Meta-Subject Approach in the Lessons of the Humanitarian Cycle: Using Fragments from the Texts By Leo Tolstoy

Abstract

The issues of liberal education do not cease to excite teachers, so the appeal to the meta-subject approach seems to be very significant and relevant. The history of interaction between different fields of knowledge is not new in pedagogy and the study of humanitarian subjects. It is worth recalling in this regard the traditions of literature, philology, and rhetoric. In the framework of this study, the authors use the meta-subject approach as the foundation for lessons based on the consideration of fragments from the text of the epic novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”. The very appeal to the reflections of the great master of the word is always relevant. The meta-subject approach may well be used if several lessons of the humanitarian cycle are based on the fragments related to the description of the Battle of Borodino. Nowadays it is very important to support the patriotic spirit of young Russians, to help them develop a holistic and deep understanding of many political issues. Using the example of referring to the fragments describing the Battle of Borodino, one can consider a number of points related to national history (the course of the battle itself, its heroes, significance for history), culture (reflection of the events of the Battle of Borodino in painting, music), literature (the Battle of Borodino on the pages of fiction, the place of “military” pages in the epic novel), linguistics (military vocabulary as a thematic group, systemic relations in the lexical units under consideration, types of lexical units, features of the semantics of words encountered in the description of the Battle of Borodino). However, the authors note, that obtaining new knowledge, new information is an important, but not the main goal of the meta-subject approach, more important is the formation of skills for independent thinking, productive search activity, and comparative analysis.