Abstract:

This paper deals with the problem of the formation of a tolerant person.
The authors associate the relevance of the choice of this topic with the negative economic and social situation that has been sharpened in modern society, which has resulted in the manifestation of intolerance, frequent cases of religious extremism, ethnic conflicts and strengthening of migration processes. The problem of tolerance is particularly relevant for a multi-ethnic and multicultural population of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) represented by 173 nationalities and ethnic groups.

However, today there is a contradiction between the understanding of the need to form the basis of tolerance and the insufficient development of pedagogical maintenance of this process at school. According to the authors, the technology of cooperative learning contains a considerable potential for the formation of tolerant consciousness and behavior. This statement leads to the choice of the research object - cooperative learning technology as a condition and a tool of schoolchildren’s tolerance formation.

The objective of the study is to experimentally prove the effectiveness of cooperative learning in the formation of tolerance as a set of schoolchildren’s beliefs and relations.

The methodology of the study is based on the theory of the activity approach to learning, multicultural education, the theory of tolerance formation, social interdependence, cognitive-developing, behavioral theories, and cooperative learning theory. The main methods of research were the analysis of theoretical sources and pedagogical experiment.

This paper presents the theoretical principles concerning the concept, structure, levels and criteria of formation of tolerance; prerequisites of the teacher activities.

Experimental study was aimed at determining the effect of the Singapore cooperative learning model on the formation of schoolchildren’s tolerance. During the experiment, the methods for monitoring the activities of teachers and schoolchildren as well as pedagogical experience summary, questioning, testing, quantitative and qualitative analysis were used. The survey revealed the main obstacles to the widespread use of the technology of cooperative learning by teachers who have been trained under the program "Transforming Learning for the XXI century". Based on the experience of teachers who systematically and successfully applied the structures of the Singapore model of cooperative learning, the article provides examples of their use during the study of specific topics in the classroom. The authors also propose a strategy for the design of learning themes and individual training in the framework of this model. During the study the ascertaining, forming and controlling steps of the experiment were conducted. As a diagnostic tool a method of "Tolerance index" was used to assess the group and the individual level of teenagers’ tolerance. These studies have shown an increase in the group index tolerance in teenagers that were taught according to the cooperative learning model.

The analysis of the results of the experiment conducted by the authors proved the effectiveness of cooperative learning model used to create teenagers’ tolerance and of the strategy developed for designing lessons with appropriate training structures.

Keywords:

Tolerance, cooperative learning, Singapore model structures, strategy for designing lessons.