Abstract:

This study focuses on the practice of using digital interactive materials by history teachers in grade 5. Despite the fact that digital technologies penetrate the modern child's outward things from the first years of life, their integration into schooling is still accompanied by difficulties for teachers. The existing studies indicate restrictions on access to quality equipment and software, which impede the effective interaction of teachers and students with digital materials in the lesson. In this regard, the urgent task is to analyze approaches to the lesson organization and identify problems encountered by teachers who use digital interactive materials in the lessons.

The study is carried out in a qualitative paradigm. The empirical evidence was obtained using the method of semi-formalized interviews and observations. A total of 6 observations and 6 interviews were collected with history teachers in middle school who applied the digital module in the lesson with students in grades 5. The digital module that was used in history lessons was developed by the Sberbank Gamification Laboratory. The module is dedicated to Ancient Greece, the data was collected in the middle of the school year (December 2019-February 2020) directly during the study of this topic as part of a school history curriculum.

As part of the observation, we focused on the interaction of the teacher, students and the digital module in the lesson. It was found that even using digital materials, many teachers prefer the front-end method of organizing the lesson, and therefore students are not able to study the material independently at their own pace. Nevertheless, regardless of the form of organization of work in the lesson, the interaction with the module caused increased interest among students and was positively evaluated by teachers. Interviews show that teachers note the convenience and willingness to work with such materials, even in spite of the considerable time spent in preparing and planning the lesson.

In general, teachers were interested in the innovation, emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the materials and were ready to recommend the module to their colleagues, including teachers of other school subjects. In prospect, we will identify the teacher’s strategies for working with digital interactive materials in the lesson and give recommendations for improving the module and simplifying interaction with it.

Keywords:

Digital technologies, history, Ancient Greece, qualitative research.