Abstract:

The paper deals with pedagogical heritage of A.V. Usova (1921-2014) that yields insights into problems of interdisciplinary relationship in the school science education system. Her fundamental works were used as teaching guides in the preparation of physics teachers of all pedagogical universities of the Soviet Union and Russia. In this study, professor Usova is not an interdisciplinary researcher; she is a researcher of interdisciplinarity.

Here is provided a short and consistent description of her views on teaching physics as a foundation of educational interdisciplinarity. And we would like not simply clarify, retell or restate the very powerful didactic discoveries of Usova, but consider opportunities of teaching across boundaries for actual educational challenges. The promising version of interdisciplinary teaching was presented us by Antonina Vasilyena Usova, a soviet and Russian pedagogue.

In Usova’s formulation we should teach fundamental scientific disciplines, improve the quality of students' knowledge and skills, develop thinking, form a worldview, deal with polytechnic education, and facilitate vocational guidance, provided interdisciplinary relationship. It is the job of educators to design educational structures so these conditions are met, thus ensuring that structures will be in interdisciplinary equilibrium and (maybe) some kind of acceptable unity. At the same time a center of interdisciplinarity is physics.

Usova considered educational functions, classifications, ways of instantiating, content-related (contentual) foundations of interdisciplinary relations, recommendations for practical applying interdisciplinary relations. Besides, Usova suggests a unified approach to the study of knowledge and skills on the basis of generalized plans.

According to A.V. Usova it is necessary to fulfill a certain set of regular interdisciplinary activity by all participants of the educational process (on all organizational levels). Each hierarchical level of interdisciplinarity manifests a distinct role and that they coexist in a dynamic unity. Usova had her own opinion about the problem of educational integration: short generalizing integrative course should finalize the study of natural sciences at secondary school; integrative lessons are one of the ways of interdisciplinarity actuating.

Usova realized that interdisciplinary relations can be considered as a condition of the educational process. It does not stand as a separate feature of Usova's pedagogy but rather goes hand-in-hand with her views to physics teaching and concept learning.

Keywords:

Physics Teaching, Interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary Teaching, History of Education.