Educational urbanistics in the context of didactics

Abstract

Introduction. Educational urbanistics is a new emerging field focusing on urban objects and relations. The interest in educational urbanistics stems from its potential to act as a specific counterbalance to the increasing virtualisation of education. The purpose of thу present research is to conceptualise the resource of educational urbanistics and analyse its impact on the components of the didactic system in the educational process. Materials and methods. To identify the attitudes towards educational urbanistics, questionning (56 teachers of Velikiy Novgorod schools and 81 pedagogical-profile students of Federal state-funded educational institution of higher education “Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise” (Russian Federation) as well as interviewing (15 teachers and 12 pedagogues of Novgorod State University were interviewed) were applied as research methods. Results. Educational urbanistics, extending the spatial boundaries of the educational process by entering the urban environment, influences all of its components. The goal of education acquires dimension and profundity, turning to the roots of natural human existence. The educational content, unfolding in the course of socio-cultural and educational practices, is cultivated by the didactic resource of the urban environment. At the same time, different interpretations and lines of substantive development are offered, adjusted by the learners’ individual experience and interests that contribute to personalisation of the educational process. The technological toolkit is distinguished by activity-based nature: research activity, designing, metacognitive technologies. The range of achievable educational outcomes is extending, and the collaborative nature of pedagogical management is strengthening. The empirical study revealed a positive attitude to the phenomenon of educational urbanistics on the part of school teachers (81%) and university students (85%), but caused ambivalent attitude on the part of university teachers. Some urban objects that can serve and have already acted as didactic resources were concretised. Conclusion. The authors believe that the obtained results will form the basis for a holistic didactic concept of educational urbanistics, but they still need to be elaborated and specified. Educational urbanistics places special demands on the teacher’s didactic competence.