KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A student conference entitled “Development Trends of Primary Education” was organized at the initiative of the Faculty of Primary Education of ASPU.

The participants were greeted by Srbuhi Gevorgyan, Vice-Rector for Educational and Scientific Affairs who said they hoped to hear interesting discussions, opinions, analyses and debates on the main topics as well as on the recent innovations introduced in the learning process at the University.

Being familiar with the conference themes, the Vice-rector said they are unique in their content and are worth studying as they include issues related to the modern pedagogical trends, latest developments in science, and most importantly, issues on inclusive education. “Such student initiatives are important not only in terms of presenting views but also outlining new tasks and planning future work,” she said.

The organizer of the conference, Pro-Dean of the Faculty of Primary Education, Lusine Poghosyan said the issues raised at the conference and the open discussions will contribute to the development of students’ professional skills and qualities, as well as their ability to do research and present the results.

Sirun Torosyan, a Master’s degree student of the University, presented a report [at the plenary session] on "The scope of applicability of problematic teaching in mathematics courses in elementary schools." The student stressed that the main objective of the education process in modern schools is defined as follows: pupils should learn independently while teachers are to fulfill their roles of supervisors. “Traditional teaching through demonstration and explanation is being replaced by new pedagogical technologies, one of which is problem-based learning,” she said.

Introducing the new technology the student stressed that it will considerably improve the quality of education of learners.

In her report “The study of phase sequence of the linguistic unit ‘phrase’ and methodological principles in elementary classes,” MA student Deghdzanik Barseghyan first presented the phrase as a linguistic unit, then spoke about its study and several principles. "Dictionaries are designed for teachers and pupils. They help teachers organize their work [with phrases] more effectively, enrich students’ vocabulary and their ability to develop their oral and written language skills,” she said.

“It is possible to develop the coherent speech of preschoolers through talks, lessons and organization of systematic joint activities that involve children,” MA student Ani Avetisyan stressed in her report that summed up the plenary session.

Speaking about the importance of developing coherent speech of preschoolers the speaker presented the components of coherent speech, forms of development.

Also, a video call was established with Belarusian State Pedagogical University: one of the students of the Faculty of Primary Education delivered a report presenting the results of her own research during internship. This was followed by a question and answer session.

The student participated in Summer School 2015 organized by Armenian State Pedagogical University, Youth Foundation of Armenia and ASPU Student Council. She expressed hope that cooperation between the two universities – ASPU and BSPU – will continue in the future.

The conference continued its work in separate subdivisions.