The Initial Stage of the Formation of teaching experimental Physics at the Imperial Moscow University (1755–1791)

Abstract

Among domestic historians of Pedagogy and education, there has traditionally been a high interest in various aspects of the history of the development of teaching of various disciplines at Moscow University, which is in fact the first classical university in our country. Among the academic subjects that began to be taught at this university almost immediately after its opening was experimental (experimental) Physics.The relevance of the research topic is determined by the fact that Moscow University has been one of the largest centers of domestic higher physics education for more than 250 years, and the state of teaching Physics at this university had a significant impact on the organization of Physics education in our country throughout this period. The beginning of the formation of forms and methods of teaching Physics at Moscow University, as well as the formation of the content of this educational course, dates back to the first decades of the university’s existence, however, this particular period in the history of Physics education at Moscow University is currently the least studied. This makes it difficult to build a holistic picture of the development of Physics teaching in a given higher education institution.Statement of the research problem: to study the process of development of teaching experimental Physics at the Imperial Moscow University in the second half of the 18th century.The goal of the research is to identify the features of the initial stage of the formation of forms and methods of teaching the course of experimental Physics at the Imperial Moscow University in 1755–1791, to study the structure and main elements of the content of this course in the period under review.The research method used is the analysis of literary sources (scientific, reference, memoir-biographical) and educational literature (university Physics textbooks of the second half of the 18th century).The results and key conclusions. The initial stage of development of teaching experimental Physics at the Imperial Moscow University took the first 35 years of its existence. During this period, the Department of Physics was organized, which was replaced by a full-time professor (from among foreigners), as well as the consolidation of the lecture form of teaching and the corresponding verbal and visual teaching methods. The lectures were accompanied by the use of a demonstration experiment. Physics was taught in Latin using modern textbooks at that time, written in foreign languages. By the end of the period under review, as part of the experimental Physics course at Moscow University, students studied exclusively Mechanics and some of its practical applications.