Articles

Background. Traditional ways of developing practical work in chemistry classes mainly focus on providing narrow relations between theory and practice, following scripts without reflections on meanings for proposed actions, among other features. To improve chemistry learning, we propose a new model based on Activity Theory (AT), considering a Scheme for a Complete Orienting Basis of an Action (SCOBA) to guide experimental activities towards developing the students’ chemical thinking and creativity.

Aims. To propose a model based on the Activity Theory proposed by A. N. Leontiev to guide experimental activities directed to problem-solving situations and promote structured and creative learning in chemistry teaching and learning.

Methods. A formative experiment involved 23 first-year undergraduates (median age 19 years) in a General Chemistry discipline of a mechanical engineering course at a Cuban university. The formative experiment consisted of an initial diagnosis to guide the elaboration of models (SCOBA) to develop five experimental activities during the classes. Data were collected from classroom observations focused on using the proposed model by the undergraduates and written text elaborated by them as they were executing actions in the experimental activities. Data analysis considered three levels of performance by the undergraduates, which suggested the quality of learning for them: correctly (I), partially (II), and incorrectly (III) supported by SCOBA.

Results. We found an increasing percentage of undergraduates who correctly perform the experimental activity (EA) based on the established model for the activity (SCOBA), from EA2 to EA6. Considering that the SCOBA is elaborated to facilitate learning from the integral actions, this result suggests most undergraduates gradually reached a good appropriation of the chemistry contents related to the experimental activities (86.9% in Level I at EA6). Progressively, the undergraduates showed greater awareness, motivation, and independence for the experimental activities, improving productive social interactions, between pairs and with the instructor, during the classes.

Conclusions. The findings showed the potential of the organization of experimental activities based on the Activity Theory as an innovative proposal for more efficient teaching in professional training. Bringing together the problem-solving strategy as an experimental activity, developed under a basis of orientation for action, the students are given the possibility to engage consciously and creatively of solving problems, exploring, and deciding, being motivated protagonists of their learning.

Introduction. The learning process has always been one of the essential objects of psychological study, according to Activity Theory. Davidov (citation needed) has proposed differentiation between the general term of non-specific learning as any kind of social experience and the specific learning resulting from guiding and organized learning. Talizina (2018, 2019) has proposed a notion of organization of the process of learning according to Activity Theory, in particular, concerning the psychological notion of action formation by stages. This proposal might be understood straightforwardly for consideration of the process of teaching and learning according to Activity Theory.

The goal. This article aims to discuss the necessity of continuing the psychological study of the educational process as a dialectic and complex relation between the organization of the learning process and the results of this process as achievement in a child’s development.

Findings and proposals. This article offers a revision of the notion of organization of the learning process with original proposals. We propose two sub-periods or two methodological possibilities as the organization of the learning process. Firstly, initial primary school (first three grades of primary school), and further grades of primary school (second three grades of primary school), according to Davidov’s (citation needed) psychological notion of the school-age and learning as a leading activity of child’s development.

Conclusions. This article concludes that activity theory as a general theory with a variety of particular concepts, such as psychological age, leading activity and formation of mental actions are useful for positive solution of current problems which exist in education systems in different countries. 

Relevance. This paper analyzes the professional motives of teachers working at primary schools from the perspective of Activity Theory, considering that the teachers' motives are relevant for organizing the teaching-learning process.

Goals. This study aimed to analyze the professional motives of primary school teachers and their relationship with the teaching-learning process.

Methods and sample collection. Three sixth grade teachers participated in semi-structured interviews to analyze their motives and their impact on the teaching-learning process based on: a) teachers and b) school context and the interactions related to the teaching-learning process. The analysis of the motivational sphere was conducted utilizing the Activity Theory paradigm and the Cultural-Historical approach, researching the motives that underlay the teaching-learning process. The interviews were analyzed using the typology of motives proposed by Talizina (2019), according to specific indicators.

Results. We offer a classification of teachers’ motives regarding the teaching-learning process. These motives are distributed heterogeneously across our proposed indicators; some motives are similar for each teacher, and other motives exhibit great disparity. Also, we observed great differences between the profile of motives across two teachers, one working at a private school and the other working at a public school.

Conclusions. The findings suggest the existence of internal positive motives in the teacher’s professional activity.

Relevance. Self-regulation is a key skill that predicts successful life-long learning and fine career opportunities (John, Gross, 2004; Blair, Diamond, 2008; Cole, Deater-Dechard, 2009). Playworld as the space of self-regulation development, has been in the spotlight theoretically and practically in educational research for a while (Hakkarainen, et al., 2015; Fleer, Veresov, Walker, 2020; Colliver, Veraksa, 2021).

Goal. However, the pedagogical adult play strategies that help young children join collective make-believe play based on emotional self-regulation are still in question. This study is grounded in a cultural-historical perspective and places joint emotional regulation at the heart of the collective play process in the early years.

Methods. This study uses qualitative single case study design and video microanalysis to capture important changes in adult and child behavior during the critical entry to the playworld. 

Results reveal the micro-steps and strategies to help young players join and actively participate in the playworld. The findings outline that participation in play, as a cultural practice, is the key mediating activity that helps children develop their emotional self-regulation. However, young children need support; actively playing adult as a model of emotional regulation strategies in early childhood educational settings because the peer culture of neighbourhoods is in decline.

Relevance. Self-regulation is a key skill that predicts successful life-long learning and fine career opportunities (John, Gross, 2004; Blair, Diamond, 2008; Cole, Deater-Dechard, 2009). Playworld as the space of self-regulation development, has been in the spotlight theoretically and practically in educational research for a while (Hakkarainen, et al., 2015; Fleer, Veresov, Walker, 2020; Colliver, Veraksa, 2021).

Goal. However, the pedagogical adult play strategies that help young children join collective make-believe play based on emotional self-regulation are still in question. This study is grounded in a cultural-historical perspective and places joint emotional regulation at the heart of the collective play process in the early years.

Methods. This study uses qualitative single case study design and video microanalysis to capture important changes in adult and child behavior during the critical entry to the playworld. 

Results reveal the micro-steps and strategies to help young players join and actively participate in the playworld. The findings outline that participation in play, as a cultural practice, is the key mediating activity that helps children develop their emotional self-regulation. However, young children need support; actively playing adult as a model of emotional regulation strategies in early childhood educational settings because the peer culture of neighbourhoods is in decline.

Cultural-historical and activity theory has proposed many important theoretical ideas for the educational sciences, which inspired the creation of different pedagogical approaches and models around the world. It is worth noticing that many important theoretical concepts of the cultural-historical and activity theory have become universally accepted and used in the contexts of education regardless of the prevailing theoretical paradigms.

This is probably the cost that has to be paid for being widely known. It is not the first time when certain theoretical concepts become widespread, a deeper systemic understanding of psychological theory itself is lost. Despite the fact that such a fate befell many of the concepts of the cultural-historical activity theory, there are many interesting attempts to deepen and further develop the approach.

The introductory article introduces several important theoretical statements formulated by the creators of cultural-historical and activity theory that have significantly contributed to the development of pedagogical ideas and based on which important educational research is being conducted today. It discusses in detail how the ideas of Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin, Davydov, Galperin, Talyzina, N.N. Podd'iakov and other Russian scholars were understood and further developed in Scandinavia, other countries, and especially in the educational research of Latin American scholars. The introductory article ends by introducing the topics and research problems of scientific articles published in this special issue of the journal.

The 1st of June, usually a joyful day dedicated to the protection of children by UNESCO, was a sad day this year. On this day in 2021 Professor Pentti Hakkarainen passed away. Pentti was a prominent psychologist and methodologist of activity theory and cultural-historical approach. Starting with the translation of Leontiev's book “Activity, Consciousness, and Personality” (1977) into Finnish, he continued to penetrate into the depths of activity and cultural-historical theory during his scientific career. 

Introduction. Within the framework of the actual problem of the ability to learn for a modern school the peculiarities of children's reading comprehension of edu-cational texts were studied. The analysis showed that the problem of reading com-prehension is not sufficiently developed from the standpoint of Cultural Activity Approach, since in existing studies (I.I. Ilyasov, I.V. Usacheva, O.E., Malskaya, etc.), the activity aspect is expressed only in a detailed description of the actions that provide reading comprehension and their structure, but these works do not “grasp” the general meaning of these actions related to the students' understanding of the indicative purpose of educational texts — that it is from their content that the indicative basis of the subject actions performed should be ex-tracted. The most clearly indicative purpose of a special type of educational text — the definition of a concept — is justified in studies of the formation of the recogni-tion action (RA) (P.Ya. Galperin, N.F. Talyzina, L.F. Obukhova, etc.), where the “understanding” of the definition is the ability to recognize the objects that are described by it. The goal: to study the ability of students to perceive educational texts (ordinary educational texts and definitions of concepts) as tools for completing of specific tasks. Methods and sample. A sample of students in grades 4–8 (N = 280) was conducted: 1) assessment of the formation of the ability to work with definitions of concepts (concept’ recognition tasks, developed on the basis of the principles of diagnostics by N.F. Talyzina), 2) assessment of the ability to highlight the main thing in the text (the method of O.E. Malskaya and A.A. Sidelnikova “Selection of main sentences” for grades 4–8), 3) assessment of the ability to structure the text (the task of selecting paragraphs and their heading), 4) two GIT subtests (“Execution of rules” and “Numerical series”). Results and conclusions. It was shown that the understanding of definitions significantly and positively correlates with the understanding of educational texts. It was also revealed that the level of formation of both the ability to work with definitions and the ability to work with texts does not significantly increase after the 4th grade and up to the 8th grade there is a “failure” in these parameters, despite the smooth positive dynamics in some intellectual abilities.

Acknowledgements:

The study was supported by the RFBR grant No. 19-013-00717 “Orientation to a given knowledge as an indicator of the ability to learn from schoolchildren” 

Relevance. Both speech and the affect are critically important for the development of the child, his academic achievements. The interrelation of these mental functions shows opportunities for the development of preschoolers.

Objective. Analytical review of classical and modern studies of Russian and foreign scientists on the types of relationship between speech and emotional development in preschool children.

Methods. Critical analysis of the literature on the emotional and speech development and their relationship.

Results. On the basis of the analyzed works, a conclusion is made about the close connection and interaction of the emotional and linguistic functions of the child in the process of ontogenesis. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the emotional competence of the child (the ability to recognize and name emotions) and the level of development of the lexical aspect, especially the knowledge of words associated with the affect. Another significant area of intersection of language and emotions is the communication, which is the more successful for a child, the better his speech and emotions are developed. As an interpretation, several approaches are proposed — as well-established within the framework of the cultural-historical approach of L.S. Vygotsky and modern cognitive models.

Conclusions. This analysis allows to both get acquainted with the latest domestic and foreign works in the field of the relationship between speech and emotions of children, and to see the possibilities for the practical application of the approaches revised. In particular, to assess the contribution of speech functions to emotional regulation and self-regulation of the child, as well as to improve the development of the emotional vocabulary of children.

The relevance of the paper — discussing an area of modern cognitive psychology, namely, conceptual change approach. It examines the origins of this approach: 1) the transition from «naïve» to «scientific» thinking in children as an applied task of primary and secondary school education; 2) the basic concepts and theoretical principles of this approach, such as «domain specificity» and «misconception».

The goal. The study emphasizes the problems of implementation and theoretical analysis of the transition from one type of thinking to another, which the representatives of conceptual change approach/theory are faced with.

Methods. The analysis of the «naive» concepts as integral systems («everyday theories») allows us to highlight the fundamental difference between the two strategies of analyzing the transition to scientific concepts described by L.Vygotsky.

Results and conclusions. According to the first strategy, the scientific concepts supplant the everyday ones; the forms of everyday thinking (such as game) can be used to maintain weak original forms of scientific concepts. The opposite strategy, especially emphathized by L.Vygotsky, regards the process as not just a substitution, but a specific transformation of everyday theory. The closest approach to such transformation understanding is Elkonin-Davydov developmental education theory, which, nevertheless, implements this logic in a contradictory manner.

The relevance of the study of the socio-psychological well-being of graduate students (including such an indicator of social well-being as their assessment of the significance of various life fears and threats) is associated with the intensive changes taking place with the Institute of postgraduate studies in connection with the transition to the “economy of knowledge”, as well as with the socio-economic and socio-cultural processes that are transforming Russian society.

Objectives. The study of socio-psychological features of life fears of graduate students depending on the influence of socio-demographic, socio-stratification and socio-psychological factors.

Methods and selection. The article is based on the materials of an anonymous monitoring questionnaire conducted in 2019 by employees of the Information and analytical center of Russian Academy of education. The study involved students of post-graduate research organizations that train post-graduate students in the field of education Sciences, as well as pedagogical universities in Moscow and the regions of the Russian Federation. Empirical data were processed using mathematical statistics methods (statistical software packages SPSS and StatSoft Statistica).

Results. The paper analyzes the influence of socio-demographic, socio-stratification and socio-psychological factors on the assessment of life fears and threats by graduate students. The relationship between the assessment of life fears by postgraduate students and the assessment of their life prospects, material and family status, the level of education of parents, and the presence of emigration plans is shown. The correlation analysis revealed a stable, age-independent structure of fears and threats for graduate students.

Conclusions. Graduate students' assessment of the importance of life fears is determined by the influence of a number of socio-demographic, socio-stratification and socio-psychological factors. The conducted special correlation analysis showed that the basis of the structure of graduate students 'fears is a complex complex that includes six interrelated “centers”: “risk of losing health”, “economic failure”, “lack of professional prospects”, “lack of social protection”, “unemployment”, “tightening of the regime in the country”.

Relevance. The increasing complexity of technical devices used by humans and the high rate of emergence of new devices and their functions lead to the emergence of various practices and habits of working with them. It is possible to see a specific representation of what a personal computer (PC) consists of and how it works for each of these practices. This representation has developed in the process of working with a PC as its mental model. However, the task of reconstructing these models and comparing different respondents with each other according to the specifics of their understanding of the PC does not have the necessary methodological support. It is necessary to get representations of PC in a comparable form to effectively compare the different people`s/group`s representations of PC with each other and study their mental models, preserving the qualitative specifics of these “images of PC”.

The purpose of this work is to empirically approbate the technology of reconstructing the representations of PC users about the computer itself as a multidimensional psychological space of descriptions of its work.

Methods. Methods of group interviews and card sorting were used to collect descriptions of “how PC works”, multidimensional scaling methods were used to reconstruct representations of PC among groups of study participants.

Results. We have reconstructed and described the representations about the work of the PC of three groups of users — schoolchildren (N = 22), programmers (N = 22) and ordinary adults without special education (N = 21) as multidimensional spaces of descriptions of the work of the PC. We identified the bases of classification of PC operation descriptions for each group of users and develop a technology for analyzing the results of studying their representations about PC as latent characteristics that form the basis of classification of PC operation descriptions.

Actuality. In the light of the changes taking place in the Russian education system, the transition to the competence paradigm, the study of resources and potentials as components of the educational capital is of particular importance. This question has not yet been sufficiently investigated empirically.

Objective. To study the individual-intellectual integrations of students of humanities in 3 time periods: in the present, in the future, in the future as an updated present — both separately and together.

Methods. The research is based on the ideas of the cross-theoretical integration of the theory of integral individuality by V.S. Merlin (1986) and the structural-dynamic theory of intelligence by D.V. Ushakov (2011). The study involved 252 university students from Perm, including 190 girls and 62 boys aged 17 to 22 years. Structural modeling was in use to test the hypotheses. Four models tested individual-intellectual integrations based on the time criterion. In 3 models, they were studied separately in the present, in the future, and in the future as an updated present. In the 4th, mediation model of individual-intellectual integrations, the present, the future, and the future as the updated present entered together.

Results. Individual-intellectual integrations occurred in each time period separately. Results in the present led to the assumption that they reveal the resources, in the future as the background of realized potentials, in the future as an updated present as the source of updated resources. Taken together in all time periods, individual-intellectual integrations have also been found. They allowed to expand the idea of the “development spiral” based on the previous interpretation (Dorfman, Kalugin, 2020 a) and consider it according to the scheme “present — future — realized future (updated present)”.

Conclusions. The results of the study indicate that individual-intellectual integrations presented in three time periods (in the present, in the future, in the future as an updated present), both separately and jointly, evidence in favor of they are a basis of resources and potentials.

Acknowledgements: The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 19-29-07046.

Relevance. The article discusses the actualization of the concept of “regional identity” for psychological science. In many ways, for the first time there is a comparison of the categorical structure of ideas about the country and about its own region.

Objective. Comparison of the image of Russia and the images of their own regions among young people living in various regions of the country.

Methods. Semantic scaling technique with further factorization of the obtained data. The study involved 318 respondents from 8 different macro-regions of the country.

Results. A 6-factor structure of representations of the image of Russia and the image of its own region was obtained. These structures have their own significant differences, both in the structure of factors itself, and in the degree of importance of the hierarchy of factors. The regional identity of youth, to a certain extent, determines the modality of the adoption of civic identity.

Conclusions. According to the results of the study, it can be argued that for those young people who developed a positive image of their own region, a positive image of the country as a whole was formed.

Acknowledgments. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 19-313-90069.

Special gratitude for help in organizing data collection Anastasia Zvezdina, head of the department of the Center for Youth Projects, ANO DPO “Corporate University of Russian Railways”.

Relevance. Studies of the psychological characteristics of migrant students in varying degrees of adaptation to the culture of a Russian university make it possible to establish factors affecting the level of adaptation to develop strategies that reduce the level of cumulative stress and, as a result, increase the level of students' knowledge assimilation and preserve the physical and psychological health of the student.

Goal. To study the level of stress and the factors that form it, among migrant students in varying degrees of adaptation to the culture of a Russian university.

Techniques and samples. The study included a group of 109 migrant students of 1–3 courses of study in adolescence from 17 to 20 years old (17.45±0.84), of which 76 (69.72%) men, 33 (30.28%) women; ethnic composition: 45 (41.28%) — Tajiks, 38 (34.86%) — Kyrgyz and 26 (23.86%) representatives of the Kazakh ethnic group. At the research stage, a questionnaire was applied to determine the level of acceptance of Russian culture and the following methods were used: a scale of perceived stress-10, a questionnaire of everyday stressors, a methodology “Life style index” and a questionnaire “Coping strategies” by Lazarus.

Results. The level of stress in migrant students is higher than the norm, and in the process of adaptation it increases, forming accumulative stress. The hierarchization of migrant students according to the criterion of awareness of Russian culture entails a different level of application of coping strategies adapted to the Russian society. Empirically, the dominance of such coping strategies as “planning a solution to the problem”, “taking responsibility” and “positive reappraisal” was revealed in the sample of more adapted migrant students.

Findings. The data obtained indicate that adaptation by the type of integration leads to the implementation of additional resources and an increase in the level of perceived stress.

Acknowledgments: The authors express their gratitude to the management of the federal state budgetary educational institution of higher education “Novosibirsk State Agrarian University” for their assistance in carrying out this study.