TEACHING AND UPBRINGING OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES THROUGH SCHOOL LOCAL HISTORY STUDIES

Abstract

The article substantiates the significance and specific features of implementing school local history studies within the system of educational and corrective work with students who have intellectual developmental disorders. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to search for new approaches to fostering national self-awareness, patriotism, and social experience among schoolchildren through the study of the history, culture, and natural environment of their native region. Local history studies are interpreted as a synthetic type of activity that promotes the activation of the cognitive sphere and the correction of emotional and volitional processes in children with special educational needs. The study identifies the key organizational forms of local history work (state, community-based, school-based, and extracurricular) and analyzes scholarly approaches to defining the concept of “school local history studies”. Particular attention is paid to the didactic principles underlying the formation of local history knowledge, including scientific validity, accessibility, systematicity, visualization, and educational orientation. A separate emphasis is placed on the principle of corrective and developmental orientation, which involves the development of sensory perception, visual-imaginative thinking, and the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships based on concrete sensory experience. The article distinguishes and characterizes three stages of local history work in special schools: the accumulation of sensory and observational experience in primary grades; the generalization and systematization of acquired knowledge about one’s locality and personal experience during the study of natural science and civic-historical educational fields; and the systematic integration of knowledge in extracurricular activities. The authors propose differentiating learning outcomes according to three levels: propaedeuticcognitive, functional-operational, and analytical-systematizing. It is established that the diversification of organizational forms of local history activities, as well as the use of various visual aids and information and communication technologies, constitutes a necessary condition for the effective acquisition of historical and geographical content. The conclusions emphasize that systematic local history work contributes not only to the successful social adaptation of students but also to the formation of a stable system of value orientations and a patriotic stance. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of applying the proposed stage-based approach to improve curricula in special education institutions.