ON THE FORMATION OF BASIC CONCEPTS IN NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS RELATED TO THE HANDLING OF VALUE RELATION

Abstract

In the article the authors are considering the existing approaches to the problem of bridging the gap between the knowledge acquired during school education and its use in practice-oriented educational situations, namely in teaching basic science and mathematics. The psychological and pedagogical foundations of content develop- ment and methods to introduce concepts for the relation of independent values like density, concentration, speed, etc. are highlighted. Recreation of the historical and cultural context in which a certain concept emerged through practice-transformative activity allows students to understand the meaning of and the grounds for operating fractions, proportions and ratios, which is mainly required in secondary school physics and chemistry courses. The authors provide a rationale for the idea that the development of general methods of operating with relative and multiplicative values is achievable through the creation of a subject specific model environment which promotes the formulation and completion of educational and research tasks in students’ joint activities relevant to the concepts being studied. The gradual development of subject specific educational situation and associated operation modes are illustrated by a subject non-specific narrative. An analysis of the proposed approach implementation in school practice shows a significant improvement in some of the students’ subject and meta-subject competencies compared to their entry level. Thus, active propaedeutics of basic science and mathematical concepts associated with value relations can provide an essential resource for the formation of natural science functional literacy in younger adolescents.