CC BY
37
ACTIVITY APPROACH IN STUDY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES
D. Ergashev
The activity category is the key to understanding an individual and is currently being studied in many areas of knowledge: philosophy, psychology, history, pedagogy, etc. Most frequently, activity is defined as a specific form of active attitude to the surrounding world, the content of which is composed of its expedient change and transformation for the benefit of people. The transformative nature of any activity is the main feature of the objective order; it depends on the active role of the subject, on the productive character of his activities. From the philosophical standpoint, activity is a “process in the course of which a person reproduces and creatively transforms the nature, thereby turning himself into an active subject and the natural phenomena he masters - into the object of his activities” [5]. E. G. Yudin pointed out that the concept of activity gives universal and fundamental characteristics of the human world [9]. As such, the general theory of activity is focused on the implementation of the explanatory principle with respect to various phenomena and processes going on in the society.
Activity includes three main components: the goal chosen by the subject of the activity or set before him, the process of the activity, and the result of the activity. This three-component structure of activity was suggested by M.S. Kagan: “... it becomes possible to single out three main components of activity and understand their structural relationship” [3]. R.Kh. Dzhurayev, studying learning activities, came to the conclusion that the transfer from other fields of knowledge of structural schemes of activity, including the general philosophical structure of activity: “goal-means-result”, does not account for the specifics of teaching. The structure of the activity model (See Table 1), proposed R. Kh. Dzhurayev, can be used as a constructing basis for creating the model of any specialized activity and, in our opinion, to the fullest extent reveals the essence of the methodological principal of study of activity in the field of education.
Structure of Activity Model
Table 1
I stage II stage III stage Row
Subject Goal Organization Process Second
Environment Object Means Product First
Organization Process Activity
Nevertheless, no matter which point of view on the structure of activity a particular researcher has, identification of the subject and the object, means of implementation of the activity, motives, finite bases of goal-setting and necessary conditions for realization of the activity allows finding constructive methods of unfolding of its structure.
407
Basing on the principle of integrity, let us consider basic components of the structure of activity in their logical connection and relationship. With regard to the above mentioned, as a working definition we will use the following: the structure of activity is a complex and correlation of actions taken from the moment of adoption of the goal till its fulfillment [6]. Formation of the goal of an activity is determined by the commitment of the subject of the activity and is the result of interaction of the subject with the environment. The category of subject is the methodological basis for the analysis and specification of the essence of an activity. From the standpoint of the general theory of activity, “the main thing that characterizes the subject is his procedurality and commitment” [7]. If an activity is originally determined by commitment of the subject, then formation of the goal of the activity is the result of the interaction of the subject of the activity with the environment in which it is carried out. In the course of interaction of the subject with the environment, the object must be changed so that the new state will correspond to preliminary set requirements for the final state, the product of the activity. At the same time, there arises a need for such adjustments of the environment of the activities that will guarantee the transformation. Conversion of elements of the environment into a means plays a role of paramount importance in this process. Creating a means is the result of a conversion process, of activities. However, unlike a conventional product of an activity, a means is a product used in the activity as a special factor of converting an object into the product of the activity.
The product of an activity acts as something which actions of the subject are aimed at, as something that he separates from the object and includes into his activities. This is what sets an objective tone to an activity. Thus, the substantive nature of an activity is always associated with the objective reality. It is essential here, that the object of an activity precedes the subject. Shchedrovitsky pointed out, that the object of an activity as a specific content is formed by cognitive and practical actions with the object [8]. The substantive nature of an activity is determined by both the logics of the object of an activity and by the own internal logics of activities. In addition, activity is procedural in nature, which means understanding of activity as a regular sequence, a continuous change of successive stages. The transition from the explanatory principle to the subject of the research cannot be taken for granted, but in each case it calls for a special methodological procedure. It should be noted that “development of the activity approach and understanding of various theories of activity can least be understood as a mere use of the term “activity” to describe a variety of phenomena, because the theory of activity in its nature focuses on implementation of the explanatory principle in relation to various phenomena and processes going on in the society [1]. This is the main advantage of the activity approach as an explanatory principle, as a result of application of which we not only expand the research base, but also receive an opportunity to carry out such functions of the scientific theory as recommendatory and predictive, which in itself is extremely important.
This being said, it should also be borne in mind that when the explanation of some aspect of reality is given on the basis of the activity approach, it is obvious that manipulation of general scientific concepts of activity acts only as a first step of an explanation, which must be followed by a second one, involving construction of a specialized concept of activity for a given subject field. This specialized concept
408
of activity cannot quite match the first one either in the scope, or in the content characteristics of the explained reality and mechanisms of its integrity.
References
1. Деятельность: теории, методология, проблемы. - М.: Наука, 1990.
2. Джураев Р. Х. Организационно-педагогические основы интенсификации системы профессиональной подготовки в учебных заведениях профессионального образования: дис. ... д-ра пед. наук. - СПб., 1995.
3. Каган М. С. Человеческая деятельность. (Опыт системного анализа). - М.: Политиздат, 1974.
4. Пригожин А. И. Нововведения: стимулы и препятствия. Социальные проблемы инноватики. - М., 1989.
5. Философский энциклопедический словарь. - М., 1983.
6. Фокин Ю. Г. Психодидактика высшей школы: психолого-дидактические основы
преподавания. - М.: Изд-во МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана, 2000.
7. Шабельников В. К. Функциональная психология. - М.: Академический проект, 2004.
8. Щедровицкий Г. П. Проблемы методологии системного исследования. - М. Знание, 1964.
9. Юдин Э. Г. Деятельность и системность // Системные исследования: Ежегодник - 1976. М., 1977.
10. Юдин Э. Г. Системный подход и принцип деятельности // Методологические проблемы современной науки. - М.: Наука, 1978.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
409
