Methods of Biographical Analysis in Preparation of Future Teachers to Study the Students’ Mental States

Abstract

The article presents the results of the research work, which substantiate the possibility of using methods of biographical analysis in preparing future teachers to study the mental states of students. The essence of the biographical method and approaches to the study of mental states at the interdisciplinary level have been analyzed. It is shown that biography projects an understanding of this phenomenon through the prism of a retrospective of life and as a form of response that reflects a person's attitude to their own mental phenomena and properties in different social conditions and at a certain stage of life. It has been hypothesized that the use of the instrumental possibilities of the biographical method will be effective in preparing future teachers to study the mental states of secondary school students. To test it, a psychological and pedagogical experiment was conducted, which had no analogue in the theory and practice of psychological and pedagogical science. It was conducted in four stages: organizational stage – it was carried out theoretical and methodological justification of experimental work; ascertaining stage – the prognostic tools for determining the levels of readiness of future teachers to use the methods of biographical analysis in the study of mental states of students were tested; formative stage – it was introduced the author's methodology for the development of future teachers' knowledge, skills, abilities to use biographical methods in the study of mental states of students and their correction; control stage – it was stated the results of psychological and pedagogical experiment. They found the effectiveness of the author's teaching methods for the use of biographical methods in preparing future teachers to study and correct the mental states of students. This proves that biographical methods, along with the basic psychological, are an effective tool for diagnosing mental states of personality.