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The system of planned, stage-by-stage formation of mental actions (PSFMA) as a creative design of psychological conditions for instruction
Piotr Galperin is a representative of cultural-historical psychology and a follower of Lev Vygotsky. His legacy considers the nature of human mental life, its origin and further development in the process of phylogenesis, anthropogenesis and ontogenesis. In addition, Galperin’s contribution was in developing a system of psychological conditions, which enables the formation of mental actions, images and representations with prescribed outcomes. This system is defined as the system of planned stage-by-stage formation of mental actions (PSFMA). Among other applications, PSFMA can be used: i) as a method to study the formation and development of a person’s mental activity, ii) to examine the relationship between the theoretically described and objectively occurring in practice the process of systematic formation of mental functions and iii) to design learning and teaching activity aimed at developing 21st century competences. In this paper, I argue, that the direct transfer and application of the mechanisms of PFSMA in classrooms gives satisfactory results only when the conditions of the theoretically planned formation closely correspond to the conditions of real situations in classrooms. In order to bridge the conditions outlined in PFSMA and the real educational practice, it is necessary to carry out several adjustments to account for the complexity of learning. To do so, three models of instructional design are presented in the paper: i) psy-chological, ii) psychological-pedagogical and iii) procedural or technological model. However, the three-model framework should be considered as an intellectual tool rather than as an algorithm that provides instructions for teachers’ actions. 1. Introduction A young reader, when opening this special issue, will face a difficult task of remembering who is the Russian psychologist Piotr Yakovlevitch Galperin, and understanding why a whole issue of a respected journal has been dedicated to the translation of his lec-tures, which were delivered almost half a century ago. The easiest way to help the reader is to say that Piotr Galperin is a representative of cultural-historical psychology, a follower of the world-known Russian psychologist, philosopher and educationalist Lev Vygotsky. It is indeed the case. However, Galperin’s approach has introduced some new elements to cultural-historical theory. First of all, his approach considers the nature of human mental life, its origin, and further development in the context of phylogenetic, anthropogenic, and ontogenetic processes. Second, it considers the system of psychological conditions, which enables the formation of mental actions, images, and representations with desired and prescribed outcomes. Galperin defined a mental action as a functional structure that is continually being formed and transformed throughout an individual’s lifetime. Using mental actions as well as mental images and representations, a human being plans, regulates, and controls his/her performances by means of socially established patterns, stan-dards, and evaluations (Podolskij, 2008). Moreover, as Galperin reiterated in many publications, the main reason why it was not DOI of original article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2019.01.006. ☆This article is a reprint of a previously published article. For citation purposes, please use the original publication details; Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, Volume 25, June 2020, 100273 **DOI of original item: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2019.01.006. E-mail address: apodolskij@hotmail.com. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Learning, Culture and Social Interaction journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lcsi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2020.100474