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5MODEL OF MILITARY CADETS' RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ORGANIZATION
Abstract
The relevance of the research topic is conditioned by the growing state and society demands of a military specialist personality and his professional competence. An analysis of future officers' preparation condition in a military higher school convinces us that insufficient attention is paid to this problem. The purpose of this work is to develop a model for organizing the research activity of cadets in a military higher school, built on the basis of a whole complex of system, activity, competence and axiological approaches. The main structural components of the developed model are the motivation-value, content-informational, process-activity and diagnostic-reflexive components, the characteristics of which are revealed in the article. Cadets acquire skills in research activity in several stages: motivational, training, reproductive and transformative, the stage of experience formation and creative one, which contributes to the formation of their learning and research skills, the development of military-professional thinking, scientific intuition, individual abilities, positive motivation and cognitive interest, the ability to transform reality creatively.
Keywords
research activities, learning and research skills, scientific research skills, research activities organization model, methodological approaches, principles
AUTHOR
Vera Elagina
Professor, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Humanitarian and Socio-Economic Disciplines Chair, branch of the Air Force Military Educational and Scientific Center, Air Force Academy, Chelyabinsk, Russia the town-11, Chelyabinsk-15, 454015, Russia E-mail: V_275@mail.ru
The development of higher military education in Russia requires a new approach to the organization of military and professional training of military cadets.
A military specialist must skillfully use the achievements of military science and practice, modern sources of information, participate in research activities, understand and solve independently urgent military and professional tasks. Obviously, the needs of society in military specialists who are able to use the methodology of scientific research will constantly increase. Investigating the problem of the military-professional training of cadets, we concluded that in the process of cadets training, it is necessary not only occasional inclusion of research work in educational practice, but purposeful work on the establishment and development of a methodological culture.
Complex military equipment and armament require from the specialist a high level of professionalism, independence, ability to think non-typically, make balanced and responsible decisions, have the ability to creativity. And, consequently, at their academic stage already, cadets should develop research thinking, acquire strong and profound knowledge and professional competences, be able to generate new ideas; know the
methods of scientific research and organization of experimental work, apply methods and means of research.
The organization and implementation of research activities contributes to the development of scientific intuition, cognitive interest, individual abilities, positive motivation, and upbringing of competitive, creative personality of the future officer.
In the opinion of scientists and educators, research activity is a prerequisite for personal development, professional growth, the acquisition of an authoritative highly educated specialist status, as well as an indicator of his professional abilities and professional competence (Ivanova, 2012; Kiseleva and Rzaeva, 2014; Natyrova, 2013; Poddyakov, 2006).
We consider research activity as a special kind of intellectual, creative activity, manifestations of which are searching activity and investigative behavior of a cadet. It includes learning research and scientific research activities, different in nature and content. So, under learning research activity we mean the activity, as a result of which cadets acquire the necessary skills of creative activity. We consider scientific research activity as research activity of scientific nature aimed at solving problems with an unknown result (Elagina, Kovaleva, 2014).
Analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, dissertation research, as well as the condition of cadets training in a military higher school convinces us that this problem of organizing research activities of cadets in a military academy is not paid enough attention.
In our opinion, the urgency of the problem of organizing cadets' research activity in a military higher school, the development of research skills by cadets, is conditioned by: 1) growing state and society demands of a military specialist personality and his professional competence; and 2) the need to develop a model aimed at involving cadets in research activities, the development of their learning and research skills and abilities.
As a theoretical and methodological basis for constructing the model, we used a combination of system, activity, competence and axiological approaches.
In developing the pedagogical model for organizing the research activity of cadets in the academy, we took into account such principles of the system approach as:
1. The principle of integrity, according to which the organization of research activities should be regarded as an integral pedagogical system in the educational process of a military higher school. This, in its turn, assumes the definition of system properties, manifested in the irreducibility of the system properties to the sum of its elements properties, to its dependence on the functions of an element in the system.
2. The principle of structuring is defined and described through the structure of the model, that is, through the links and relations between its elements: goals and objectives, objects and subjects of control and self-control, forms and methods of organization, results (products) of the system. The relations between the individual components create the properties of the system, reveal its essence and basic characteristics. In addition, the properties of individual structural elements explain the behavior and properties of the entire system.
3. The principle of hierarchy, the essence of which lies in the fact that the model developed by us for organizing the research activity of cadets is a part of an integrated system of future military specialists professional training. This principle reflects the nature of the relationship between the subjects of these two systems, their subordination and control.
The implementation of activity and competence approaches to the study of our problem was determined by the following provisions:
• Research activity is one of the cadets' military-professional training components in a military higher educational institution; its organization is carried out on the basis of the general methodological principles and features of military cadets' professional training;
• The research activity of cadets is purposeful, creative, it is determined by the individual features of cadets, their orientation and the conditions of educational environment of the academy;
• Organization of joint activities with the instructor to determine the educational trajectory of cadets, is aimed at the formation of military professional competence in general, and research one, in particular;
• Development of independent and responsible attitude to learning; increase motivation and encourage cadets to develop and improve themselves;
• The result of cadets' research activity is provided by their knowledge and skills, mastering of theoretical and empirical methods, skills of independent organization and conducting of experimental work, practical experience of research work.
The axiological approach in the context of a cadet's personality development assumes learning of general and professional culture; integration of all value systems, active assimilation of fundamental knowledge and technologies.
Research skills are of great importance for successful implementation of research activities.
Research skills as a way of carrying out research work include the ability to see the problem, find contradictions, put forward a hypothesis, compare, generalize and systematize, formulate the goal and structure the material, conduct experimental work independently, observe, explain and draw conclusions.
In our study, we distinguish three groups of research skills:
• Ability to select the material necessary for research, structuring and presenting it in the form of a report, article, message, etc.;
• Ability to develop methodological research apparatus (to determine the object and subject of the research, to justify its urgency, to identify contradictions, to formulate the problem, to put forward a hypothesis, etc.);
• Abilities, including mastering theoretical (analysis, comparison, concretization, abstraction, induction and deduction, systematization and generalization, etc.) and empirical knowledge (observation, testing, questioning, generalization of advanced pedagogical experience, etc.) by research methods. We include in this group skills of independent experimental work, interpretation of the obtained results, work design (Elagina, Pichugova and Vedenyeva, 2013).
It should be noted that cadets engaged in research work are characterized by cognitive activity; special sensitivity to problems; ability to search for solutions to identified problems divergently; wish to participate in scientific conferences, competitions, the work of the military scientific society of cadets, scientific circles and communities.
The process of organizing cadets' research activity as a subsystem of militaryprofessional training of future officers in a military higher educational institution includes the following components: motivational-value, content-informational, process-activity and diagnostic-reflexive, which are of cross-cutting nature. Let us consider in more detail the content of each component.
The motivational-value component contributes to 1) establishment of positive attitude to research activity in cadets, the motivation for developing research skills and competences, personality qualities characteristic for a researcher; 2) development of
value attitude to the future military professional activity, identification of individual targets in this type of activity, aim at socially significant activities.
For this purpose, methods and means of training are used that encourage cadets to research activity. Among them are the following: example, clarification of features and tasks of research activity, appeal to personal values and interests, characterization of prospects (participation in competitions of scientific works at the academy level, other military schools, the Ministry of Defense, etc.), organization of communication with scientists, cadets of senior courses, with the purpose of experience exchange, demonstration of scientific achievements. Such creative interaction helps cadets to clarify the field of scientific interests, determine the direction of scientific search and compare their capabilities to the volume and complexity of the forthcoming research activities.
The content-informational component included the purposeful formation of research skills in the process of research activity within the framework of a complex interdisciplinary research related to topographical exploration of archeological artefacts and their subsequent shooting; realization of cadets' military scientific community potentialities, their theoretical, sociocultural, research aspects for the establishment of research skills through the selection of research activities content and the implementation of educational technologies; integrity of the research activities organization, combination of active methods and forms of training, various forms of academic, extracurricular and field work, as well as participation in scientific conferences and subsequent publication of their research results in scientific journals and conference collected articles.
The great potential in the formation of research skills and research organization have academic disciplines, which are realized through:
• Inclusion in the content of educational disciplines of information devoted to various researches in this field;
• Use of different types of training sessions;
• Development of research subjects of various orientations, together with interdisciplinary complex studies included in the independent research activity of cadets;
• Organization of training sessions aimed at developing research skills.
As the practice of training cadets in a military higher education institution has shown, essential potential for developing research skills is the use of practice-oriented tasks of a heuristic and research nature.
The process-activity component includes a system of methods, forms and means of teaching that contribute to the formation of research skills that are the basis for carrying out research work.
The choice of methods, forms and means used in this component is determined by: 1) the content of the interdisciplinary circle program developed by us, the academic work on the subject, research activities directly related to the implementation of the research project; 2) the features of research activities organization - on the one hand, and the logic of developing research skills process - on the other hand.
We consider the research activity as a process for which a certain logic of its development is characteristic. A gradual transition from learning research to scientific research activity is possible due to a purposeful change in the level of learning and scientific research skills formation.
There are several stages in the process of mastering the skills of research activities:
1. Motivational stage, which function is to inform cadets about the features of research activities, let them know about the need for the formation and development of research skills, understand their role and significance for developing a research project, conducting experimental work. At this stage cadets become aware of the right choice of their development direction, satisfy their cognitive and professional interest. The result
of this stage is manifested in the formation of the motive as a moving force for further mastering of research activity.
2. The training stage, its purpose is to generate knowledge about the characteristics of research activities, as well as knowledge about research skills, their kinds, content and ways of implementation. Learning the necessary information, the cadet accepts the content of this type of activity, develops primary ideas about learning and research skills, works them out while solving various tasks (compiling a bibliographic list, writing abstracts, preparing messages, conducting small research work with the development of individual components of the research methodological apparatus, etc.).
3. Reproductive and transformative stage, aimed at further development of research skills, development of research activities with the direct controlling by the instructor. At this stage cadets transfer their knowledge to practical actions, actively participating in research activity, applying the acquired skills in practice.
4. Stage of research activities experience formation. The formed research skills acquire generalized character that allows a cadet to participate in various activities: carry out research projects, speak at scientific conferences and seminars with reports on the results of his research, participate in expeditions and in the scientific community of cadets.
5. The creative stage, which function is to engage cadets in the work on complex interdisciplinary projects, to show independence in making responsible decisions. At this stage, a cadet does not only reproduces the actions familiar to him, but also introduces his own vision of the problem into his research, determines the ways of solving the problem, develops a methodological research apparatus and a plan for experimental work, chooses theoretical and empirical methods of research, determines the methods for presenting the results of the work. The results of the completed research project are offered in the form of presentation, publication of scientific articles and reports, through participation in competitions and exhibitions of scientific works. Wide approbation of the formed skills, active participation in research activity testify to rather high methodological culture of a cadet.
Thus, progress on the considered stages promotes qualitative change in the research activity of a cadet.
The diagnostic-reflexive component is aimed at determining cadets' readiness for independent research activities, establishing the level of research skills development, their evaluation and correction.
The basis of this component is pedagogical diagnosis (preliminary, intermediate, final), which allows you to receive timely information about the degree of research skills development and the ability to carry out research work. Through penetrating into the whole process of developing research skills and organizing research activities, pedagogical diagnostics determines the transition from one process-activity stage to another and the level of cadets' personal achievements.
The information received in the course of diagnostic implementation about the results achieved by cadets in mastering research skills or methods of research activity is the basis for determining and organizing corrective actions. The work to correct detected difficulties or shortcomings is done using such methods as briefing, individual or group consultations by an instructor, methodological recommendations, pedagogical assistance and support or assistance of successful cadets studying similar problems. When organizing corrective measures, one should not forget about the individual approach to each cadet, taking into consideration his psychological characteristics. Correcting the mistakes made in research or experimental work is important to maintain cognitive interest, confidence in achieving success, retain high motivation for this type of activity.
The reflexive aspect of this component ensures the subject's appeal to himself, his activity, products of his own activity.
The functional components of the research activities organization model for military cadets are closely and organically interrelated, forming a single integrated system. The construction of the model for organizing cadets' research work was carried out taking into account the set of principles as the initial normative provisions.
The principle of facilitation, aimed at implementing the requirements of mutual activity, responsibility, cooperation, exercising initiative, manifestation of empathy from both instructor and cadets.
The principle of military-professional orientation: the establishment and development of sustainable and effective military-professional orientation, along with the formation of knowledge system, skills, professionally significant and important qualities, constant accumulation of independent, creative military professional tasks solution experience, raising the level of cognitive and organizational independence in learning activity, as well as in the process of self-education, is one of the most significant directions in the training of future officers.
The principle of professional values personification, which assumes their transformation into personal values, actualizes the professional and personal development of a cadet as a subject of the free conscious choice of military education, ways of solving the problems of military professional development, awareness of own uniqueness and self-worth.
It should be noted that the model developed by us for organizing the research activity of military cadets has a number of universal properties: integrity, openness, structure, purposefulness, functionality and controllability. At the same time, the model as a pedagogical system is distinguished by openness (the possibility of making changes without serious and dramatic changes in its structure), dynamism (adaptation to the changing external conditions of research activities organization, and the ability to develop and improve), integration (interdisciplinary content, interrelation of theory and practice).
Thus, efficient functioning and development of the worked out model of cadets' research activity organization is due to connection and interaction of its structural and functional components.
REFERENCES
Elagina V.S., Kovaleva N.V. (2014). Organization of research activities in the pedagogical college as a condition for the student's self-development. Humanization of education, 3, 36-41.
Elagina, V.S., Pichugova, N.P., Vedenyeva, N.V. (2013). Organization of students' research activities as a factor of professional and educational competence formation. NP "Innovation Center" ROST ". Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Ivanova, J.G. (2012). Organization of students' research work. Pedagogical Mastery: materials of the International Scientific Conference (pp 224-226). Buki-Vedi, Moscow, Russia.
Kiseleva, E.M., Rzaeva, G.I. (2014). About the organization of students' research work. The young scientist, 18.1, 42-43.
Natyrova, E.A. (2013). Establishment of students' general scientific competence in the process of organizing research activities in the university. News of Volgograd State Pedagogical University, 2 (77), 41 -44.
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