Conceptual Approaches to Modeling the Content of Natural Science Education for University Students of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines

About the authors:

Valentina A. Ignatova, Dr. Sci. (Ped.), Professor, Department of Physical Processes and Systems Modeling, University of Tyumen; ignatoff.se2017@yandex.ru

Sergey B. Ignatov, Cand. Sci. (Ped.), Assistant Professor, Department of Humanitites and Technologies, Industrial University of Tyumen; ignatoff.se2017@yandex.ru

Abstract:

This article examines the possibilities and means for increasing the level of natural science education for students of social and humanitarian departments of universities. Based on the analysis of the conceptual approaches of a number of researchers to the solution of the problem and their own pedagogical experience, the authors developed a set of methodical tools, including the course “Modern Scientific World View”, a system of elective integrated courses that reveal more deeply individual sections of the main course and a set of interdisciplinary mobile modules. As the content core of the complex, the authors propose using cognitive models of post-non-classical science. The structure and content of the complex are described, and the didactic bases of its modeling are presented.

Within the framework of the pilot project, the complex was tested in 2011-2015 in groups of first-year students of social and humanitarian divisions of universities in the Tyumen Region. To assess the academic achievements of students, a diagnostic tool was developed. Diagnosed: the dynamics of natural science knowledge, the skills of their transfer to other subject areas, knowledge of the conceptual-categorical apparatus of post-non-classical science, the ability to operate on it and use it to describe the behavior of social and humanitarian systems. Along with this, changes in indicators characterizing the social and personal qualities of students were recorded. Quantitative assessment of the impact of innovations on the students’ academic achievements was carried out using the methods adopted in psychological and pedagogical studies.

The results of the diagnostic studies carried out by the authors make it possible to assert that the set of methodical tools proposed by them has a significant effect on the positive dynamics of the indices, promotes an understanding of the importance of natural sciences for professional activity and the development of interest in their studies.

References:

1. Budanov V. G. 2009. Metodologiya sinergetiki v postneklassicheskoy nauke i obrazovanii [Methodology of Synergetics in Post-Non-Classical Science and Education]. Moscow: Knizhnyy dom.
2. Vinenko V. G. 2001. “Sistemno-sinergeticheskoe modelirovanie v nepreryvnom obrazovanii pedagoga” [System-Synergetic Modeling in the Continuous Education of a Teacher]. Dr. Sci. (Ped.) diss. Saratov.
3. Gapontseva M. G. 2002. “Integrativnyy podkhod v soderzhanii nepreryvnogo estestvennonauchnogo obrazovaniya” [Integrative Approach in the Content of Continuous Natural Science Education]. Cand. Sci. (Ped.) diss. Yekaterinburg.
4. Zagvyazinskiy V. I., Zakirova A. F., Atakhanov R. et al. 2012. Kolichestvennye i kachestvennye metody v pedagogicheskikh i psikhologicheskikh issledovaniyakh [Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Pedagogical and Psychological Research]. Moscow: Akademiya.
5. Zorina L. Ya. 1996. “Otrazhenie idey samoorganizatsii v soderzhanii obrazovaniya” [Reflection of Ideas of Self-Organization in the Content of Education]. Pedagogika, no 4, pp. 105-109.
6. Ignatov S. B., Ignatova V. A. 2015. “Obrazovanie dlya ustoychivogo razvitiya: modelirovanie i strukturirovanie soderzhaniya estestvennonauchnoy podgotovki gumanitariya” [Education for Sustainable Development: Modeling and Structuring of the Content of Natural Science Training of the Humanities]. Tyumen State University Herald. Humanities Research. Humanitates, vol. 1, no 3 (3), pp. 233-240.
7. Ignatov S. B., Ignatova V. A. 2010. Sovremennaya nauchnaya kartina mira: uchebnik [Modern Scientific Picture of the World: A Textbook]. Tyumen: Tyumenskiy gosudarstvennyy neftegazovyy universitet.
8. Ignatova V. A. 2001. “Idei sinergetiki i pedagogika” [Ideas of Synergetics and Pedagogy]. Nauka i shkola, no 3, pp. 9-15.
9. Kamaleeva A. R. 2010. “Modelirovanie sistemy raboty po formirovaniyu estestvennonauchnykh kompetentnostey u studentov-gumanitariev” [Modeling the System of Work on the Formation of Natural-Science Competences in Students of the Humanities]. Alma mater, no 4, pp. 36-42.
10. Moiseev N. N. 1993. “Estestvennonauchnoe znanie i gumanitarnoe myshlenie” [Natural Science Knowledge and Humanitarian Thinking]. Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost’, no 2, pp. 63-75.
11. Purysheva N. S., Matrosov V. L., Razumovskaya I. V., Pyatunina S. K., Malandin V. V. 2013. “Kontseptsiya uchebnika novogo pokoleniya kursa ‘Estestvoznanie’” [The Concept of the Textbook of a New Generation of the Course “Natural Sciences”]. Nauka i shkola, no 3, pp. 9-10.
12. Stankevich P. V. 2006. Teoriya i praktika podgotovki bakalavra v sisteme mnogourovnevogo estestvennonauchnogo obrazovaniya [Theory and Practice of Preparing a Bachelor in a System of Multi-Level Science Education]. St. Petersburg: TESSA.
13. Starostina S. E. 2012. Estestvennonauchnoe obrazovanie studentov gumanitarnykh napravleniy podgotovki v usloviyakh integratsii nauchnogo znaniya [Natural Science Education of Students of Humanitarian Directions of Preparation in Conditions of Integration of Scientific Knowledge]. Chita.
14. Choshanov M. A. 1996. Gibkaya tekhnologiya problemno-modul’nogo obucheniya [Flexible Technology of Problem-Module Training]. Moscow: Narodnoe obrazovanie. 
15. UNESCO. 2014. Sustainable Development Begins with Education. How Education Can Contribute to the Proposed Post-2015 Goals. Paris: UNESCO.