First of all, the problem of young convergence is raised again.
As we all know, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the independence of the Russian Federation have only been a few years. If we study Russian education in recent years in isolation, we will leave a fragmented impression. Therefore, when discussing the convergence of Russian early childhood education, this paper intends to review its historical formation process, which will help us understand the problems existing in the convergence of early childhood education and the measures to be taken.
In the education of the former Soviet Union, the first large-scale centralized solution to the problem of children's convergence was in the 1940s, which was closely related to the implementation and penetration of Villeroux School theory in the field of education and the change of children's school age from eight to seven. Due to the advance of school age, children's inadaptability to primary school life and study is serious. In order to solve this problem, the research group headed by A π Usova of the Preschool Education Research Office of Russian Academy of Educational Sciences discussed the suitability of introducing systematic and organized homework teaching into large kindergarten classes and the feasibility of adults directly influencing teaching. The purpose of the experiment is to form the premise of children's certain skills and habits in primary school life and study through kindergarten teaching, and reduce their slope from preschool stage to school stage. Therefore, as an important measure to solve the problem of children's connection, organized homework teaching was formally introduced into kindergartens in the 1950s, and it has long influenced the educational practice of kindergartens in the former Soviet Union. Here, whether the kindergarten is suitable for systematic and organized teaching remains to be further explored, but it should be affirmed that Usova and others did not simply transfer a set of practices in primary schools to kindergartens, but explored a set of teaching system that conforms to children's physiological and psychological characteristics on the basis of science.
The second time to solve the problem of children's connection was 69 years ago, after the Soviet primary school system was changed from four years to three years. Due to the deepening of theoretical knowledge in the content of primary education and the shortening of the academic system, the burden on students has obviously increased. In this context, A. B. Chabaologetz, director of the Institute of Preschool Education of the former Soviet Academy of Educational Sciences, and others also discussed the feasibility of how to decentralize half the teaching of Chinese and mathematics in primary schools to the 6-year-old kindergarten class. The result of the experiment is that 6-7-year-old kindergarten preparatory classes, as zero placement classes, were formally incorporated into the primary school system in the educational reform in the 1980s.
It is not difficult to see that the above two methods to solve the problem of children's convergence focus on making preschool education adapt to the requirements and changes of primary schools, thus solving the problem. Although children have adapted to primary school life (such as attention, discipline and language skills) to a certain extent, their own educational value in preschool education has deteriorated. The unique speech and action types of preschool children, such as game activities and various artistic creation activities, are excluded (they either give way to homework teaching or teach themselves), and traces of disciplines can be clearly observed in their contents, which are not only manifested in large classes and preparatory classes, but also in small classes and secondary classes. Obviously, it is one-sided to solve the problem of young convergence in this utilitarian way, which hinders the healthy development of children to some extent.
In the 1990s, after the independence of the Russian Federation, with the implementation of the westernization policy in the political and economic fields, the education field showed a trend of diversification and liberalization. In the pre-school and primary school stages, various types of educational institutions and educational projects with various tendencies (some focus on intellectual education and some emphasize aesthetic education) emerge in an endless stream, and the requirements of schools for future students are also varied. Some people think that future first-year students should learn to read, write and master computing skills fluently, while others tend to accept children with good discipline and strong language skills. Results The development level of children who graduated from kindergarten was uneven when they entered primary school. In this way, the practical problem of establishing the relationship between children and young children on the national education standards is put forward.
Experts in the field of pre-school education in the Russian Federation summed up the experience and lessons of solving this problem in the past, and pointed out that the key to properly solve the problem of young age integration lies in grasping its connotation, that is, integration is a bilateral process. On the one hand, preschool education has its own value, and its foundation role in cultivating children's personality is incomparable and irreplaceable in other educational stages. It is the achievements of preschool education that have laid a good foundation for children to smoothly enter the next stage of development. On the other hand, as the connector of preschool education, schools should not base their work on "zero", but should "quickly grasp" the achievements of preschool children and construct their own educational practice on this basis. Researchers believe that this understanding of cohesion is helpful to realize the integrity and coherence of children's development and education.
Second, the essence of school preparation
Russian experts pointed out that the key link to realize the connection between the old and the young is to determine the essence of systematic teaching in children's preparation schools at the beginning. There have been many studies on the content of children's school preparation in the past. Some people think that the formation of learning activities is the essence of children's psychological preparation for school; Others think that school preparation mainly forms children's correct attitudes towards adults, peers and themselves; Others think that psychological preparation for admission should include three aspects: general development, conscious management of one's own ability, and cultivation and stimulation of learning motivation. On the basis of analyzing and summarizing the above viewpoints, experts from the A B Chapoloetz Research Center in Russia expounded their understanding of the essence of children's school preparation at the national level. They believe that children's school preparation should include two aspects: general preparation and special preparation. General preparation refers to the appropriate indicators of children's physical, intellectual and personality development before entering school, while special preparation refers to the preparation level of school subjects that can not only ensure children's initial skills in reading and computing, but also affect their general development. The following is divided into two aspects to talk about their specific content.
Let's start with general preparation.
In general preparation, children's physical development indicators occupy an important position. This usually includes physical health, the development level of sports skills and sports quality, the coordination ability of fine movements, and the working ability of the body and brain. There is a new research result that deserves our attention, that is, the appraisal of children's enthusiasm for entering school. The maturity mentioned here refers to the development level of children's body shape and function. The basis for determining "immaturity" can be that some aspects of physical development are not up to standard, such as the skeletal system, height and weight do not meet the age standard, or diseases of the cardiovascular system, and the physical load tolerance is poor.
A physiological and hygienic study conducted in the 1980s revealed the proportional relationship between "mature" children and "immature" children who adapt to school at different ages. The data show that the proportion of children with fever is 49% at the age of 6, 68% at the age of 6 and a half, 87% at the age of 7 and 98% at the age of 7 and a half. Significant differences can be observed between boys and girls: among girls, the number of mature children aged 5-5.5 and 5.5-6 years has greatly increased, while among boys, this increase is usually delayed by half a year, that is, 5.5-6 years and 6-6 years. The conclusion is that children's school age should be treated differently. The above research shows that for most children, the school age is 7 years old.
Children's personality preparation for school includes the following aspects: randomness of behavior, level of communication with people around them, self-evaluation and formation of learning motivation.
The randomness of behavior refers to the ability to take corresponding actions according to the purpose consciously put forward by adults and to understand the conditions set in the learning situation.
The level of communication formation refers to children's positioning of adults, peers and themselves in the main areas of life. The research shows that the competition-cooperation (in regular games) communication with the content of activities (such as common games and role assignment in construction activities) is very beneficial for children to understand and consider the behaviors and positions of their peers, and it is helpful for children to gradually transition from self-centeredness to self-centeredness. In the non-situational interpersonal communication between children and adults, another important aspect of children's preparation for school is that they can accept adults as teachers and are willing to obey his instructions. In dealing with oneself, learning to objectively evaluate one's abilities, activities and results is also an important indicator to measure the development level of children in the late preschool period. In educational practice, the preparation of school personality is mainly reflected in the enthusiasm for solving common tasks, caring and willing to help peers, observing discipline, having the need to abide by rules, and showing tenacious spirit in activities.
In addition, in the aspect of personality development related to school preparation, it is necessary to emphasize the significance of forming comprehensive learning motivation. It includes the following three aspects: 1} the social motivation to associate with others and gain a new social status; 2) Cognitive motivation directly related to learning activities and active demand for new things; 3) Moral motivation (sense of responsibility) related to overcoming difficulties and helping others can bring happiness. Research shows that the formation of the latter motivation plays an important role in motivating children to engage in necessary but unattractive activities.
In terms of intellectual development, the central indicators to measure whether children are ready for school are the formation level of thinking in images, imagination, creativity and logical thinking in language, as well as the mastery of cognitive activities (referring to the skills of classification, generalization, example and simulation), mother tongue and basic forms of language (dialogue and solitude).
In preschool period, many intellectual tasks are solved at the image level. This way of thinking can help children understand the conditions provided in the problem scenario in an intuitive form, learn to compare the given task with the actual conditions, find out the solution, and then test the actual effect of the solution. On this basis, children gradually formed a preliminary schema and generalized representation about the essential connection and interrelation of things, showing the ability to understand the general principles, connections and laws of things (this is the basis for mastering scientific knowledge and forming logical thinking). For example, in understanding nature, children have mastered the dialectical relationship between body and nature, and the knowledge of the relationship between shape and function, structure and performance. However, it should be emphasized that the characteristics summarized by children here are still vivid and depend on the actual operation of objects and their substitutes, which helps children to master the structure of various objects and graphic models and apply them. In completing various types of activities, children begin to understand that his point of view is not unique, and learn to look at problems from the standpoint of others. Research shows that the most important prerequisite for mastering scientific knowledge is to gradually transition from self-centeredness to self-centeredness.
The achievements of preschool education in children's thinking in images lead children to the threshold of logical thinking, but in preschool children's intellectual structure, emotions still play a very important role in regulating activities, so emotions-thinking in images still occupy a dominant position. However, the late child psychologist A·C· Vygotsky believes that the combination of passion and intelligence is not a weakness of thinking, but a unique feature, which helps children solve the extensive requirements for high-level generalization without resorting to the task of logical thinking. Here, the process of solving problems is very attractive in itself, which can make children devote themselves to solving complex problems without feeling bored.
In the intellectual preparation for the school, it also includes the development of imagination as the basis of creation. It is found that children with creative potential have a strong intention to know new things independently. They will carry out their own inquiry activities and establish the relationship and cooperation between teachers and peers. He is curious, active and creative. He can not only complete the tasks entrusted to him by adults, but also put forward new tasks by himself. Research shows that although the development of imagination is not directly related to the mastery of reading, writing and computing skills at the beginning of school, it has a great influence on children's whole study and life in the future. Therefore, the cultivation of this ability has been paid great attention to now.
In addition, the level of language development is also an important indicator to measure whether children can learn smoothly in school. Related research distinguishes three aspects of language development: structure, function and cognition. By the end of preschool, children have mastered the structure of language: pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, as well as the rules of using different functional languages in various occasions (language for communicating with people around them, language for cognitive activities, language for planning and organizing independent activities). Children's mastery of language structure, function and language form (dialogue and monologue) is carried out in the mutual connection with their cognitive development and their initial understanding of language reality. The language reality consciousness mentioned here includes some basic elements of language, such as the lexical composition of sentences, the phonetic and semantic parts of vocabulary, the relationship between the form and semantics of vocabulary, the grammatical correctness of language, the structure of coherent language and so on. In the special assignments and other types of activities to develop language, children form the most important attribute of language-randomness, that is, children can freely understand the language when adults communicate with them, consciously analyze the verbal information contained in their study assignments, and express their thoughts clearly and logically. These are all important factors that determine the success or failure of children in school.
In addition, the development of coherent monologue language is also very important, which shows that children can no longer need the help of adults. I use language independently and all the fruits of cognitive development. The development of dialogue proves that children have been able to establish mutual understanding with their surroundings and equal relations with teachers and peers. Telling stories, explaining the rules of the game to peers, expressing their own ideas and urging others all show that children's language development has reached a good level.
Above, we have discussed the general preparation of children for school. Now let's talk about special preparation.
The so-called special preparation refers to mastering the basic knowledge of culture (reading, writing, mathematics) and simple learning activities (distinguishing tasks according to the relationship between activities, knowing the methods to solve problems, planning and checking according to tasks, and mastering the approximate speed and rhythm of work).
In fact, general preparation and special preparation are not absolutely separated, but interrelated and restricted. In the formation of general preparation and special preparation, both children's unique activity types and specialized knowledge fields (reading, writing, mathematics) have certain significance. In preparing for the special exam, we should pay special attention to selecting knowledge with the following characteristics: 1) knowledge that will be reused in primary schools in the future; 2) knowledge that has positive significance for children's general psychological development; and 3) satisfying children's natural interest in this practical field. According to this idea, a new teaching method of cultural introduction is developed, whose principle is to unify reading, writing and mathematics into general cultural skills. Reading and writing are considered to be a unified synchronous process. Among them, the first is to fully mobilize all children's functional systems (such as hearing, vision, vocal organs and motor organs), and the second is to carry out this kind of teaching in all feasible types of children's activities, such as singing, playing musical instruments, constructing activities, writing poems, performing and painting exercises, so that children can form such important qualities, such as the coordination of necessary movements in writing, and the orientation of rhythm, speed, melody and space. In mathematics teaching, rich dialogues between children and their peers are introduced, such as discussing common tasks, finding solutions to problems together, assigning roles and changing roles. This teaching method aroused children's strong interest. In this process, each of them feels smart and capable (able to cooperate with others and avoid conflicts in the process).
The same is true of mastering the simple elements of learning activities. A series of studies show that the core of preschool children's development is consciousness and randomness. These are essentially new psychological formations, which mainly appear in the late preschool period. They are formed in children's special homework classes to master literacy and mathematics and other activities, such as games, painting and building activities. For example, in the construction activities based on conditions and models, children participate in putting forward tasks, planning and checking their own activities, finding solutions and applying them to other occasions. Another example is the psychological function like memory, which also has arbitrary attributes in the late preschool period. No matter what kind of activities, children will encounter a task-memory. At this time, children need to use known methods and self-invented methods to realize and remember what they want to remember. Mastering these skills is the most important factor in learning activities.
To sum up, we can see that experts in A B Chabaolozetz's "Preschool Children" research center have different views on children's school preparation. They believe that children's preparation for school is not so much through preparatory classes or strict teaching, but rather the result of rich and interesting activities throughout the preschool period. It can be seen that they advocate the idea of "enriching children's development, not accelerating children's development" put forward by A·B·Chabaologetz.
Third, bilateral measures to achieve youth convergence.
As we pointed out earlier, the solution to the problem of children's convergence is a bilateral process, which requires the joint efforts of two educational institutions. However, in traditional education, their work is often out of touch, or in terms of convergence and school preparation, they think that it is only a matter for preschool education institutions. Obviously, this is biased. For example, there is a lack of connection between the two in educational goals: the main task of kindergarten is to protect and promote children's health and promote their all-round development of physical strength, intelligence and personality, while the focus of primary school is to form children's practical skills of reading, writing and calculation and school-style behavior (although this is also very important). Because primary schools don't attach importance to the value of preschool education, they don't take necessary transitional measures when children enter school (research shows that even in a smooth situation, children need half a year to adapt to school life and study), and the good personality qualities formed by children in preschool period (such as cognitive interest, imagination, creativity, enthusiasm for communicating with peers and adults) are not fully exerted, and the unique types of activities in childhood are not effectively utilized. The sudden change of children's life and study habits makes many of them feel anxious and unstable, which affects their sleep, and their physical and mental work efficiency drops obviously, which eventually leads to their fear of school and study life. The survey shows that this phenomenon has always existed in educational practice, but now it is more serious because of advocating pluralism and lacking unified educational requirements.
In view of the above problems, experts from the Russian A B Chapoloetz "Preschool Children" Research Center pointed out that effective measures must be taken to promote the integration and coherence of the two stages of education. They proposed to strengthen the cohesion of early childhood education from the following three aspects.
The first is to coordinate the educational goals of kindergartens and primary schools at the national level.
The main goal of preschool education is to realize the all-round and general development of children's personality stipulated in the national education standards, so that all children's physical and psychological potentials can be fully exerted in the preschool period, and on this basis, they can be guaranteed to make general and special preparations for school study. The main goal of primary education is to continue to promote children's all-round and general development in addition to mastering the most important learning skills and forming learning activities in reading, writing and mathematics, taking into account the growing possibilities of children and the characteristics of school life. Whether in kindergarten or primary school, the process of education and upbringing should be subordinated to the formation of children's personality: that is, to develop their special abilities (communication, intelligence and physical strength), creativity, independence, responsibility, arbitrariness of behavior, self-awareness and self-evaluation ability.
The second is to enrich the content of primary education, including:
1) Introduce various creative types of children's activities (independent games, drama performances, technical and artistic simulation activities, small experiments, language creation activities, and improvisation of music and dance) in the education process;
2) Enrich the knowledge of geography, history and local chronicles in the educational content, stimulate children's understanding interest to the maximum extent, meet their needs for practical activities, and cultivate children's concern and sense of responsibility for the surrounding environment (school gardens, street flowers, classrooms) on this basis;
3) Enrich the content of aesthetic education courses and artistic activities as one of the contents of children's self-expression: attract children to understand national art and culture by visiting and observing museums, exhibitions, artists' studios, concert halls, theaters and libraries. The main purpose of taking these measures is to enrich children's general cultural literacy (expanding children's information, cultivating children's perception and sensibility, and forming children's values and aesthetics). However, expanding the educational content that contributes to children's general development in primary school is not at the expense of students' mastery of cultural knowledge. Destroying the relationship between general knowledge and skills will only lead to the decline of students' cultural level. Experts believe that the solution to the problem is not to increase the class hours, but to extend the study time in primary schools.
The third is to improve the forms and methods of teaching organization in kindergartens and primary schools, including the following aspects:
1) Cancel the teaching with strict regulations in kindergarten (for example, sit still in homework class, arrange seats according to school style, raise your hand to answer questions, and make innovative speeches that are suspended on discipline day);
2) Maximize children's enthusiasm for sports during school physical education class, recess and extracurricular activities;
3) Use a variety of "non-classroom" teaching forms, including children's unique activity types, cross-class and cross-site activities, small class teaching, and organizing cooperative group activities.
4) Design and organize the teaching content of kindergarten by using the circulation method, so as to ensure "reviewing the past and learning the new" and create conditions for children to use the existing experience;
5) Ensure that homework (in the whole class and different classes) is related to children's daily life and their independent activities (games, art, architectural activities, etc.). );
6) Establish a physical environment for development in kindergartens and primary schools;
7) Teaching methods to activate children's thinking, imagination and inquiry activities are widely used, such as problem formation, divergent tasks, open tasks with various "correct" solutions and so on. The latter method is especially suitable for primary schools, because in this process, children can get specific methods to solve certain kinds of exercises. The combination of open task and closed task is an important condition to improve children's cognitive enthusiasm and stimulate their thinking flexibility;
8) Games should be widely used in primary schools, especially in the first year of teaching, to create a good emotional atmosphere for children to enter the learning process smoothly. When children can show their creativity, imagination and sense of responsibility on the basis of existing knowledge, they should create conditions for them to carry out independent practical activities:
9) Change the communication form of children in kindergarten homework and school classroom teaching: ensure that children have the opportunity to communicate face to face with peers, interact with peers and learn from peers (not just adults); Maintain dialogue and communication among children; Allow children to express their opinions, stick to their suggestions and keep their mistakes. Because it is in this communication process that children can discuss tasks together, find solutions to problems, assign roles in activities and change roles (such as writing, reading and checking). As a result, everyone feels smart and capable:
10) Whether in pre-school institutions or in the process of primary school education, the form of dialogue and communication between adults and children should be dominant, because it helps to develop children's enthusiasm, creativity, sense of personal dignity and respect and trust for adults.
Above, we have generally introduced the new trend of solving the problem of youth convergence in the Russian Federation, from which we can see several obvious differences between the new measures and the traditional practices:
1} The new measures emphasize that solving the problem of children's cohesion is a bilateral process, and put forward the necessity of unified planning of educational objectives, contents, methods and teaching forms in preschool and school stages:
2) It provides new research data for identifying children's school maturity, and also provides a reference for us to treat children's school age differently and formulate children's school age according to the national conditions:
3) Emphasize the importance of the value of pre-school education and oppose the practice of sacrificing pre-school interests for short-term learning benefits after entering school. It is believed that children's school preparation can not be organized only by offering preparatory classes and teaching similar to primary schools, but should be the result of colorful activities in the whole preschool period (including special homework courses for developing language and digital concepts, but only part of them);
4) Explore the potential of special activities in childhood in preparing children for school, such as regular games and various children's artistic creation activities.
5) A new teaching form has been found, that is, the dialogue between adults and children and between children, which has replaced the traditional practice that adults directly influence children in kindergarten homework and primary school classroom teaching.
In the author's opinion, it is worthy of our attention and reference to correct the tendency of teaching expansion caused by the introduction of kindergarten teaching in the former Soviet Union, pay attention to the educational value of the preschool period, and find more scientific and effective new explorations in teaching content, methods and forms to promote the all-round development of children, but the effectiveness of the above measures needs to be further verified by educational practice.