forms of organization are focused on the development of physical, cognitive and moral abilities of students through the use of their potentialities and patterns of this development (Kryvolap, 2015)

The task of developing training is to form a person with flexible mind, developed needs, certain skills and creative abilities (Piekhota, 2001).

O. Dusavitskiy offered a program of developmental teaching, which abandons the idea of differentiating children according to the results of intelligence tests; diagnostics of giftedness on the basis of assessing personal and mental development of children; studying the conditions for the manifestation and development of giftedness in the process of developing education; comparison of children's development in systems of developmental and traditional education; study of the relationship between the development of abilities and giftedness in the system of developmental teaching (Dusavitskiy, 1998).

Academician O. Savchenko developed a scheme of the developmental teaching components to be implemented into elementary classes, helping to realize the purpose, tasks and principles of author's systems of developmental training. The first group includes the development of processes of perception; mastering the whole range of general skills and abilities; gaining individual experience of searching; development of creative imagination of elementary school students. The second group includes exercises in combination, transformation, construction. At this stage, students are offered exercises of reproductive and productive character, whose main purpose is the reproduction and repetition of activities that contribute to the activation of thinking (Savchenko, 2002).

Based on the above, we consider developmental teaching as a kind of education aimed at developing cognitive abilities of primary school students (perception, thinking, memory, attention, etc.), the formation of new abilities that enable every student to become successful.

The developmental teaching differs from the traditional one by the fact that its means of organization, content, methods and forms are focused on children's comprehensive development. Therefore, a teacher should create such conditions upon which primary school students will not only acquire knowledge, skills and abilities, but will independently learn, form a creative attitude to the activity, develop thinking, imagination, attention, memory, will. After all, the main idea of developmental teaching is a forward thinking development, which makes every student able to use his/her creative potential independently.

To test the efficiency of introducing developmental teaching technologies into elementary educational processes of Transcarpathian schools, we conducted an experimental study, which involved 103 schoolchildren of the second grade, and 23 elementary school teachers.

In the process of research, we organized interviews with primary school teachers in order to examine their attitudes to the role the developmental teaching and the necessity of its implementation in modern secondary schools.

The analysis of the results has shown that about 27% of the respondents prefer developmental teaching technologies, 24% prefer traditional teaching, and 49% consider it reasonable to combine both systems. The results of the survey concerning basic principles the teachers are guided when preparing for and conducting lessons have shown that the main condition for a successful lesson for 58% of traditional teaching pedagogues is the use of a great number of diverse tasks, for 24% it is comprehension of concepts by children, for 18% it is a high level of cognitive activity. At the same time, for 60% of teachers preferring developmental education, the main condition for a successful lesson is making students understand concepts and a general way of acting, for 23% children's readiness for team creativity, and for 18% high level of cognitive activity of students.

The analysis of the teachers' replies during surveying and interviewing has made it possible to conclude that the implementation of the ideas of developmental teaching at Transcarpathian schools is focused both on the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities.

Fig. 1.1

Thus, the study has made it possible to assess creative abilities of the respondents in general. The average level of creativity was found in 49.28% of EG students and 51.74% of the CG ones, the sufficient one in 27.07% of the EG respondents, and 22.03% of the CG ones. The high level was peculiar for 11.68% of the students in the EG and 12.5% in the CG. Thus, according to all indicators of creative thinking at the beginning of the pedagogical experiment, the domination of the average level of creativity was observed, which is indicative of the sufficient maturity of mental processes in the primary school students.

The second stage of the experiment was focused on improving the quality of knowledge of the EG students: Science and Education, 2018, Issue 2

velopment of the motivational component of learning, the development of culture, the state of health of the students.

A pedagogical experiment conducted with junior schoolchildren during the first half-year 2017-2018 included three logically interconnected phases.

The aim of the first stage was to evaluate the maturity of the primary school students' creative thinking in the experimental and control groups. To this end, we used the following methods:

- a methodology for determining the level of mental development of children (by E. Zambatsavichene) (Rean, 2003). The students were offered a test consisting of four subtests, containing verbal tasks, selected within the framework of primary school curriculum;

- Inserting Words method (modification of the H. Eysenck's test by N. Golovan). Within 5 minutes, the children had to insert a missing word which would be the end of the first and the beginning of the second one. With this method, indicators of criticality, flexibility and constructivism of thinking as a component of creativity were evaluated;

- Creativity Test by E. Torrance (Torrance, 1975) (Unfinished Figures method) was applied to study the development of creativity and originality of thinking. The students were offered 10 papers with unfinished drawings and their task was to add additional lines to finish the drawings. To accomplish this task, they had 10 minutes, that is, 1 minute for each drawing.

The obtained results are presented in Fig. 1.1.

we designed a system of compendium of lectures on environmental studies, literature-based reading, the Ukrainian and English languages, creative tasks, games and “mental gymnastics” exercises. The same lessons were conducted with the CG students but without the developmental teaching technologies.

In view of this, we have designed a set of developing games and exercises to be applied in the experimental group. Let us provide some examples.

Subject: Environmental Studies. Topic: Spring and Its Signs.

“The intruder” game (children have to find the “inappropriate” word): February, January, April, February;

bear, sparrow, squirrel, elephant; stork, crow, swallow, swan.

The game “Underline the signs of spring: it is snowing; the sun shines brightly; the sky is clear, blue; warm wind; the day becomes longer; air temperature rises; animals wake up after winter sleep; there are beautiful flowers in the garden.

Subject: The Ukrainian language. Topic: Adjective. Words that Refer to Signs of Objects. Relationship of Adjectives and Nouns.

Game “What kind of..?”

A teacher suggests a word, which answers to the question “who” or “what”. Players write it down and pick up words that are the names of signs, and answer to the question “what kind of?”. The number of correct words is considered to be the number of scores obtained.

Subject: The English language. Topic: “Appearance ”.

“Touching” game. A teacher suggests a word the name of a body part, calling the first letter in it. Students must guess the word. The one who guessed suggests the next word, and the game continues.

At the third stage of the experiment we aimed to answer the question to what extent the designed technique provided the achievement of the goals set: development of processes of perception; increasing the level of mental development; gradual accumulation of individual experience in search activity; development of imagination; formation of the qualities necessary for combining, constructing, transforming.

After having implemented the designed technique, we reassessed the same indicators of the students of both groups. The children were offered developmental tasks. The reassessment results are shown in the table. 1.1.

Table 1.1. Dynamics of the Respondents' Academic Success Levels

Fig. 1.2

As can be seen from the table, the quality of the respondents' knowledge in the experimental group is higher than in the control one. There are more students with high and sufficient levels of knowledge and there are no stu-

The results show positive dynamics in the experimental group. Thus, a high level was achieved by 27.66% of the EG respondents and 14.89% of CG ones, a sufficient level was found in 44.68% of the EG students and 23.4% of the CG ones. A positive fact is that in the EG, the average level has decreased (27.66% EG as compared to 48.94% in the CG). It is worth noting that there was no low level observed in the EG as distinct from the control one (12.77%).

The scientific sources review concerning peculiarities of implementing the principles of developmental teaching demonstrates that the issue is relevant for different periods and educational systems of primary education.

The conducted research has made it possible to distinguish main ways of effective implementation of the ideas of developmental teaching of primary school students in Transcarpathia. The survey of the teachers has shown that they are currently ready for the implementation of the developmental teaching only in combination with traditional training.

For the addressing of the challenge of improving professional training of future primary school teachers at Mukachevo State University, students majoring in “Primary Education” are taught such disciplines as Didactics, Theory and Methodology of Education, Pedagogical Technologies in Elementary School, and Fundamentals of Scientific Pedagogical research, whose curricula provide a thorough study of developmental teaching techniques.

The developmental educational system provides the implementation of the identified ways of personal restructuring in a specially organized educational activity of the region. It corresponds to the modern concept of the development of Ukrainian pedagogical education, as it is a means of its modernization and integration into the European and world educational space.

The psycho-pedagogical literature review has shown that the development of junior school students is a rather relevant issue of classical pedagogy and the subject of special focus in domestic and foreign science.

At the first stage of the experiment, there was conducted a survey of teachers of Transcarpathian secondary schools, the results of which showed that the developmental teaching was quite popular there.

At the second stage, junior schoolchildren were involved in the experiment. Their intellectual abilities and skills were assessed using specially selected methods. Then, the experimental technique of developmental teaching was introduced into the educational process of the EG, while the CG students were taught without any changes, according to traditional methods. After this stage, the reassessment was carried out in both groups, which demonstrated positive dynamics of academic success levels in the experimental group as distinct from the control one, which can be considered as an indicative of the effectiveness of the suggested technique of developmental teaching.

The carried out research does not cover all the aspects of the complex multifaceted issue of the developmental teaching in terms of primary education. For further research, we consider it expedient to analyze the genesis of ideas of developing teaching in the context of continuity and perspective in terms of preschool and primary education; as well as to consider the issue of primary school students' development in other kinds of activities (particularly, extracurricular).

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