Transformation of Space-Temporal and Value-Semantic Components of the Image of the World during the University Studies

Abstract

The study features the image of the world of the university students and verifies its structural and content model of chronotopic characteristics. It includes subjective space-temporal and value-semantic components. An empirical study resulted in a phenomenological description of the image of the world that students develop at university. The paper focuses on the transformation of these spatial-temporal and value-semantic components in the learning process. The study involved 450 students from 10 cities of the Russian Federation. They showed a low level of development and insufficient dynamics of subjective chronotopic characteristics of the world image. This result was especially prominent in students working for their Master's degree. Neither did they reveal any progress in professional, civil, and ideological identity, nor any semantic connection between the past, present, and future. The participants demonstrated a low level of meaningfulness of life and individual time locus. The value disorientation manifestations were high, while the significance of the bottom materialistic values was low. The authors believe that students need a better system of psychological and pedagogical support to develop an integral chronotopic system of the image of the world. The article introduces some priority directions of psychological and pedagogical support that could help students to develop identity, time perspective, and the system of value and semantic orientations.