Formation of meta-subject competencies in primary schoolchildren through the technology of educational design

Abstract

The article examines the potential of educational design technology as a means of forming meta-subject competencies in primary schoolchildren amid the transition to a competency-based model of primary general education. It is demonstrated that traditional forms of instruction limitedly ensure the coordinated development of regulatory, communicative, and cognitive universal learning actions, resulting in the risk of formalizing standard requirements and reducing learning autonomy. The theoretical rationale is based on the analysis of age-specific characteristics of 8-10-year-old children, including the shift in leading activity and the gradual transition to verbal-logical thinking, which necessitates a pedagogically rigorous organization of action internalization in project implementation. The results of experimental work in four educational organizations involving 342 students (experimental group – 172, control – 170) are presented, employing longitudinal observation, pedagogical experiment, testing, expert evaluation of project products, and mathematical-statistical data processing (Student's t-test, correlation analysis). At the initial cut, the groups were comparable in the level of regulatory skills (p > 0.05), with a predominance of the average level and a significant proportion of the low level, interpreted as a consequence of dominant external control. Upon completion of systematic involvement in the experimental group in research, creative, informational, and socially oriented projects, statistically significant advantages in communicative indicators were identified (t = 3.89-4.32 at p ≤ 0.01), particularly in negotiation skills and consideration of alternative positions. Substantial shifts were also observed in the cognitive domain: the proportion of the low level in information search decreased to 12,21% alongside an increase in the high level, with notable enhancement of sign-symbolic modeling and logical operation skills; efficiency coefficients ranged from 1.42 to 1.58. Conditions for the effectiveness of project work are discussed: stepwise complication, mandatory product presentation, reflexive analysis, and transformation of the teacher's role toward facilitation and tutoring support, which enhances learning initiative, responsibility, and quality of group interaction.