Glazov, Izhevsk, Russian Federation
The article discusses the problem of evaluating the differential didactic complexity (DDC) of educational texts, which characterizes the difficulty of their perception and assimilation by pupil. It is shown that DDC is determined by: 1) the density of semantic information, depending on the abstraction degree of the terms used and their presence in the pupil’s thesaurus; 2) the complexity level of mathematical, chemical and other formulas; 3) the structural complexity of the text, depending on the average length of its constituent words and sentences. Multiplying the DDC of the text by its volume, you can find the integral didactic complexity of the text. For the evaluation of the textbook DDC expert selects one page fragments of text randomly, identifies the key concepts, “measures” their average information content, determines the share of formulas and their average complexity. In this case, the classification of concepts according to the abstraction degree is used, which takes into account the occurrence of a particular word in the thesaurus of a preschool, fifth-grader, ninth-grader and school graduate. The structural complexity of the text is also taken into account, depending on the average length of words and sentences. The analysis of textbooks for school graduates has shown that the most difficult disciplines to understand are biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics. As a result of evaluating computer science textbooks for 3rd, 5th, 9th and 11th grades it was found that their semantic information density and differential semantic complexity monotonically increase from 5.3 to 8.1 and from 5.7 to 10.4 respectively.
complexity, concept, didactics, folding of knowledge, semantic information, text, textbook
1. Bosova L.L., Bosova A.Yu. Informatika: ucheb. dlya 9 klassa [Informatics: text-book. for grade 9]. Moscow: Binom. Laboratoriya znanij Publ., 2013. 184 p.
2. Bosova L.L., Bosova A.Yu. Informatika [Informatics]. Moscow: Binom. Labora-toriya znanij Publ., 2013.184 p.
3. Velichkovskij B.M. Kognitivnaya nauka: Osnovy psihologii poznaniya [Cognitive Science: Fundamentals of the Psychology of Cognition]. Moscow: Smysl Publ.: «Akademiya» Publ., 2006, V. 1, 448 p.
4. Vsya shkol'naya programma v odnoj knige. Spravochnik shkol'nika v kratkom izlozhenii. 5-11 klass [The entire school curriculum in one book. Pupil's handbook summarized. Grades 5-11]. Moscow: RIPOL klassik Publ., 2010. 896 p.
5. Gejn A.G., Senokosov A.I. Informatika i IKT: 11 klass [Informatics and ICT: Grade 11]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 2012. 336 p.
6. Gel'fman E.G., Holodnaya M.A. Psihodidaktika shkol'nogo uchebnika. Intel-lektual'noe vospitanie uchashchihsya [School textbook psychodidactics. Intellectual education of students]. St. Petersburg: Piter Publ., 2006. 384 p.
7. Goryachev A.V. Informatika i IKT (Moj instrument komp'yuter) [Informatics and ICT (My computer tool)]. Moscow: Balass Publ., 2010. 80 p.
8. Majer R.V. Didakticheskaya slozhnost' uchebnyh tekstov i ee ocenka [Didactic complexity of educational texts and its assessment]. Glazov: GGPI Publ., 2020. 149 p.
9. Majer R.V. Ocenka urovnya abstraktnosti izlozheniya materiala v shkol'nyh uchebnikah po estestvennym naukam [Assessment of the level of abstractness in the presentation of material in school textbooks on natural sciences]. Standarty i monitor-ing v obrazovanii [Standards and monitoring in education]. 2017, I. 1, pp. 58-63. DOIhttps://doi.org/10.12737/24530
10. Mikk Ya.A. Optimizaciya slozhnosti uchebnogo teksta: V pomoshch' avtoram i re-daktoram [Optimization of the complexity of educational text]. Moscow: Pros-veshchenie Publ., 1981. 119 p.
11. Miheeva S.A. Sistema formalizovannyh kriteriev ocenki shkol'nogo uchebnika [The system of formalized criteria for evaluating a school textbook]. Voprosy obra-zovaniya [Education Issues]. 2015, I. 4, pp. 147-183.
12. Stepanova M., Aleksandrova I., Sedova A. Novye shkaly trudnosti uchebnyh predmetov [New scales of difficulty of educational subjects]. Zhurnal «Direktor shkoly» [Journal "School Director"]. 2004, I. 4.
13. Chernejko L.O. Lingvofilosofskij analiz abstraktnogo imeni [Linguophilosophical analysis of an abstract name]. Moscow: LIBROKOM Publ., 2010. 265 p.
14. Shkol'naya programma v tablicah i formulah: Bol'shoj universal'nyj spra-vochnik [School program in tables and formulas]. Moscow: Drofa Publ., 1998. 638 p.
15. Davis B., Sumara D. Complexity and Education: Inquiries Into Learning, Teach-ing, and Research. Mahwah, New Jersey, London, 2006. 201 p.
