Search

Several important articles on the subject of mathematics education in the school have appeared in our periodical press during the past year. Outstanding among them were the articles by A. N. Kolmogorov and A. I. Markushevich, as well as the project outlining the mathematical knowledge to be imparted in the eight-year school, elaborated by the Commission on Mathematics Education of the Division of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. These papers elucidate major aspects of mathematics education and deserve careful discussion. The present article is directly related to the papers listed at the end of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article by the late A. Ia. Khinchin (1894-1959) was recently published in a somewhat abridged form in a symposium entitled Mathematical Education (State Publishers of Physico-Mathematical Literature, 1961). The issues it raises are undoubtedly of interest for the teacher and for the development of mathematical education in general. That is why we consider it of use to reproduce the complete manuscript text of A. Ia. Khinchin's paper, which also contained a sketch of the possibilities of mathematics in inculcating patriotism. The paper was written in the summer of 1947. The fact that the author did not submit it for publication in the course of twelve years apparently indicates a certain dissatisfaction with what he wrote. The reader will undoubtedly notice that at a number of points in the article questions are merely raised and exhaustive answers to them are not provided. The editors believe that this incompleteness in elaborating the topic will certainly stimulate the reader to develop the given topic in various directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This issue of Soviet Education is the second of two issues made up of papers originally delivered at the First Scientific Conference of Pedagogical Scholars of Socialist Countries (Moscow, 1971) and published in 1973 in the Russian book, Problems of Socialist Pedagogy.* Last month's issue presented selections from the first section of the book dealing with the methodology of educational research. The six papers in this issue are taken from the second section of the book, "Education and the Scientific-Technological Revolution." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between cybernetics and pedagogy can be considered from various perspectives. In this paper, we shall confine ourselves to a single problem: the concept of control [upravlenie] in cybernetics and the possibility of applying this concept in pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography rooms came into being in Russia in the last quarter of the nineteenth century at the initiative of A. Pulikovskii, a famous methods specialist. In 1875, he presented a paper on the organization of geography rooms at the International Geographical Exhibit in Paris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the sociological study of problems of higher education arose at our institute in 1965; the following year, at a conference of social science teachers at Kaunas Polytechnical Institute, an independent sociological research section was organized, at which twenty papers have been presented on various topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of instruction and development, which was discussed at Symposium No. 32 of the International Congress of Psychology, was the occasion for statements by psychologists from the USSR, Poland, Hungary, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania, the USA, Norway, and Holland. Soviet psychologists G. S. Kostiuk of Kiev and N. A. Menchinskaia of Moscow were the organizers of the symposium. J. A. Bruner of the USA and Menchinskaia shared the chair. The principal papers were delivered by Kostiuk, N. F. Talyzina (USSR), I. Linhart (Czechoslovakia), R. Hodgman (USA), J. Smedslund (Norway), G. Ebli (Constanz, FRG). The discussion was opened by meaningful and pointed statements by discussants E. Fleszner of Poland and A. Roska of Romania. Menchinskaia, G. A. Konstamm of Holland, B. Inelder of Switzerland, and Bruner of the USA participated in the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Second Congress of the Society of Psychologists of the RSFSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences met in Leningrad June 24-29, 1963. In their papers and comments, the delegates to the Congress were guided by the decisions of the June Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee both in appraising the status of Soviet psychological science today and in defining its cardinal tasks in the immediate future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the pedagogical press has been giving much space to the problem of stepping up the students' learning and practical activity during the process of training. In this paper we shall dwell on an analysis of the ways and means of improving the lesson itself, which still remains the main form of organizing school training, especially in grades 1 to 8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In analyzing the documents of inspectors who have checked on schools, the reports of inspectors of city and regional departments of education and the papers of directors and academic directors of schools in checking on the lessons of teachers, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to think seriously about the methodology of inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a number of schools in Leningrad (Nos. 210, 229, 239 and 259), we made a special investigation for the purpose of studying the most effective ways and conditions to form, in the process of teaching, the bases of the scientific-materialistic world views of class V to VI pupils. Confining our task to lessons alone, we applied the following methods and means: observations of the work of pupils and teachers at lessons in various subjects, study of the content of homework assignments and written class papers of pupils, individual and group talks with them on school program topics passed and on political and ethical problems, study of the diaries of pupils, talks with teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early in May the Leningrad Institute of Pedagogy of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the Russian Federation held a scientific conference on questions dealing with the study of age characteristics of children and of improving methods of their education and upbringing. Papers were read by personnel of this institute as well as by staff workers of Leningrad University, the N. K. Krupskaia Library Institute, the P. F. Lesgaft Physical Culture Institute, the University of Latvia, the Ukrainian Institute of Psychology and the Moscow Institutes of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences - Theory and History of Pedagogy, Psychology, Art Education, Physical Training and School Hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers on the methodology of Soviet pedagogical studies chosen for this issue of Soviet Education were written for presentation at the First Scientific Conference of Pedagogical Scholars of Socialist Countries, held in Moscow in August 1971. Joining Soviet representatives at the Conference were guests from East European socialist countries, Cuba, and Mongolia. The Conference, without precedent in its purpose and in the international scope of its representation, was convened to identify and examine certain pedagogical problems whose solutions are urgent priorities for educational development in the socialist nations. In late 1973, fifty-two of the Conference papers were published in Russian in a volume entitled Problems of Socialist Pedagogy.* The book was compiled in three sections. The first, from which this issue of Soviet Education has been selected, contains twenty papers on "the general methodological problems of pedagogy, concrete aspects of the methodology of pedagogical research, the interaction of pedagogy with the related disciplines of sociology, psychology, and cybernetics, and the role and significance of interdisciplinary research." In the second section are fourteen papers dealing with "the problematics of the modernization and improvement of education under the given conditions of the scientific-technological revolution and the new requirements for the content of education and instruction. .." The third comprises eighteen papers on "school-teaching and upbringing: the tasks of improving the teaching process, questions of programmed instruction, problems of moral and aesthetic upbringing, the interdependence of the family and the school in raising the younger generation, and others" (Problemy sotsialisticheskoi pedagogiki, pp. 9-10). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Presidium of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences has heard and discussed a communication from the Secretary of its Department of Psychology and Developmental Physiology Academician A. V. Petrovskii, on the USSR Conference on Social Psychology held in Moscow at the end of last year.The conference was participated in by psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, educators, historians, and economists from the faculties and research laboratories of 11 universities 34 teachers colleges, and 20 research institutions of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Forty-five scholars delivered papers or communications, or took the floor in discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our technical school, appraisal of the work done by correspondence students in the periods between sessions is based mainly upon the way these students fulfill their scheduled assignments and on the marks they receive on examination papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having heard a paper by P. K. Kholmogortsev, assistant in charge of research to the director of the V. P. Potemkin MGPI on the state of research work in the various departments of the Institute, the Collegium of the RSFSR Ministry of Education noted that some of the projects do deal with themes of immediate interest to the schools. Thus, the Department of Education is studying important problems of schooling and character training: "Coordination of education with productive labor," "Stimulating the pupil's initiative during class," "Character training as a method of organizing the pupils' activities." The departments of methods in physics, methods in natural science, and methods in Russian language and literature are conducting methodological investigations of value to teachers. Scientific workers of a number of specialized departments are providing valuable material for schools and teachers. Instructors at the Institute have written textbooks in psychology, literature, history, physical geography, botany, astronomy, and the English language, for the schools. Investigations of significance to theory in general and to the national economy are being conducted in the departments of theoretical and general chemistry, botany, physiology, zoology, organic chemistry, physical and regional geography, and economic geography. Students are involved systematically in the research work of the many departments: about 700 students participate in the work of seventy different clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]