8.1. The concept of the means of education

A means of education can be defined as a subject of the environment or a life situation intentionally included in the educational process. Traditionally, objects of material and spiritual culture are used as means of education, which are used to solve educational problems, observing the following conditions: 1) information necessary for the development of the inner world of a pupil’s personality is associated with this object; 2) information about the object is highlighted as a subject of mastering in a figurative, visual-active or sign-symbolic (oral or written) form; 3) the object along with its information is included in the communication and joint activities of the teacher and the pupils.

When performing the function of a means of education, each object, in addition to objective characteristics (physical, chemical, aesthetic, etc.), also acquires pedagogical characteristics: completeness of information about the object; methods of using this tool by the educator; the possibility of using it by the pupil in the subsequent self-education. The pedagogical characteristics of the means of education are due to objective and subjective reasons:

• objectively, they are a product of the culture and traditions of public education, in which are fixed methods of transmitting spiritual values ​​through established means of education;

• subjective reasons are rooted in the activity of the educator, who specifies the methods of using the means of education according to the goals and level of education of children, taking into account the new requirements of society and the individual, modern pedagogical recommendations and advanced experience of education;

• objects that play the role of means of education may be common in the activities of educators and pupils, as well as special, which only the educator uses;

• as a rule, the educator uses the system of means of education, and the richer the set of tools used, the more effective the result of education;

• means of education associated with all components of the activities of the teacher and pupils: they are due to the purpose of education, associated with the methods and forms of organization of the educational process, have a significant impact on the full development of the individual.

Objects of material and spiritual culture include symbolic symbols (speech, books, painting), material means (toys, clothes, dishes), means of communication (speech, writing, communication means), a team or a social group as organizing educational conditions, technical means, cultural values ​​(works of art) and the world of the child's life.

In recent years, there has been a tendency to attribute components of the world of a child’s life to the means of education. Therefore, below will be considered the types of activities in which an emerging personality is included in the course of the educational process: teaching, communication, work, play.