Zankovs education system is the result of an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between learning and development of children. The multidisciplinary character comes firstly expressed through the integration of various scientific disciplines such as physiology, psychology and pedagogy. Secondly, it shows itself through the integration of experiment, theory and practice. For the first time brought the results of experimental psychological and educational research until the development of a comprehensive educational system which could be realized in practice.
Scientific conclusions: This development should be seen as a complex interaction between internal and external factors. This requires a special kind of training where on the one hand emphasizes, educational structure, contents, principles, methods, etc.. by taking into account past experiences and the needs of society. On the other side must be given to the child's inner world - individual and age-related peculiarities, needs, interests, etc..
The general development understood Zankov child's overall movement in the psyche. This means that all new that arises is a result of the interaction between mind, will and emotions. Special emphasis is placed on ethical and aesthetic development.
In the current school prioritized happily following: being able to acquire substance (Learning to learn), professional and general (allmennfaglige) handlingsmåter, child's individual progress on emotional, social and mental areas. To achieve these goals required a scientifically established educational system that has been used over time and that is constantly evolving. Zankovs system is so. It represents a whole and the interdependence of three parts as described below.
Training objective is the child's best, general development.
The course covers task is to show students a comprehensive and broad picture of the world through science, literature, Art and direct acquisition of knowledge.
Zankovs didactic principles:
- Teaching at a high level.
- Leading role of theoretical knowledge.
- Quick review of the syllabus.
- Awareness of children in relation to their own learning process.
- Systematic and purposeful development of every child in the classroom.
Teaching system is characterized by versatility, progression, cognitive conflict and variation.
Extensive experimental studies using the system at the primary school, and it has proven to be very effective. The system gives the teacher theoretical and methodological knowledge that will help in efforts to develop the child's personality, curiosity and creativity.
L. S. Vygotsky believed that the development of a child happens faster if the training takes precedence over the child's development. This means that training is not conducted in the child's zone of proximal development, and not on the current, achieved level. This basic psychological postulate, Zankov formulated in didactic principle "Teaching at a high level". A condition for it to be realized is that you know the individual pupil's peculiarities and current development level. Whether as a teacher accompanying the child right from the start school, one can fairly accurately determine its zone of proximal development.
When it comes to the youngest pupils' intellect and emotions, put the most emphasis on the emotional. It is this which is the start of an intellectual, ethical and creative development.
Let's look at the relationship between the left and right hemispheres of the youngest students. The special here is that even in those who later develop left brain best, dominates at this point right brain half partly organization of the mental functions, because right hemisphere (with responsibility for overall, overview, emotional perception and thinking) temporally located front left half in development. The left stands for the rational, analytical and algorithmic. A person with a well-developed right hemisphere is by researcher category, get positive emotional stimuli during problem solving and a desire to proceed further with activity. Precisely why it is so important during training to take into account what kind of emotions we are talking about and how students have it within the hour. Therefore it is important to emphasize the youngest pupils exploration and their desire discover things on your own.
Cognitive conflict can be a driving force in the pupil troubleshooting. Such conflicts arise when the child:
- get too little or too much information or the lack strategies to solve a problem;
- get into a situation where it must choose among various options, strategies, solution methods etc.;
- encounter new conditions of use of the knowledge it already has.
In such situations do not learning from the simple to the complex, but rather from the complicated to the simple. The child should be with the other students (under the teacher's direction) able to solve problems in a new and unfamiliar situation.
the realization of didactic principle "Teaching at a high level" requires that content both selected and structured so that students, when they are dealing with substance, exposed to the greatest possible intellectual excitement. The difficulty level varies by the capabilities of the individual student. It is important that the child is confronted with cognitive problems that provoke feelings and that stimulates and motivates the learner and class work.
The didactic principle "Leading role of theoretical knowledge" realized through the children become aware of the properties of different phenomena and relationships between these.
Zankov said a definite no to every single part of the curriculum should be considered as an independent and finished unit, where one goes over to a new part only after students have acquired the first. "True understanding of each part, skriver Zankov, continuously developed while students are working on with other parts of the subject. It creates an overall understanding that developed throughout their school life. "To organize a learning process in development, it is essential that the content or learning situation is new. Repetition is therefore not a separate topic, but are included in the study of something new. To be fulfilled didactic principle about "A quick review of the syllabus". This principle requires constant progression.
When the pupil constantly enrich their knowledge on various topics, forming a favorable basis for deepening awareness. The whole is divided into parts and steps, while it is an entity in itself. Students understand each part by seeing relationships with the other parts of the whole. Man is not only concerned with subjects' products and content, but also due to the learning process. Learning to learn. It is this didactic principle "Awareness of children in relation to their own learning process" is about.
The key to children's ability to establish knowledge, skills and qualifications lies in their general development level. It also applies to the level of development of the assumptions in the learning process. Evolving learning is only possible if we constantly examines students. That knowing the students' peculiarities makes it possible to realize didactic principle "Development of each student".
"In the long run, Printer Zankov in his monograph "Learning and Development", To creatively and exploratory work become increasingly important. There is no doubt that we will be able to overcome the uniformity that is so typical of traditional methodology in primary education. Then we will see and feel the effects of the prospective spiritual power of every teacher and every student. "
In textbook Mathematics realized Zankovs five didactic principles. Learning Administration ensures that students:
- gain an understanding of the context of the teachings
- gain an understanding of basic concepts and can apply these
- can apply mathematics in everyday life
- developing abilities to find and analyze information
- can use language actively - both orally and in writing
- can justify and argue their claims
- will be able to discuss, hear and listen
- receive an individual, customized training
In the learning process used a wide range of teaching methods: teacher-led instruction with the learner at the center, work in class as a whole, in groups and individually in accordance with the subject's peculiarities, class peculiarities and what the individual learner prefer.