Recieved: 05/10/2026
Accepted: 05/27/2026
Published: 07/06/2026
Keywords: determining reflection; questioning; learning activity; Elkonin — Davydov educational system; primary school students; sign of spelling doubt
Pages: 130-143
DOI: 10.11621/npj.2026.0310
Available online: 06.06.2026
Zukerman, G.A. , Obukhova, O.L., Shibanova, N.A., Litvinova, S.A. (2026). Doubt as a Tool of Reflexive Action. National Psychological Journal, 21(3) , 130-143. https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2026.0310
Copied to Clipboard
CopyBackground. Reflection, determining the boundaries of knowledge and ignorance, is an essential component of the ability to learn and to overcome the limits of one's own ignorance. The determining reflection can be developed in primary school students through a full range of educational activities: in the area of subject-conceptual action responding to the question "How can I do this?"; in the area of collaboration answering the question "How do others do this?"; and in the area of self-awareness replying to the questions "Can I do this? What do I need to do this?"
Objectives. The goal is to expand the arsenal of educational tools aimed at developing the reflective capabilities of primary school students by adding a tool that addresses the self-awareness of students when completing the teacher's assignment. The article is meant to investigate the effectiveness of a new tool for reflective action.
Study Participants. The experimental sample included 78 second-graders (47% girls); their curriculum, from the very first grade, included a new reflective development tool. The control sample comprised 55 second-graders (47% girls). Both samples studied at the same school using the same curriculum developed within the Elkonin — Davydov educational system.
Methods. Genetic-modelling experiment with built-in systematic diagnostics of intermediate results was conducted.
Results. Even before learning the concept of "orthogram," children in the experimental sample ask more intelligent questions when uncertain about their spelling (hereinafter, intelligent questions are those that indicate a real problem of choice, where the person asking has no basis for making that choice). Only in the experimental sample, both before and after learning the concept of "orthogram," the number of spelling errors for weak phoneme positions reveals the significant negative correlation with the number of intelligent questions concerning orthogram spelling.
Conclusion. Children's search initiatives centre on situations of uncertainty requiring a clear distinction between the known and the unknown and a request for missing information. We supplemented these "simulators" for determining reflection with the sign of doubt as a tool in educational communication. Initial evidence has been obtained that the sign of questioning, or doubt has begun to function fully, both operationally and technically, as a marker of uncertainty, and semantically, as a self-message: "I know that I don't know this." In the follow-up, we will proceed with the studies of the evolution of the function of doubt, the transition from interpsychic interaction in the educational community to the individualised ability to recognise one's ignorance characteristic of a person who knows how to learn.
Assessment of Metasubject Competencies of Primary School Graduates. (2015). In: I.M. Ulanovskaya, (ed.). Moscow: MGPPU Publ. (In Russ.)
Chudinova, E.V. (2025). Ascent from the Abstract to the Concrete in the Subject Curriculum of Basic School (Towards the Problem of Developing Scientific Concepts in School Education). Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 21(4), 89–99. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2025210409
Davydov, V.V. (1996). The Theory of Developmental Learning. Moscow: Intor Publ. (In Russ.)
Davydov, V.V., Slobodchikov, V.I., Zuckerman, G.A. (1992). The Primary School Student as a Subject of Educational Activity. Voprosy Psikhologii, (3), 14–19. (In Russ.)
Diagnostics of Academic Success in Primary School. (2009). In: P.G. Nezhnov, I.D. Frumin, B.I. Hasan, B.D. Elkonin, (eds.). Moscow: Developing Education Publ. (In Russ.)
Dorozhkin, A.M., Golubinskaya, A.V. (2023). Ignorance as an Epistemological Problem. Epistemologiya i filosofiya nauki = Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, 60(3), 77–90. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.5840/eps202360343
Elkonin, D.B. (2023). ABC Book. 1st grade (in 2 parts). Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ. (In Russ.)
Gennen, T. (2023). Conceptual change and education: The neglected potential of developmental teaching approaches. Human Development, 67(2), 88–107.
Hedegaard, M., Chaiklin, S. (2005). Radical-local teaching and learning: a cultural-historical approach. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Maftunabonu, S. (2023). The difference between traditional and modern teaching methods. Modern Science and Research, 2(10), 829–831.
Mamardashvili, M. (1993). Cartesian Reflections. In: Yu.P. Senokosov, (ed.). Moscow: Progress — Kultura Publ. (In Russ.)
Medvedev, A.M. (2010). Genetic-Modeling Method and Diagnostics of New Formations of Learning Activity. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie = Psychological Science and Education, 15(4), 91–99. (In Russ.)
Repkin, V.V., Nekrasova, T.V., Vostorgova, E.V. (2021). Russian language: 2nd grade (in 2 parts). Moscow: Prosveshchenie and Binom Publ. (In Russ.)
Repkin, V.V., Repkina, N.V. (1997). Developmental education: theory and practice. Tomsk: Peleng Publ. (In Russ.)
Sannino, A., Engeström, Y., Lemos, M. (2018). Formative interventions for expansive learning and transformative agency. In: M. Cole, W. Penuel, K. O’Neill, (eds.). Cultural-historical activity theory approaches to design-based research. (pp. 113–147). London: Routledge Publ.
Shadrikov, V.D. (2022). Doubt as a Process and Method of Self-Knowledge. Psychological Newspaper, November 18, 2022. (In Russ.). URL: https://psy.su/feed/10484/ (accessed: 01.05.2026).
Stepanova, M.A. (2023). Variations on the theme of developmental education. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 19(4), 78–89. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2023190408
Vygotsky, L.S. (1983). History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions. Collected Works, Vol. 3. Moscow: Pedagogika Publ. (In Russ.)
Vygotsky, L.S. (1991). Educational Psychology. Moscow: Pedagogika Publ. (In Russ.)
Wang, Y. (2022). A comparative study on the effectiveness of traditional and modern teaching methods. In: A. Holl, J. Chen, G. Guan, (eds.). Proceedings of the 2022 5th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2022), Vol. 720. (pp. 270–277). Paris: Atlantis Press SARL.
Zak, A.Z. (2017). Age Dynamics of the Development of Substantive Reflection in Primary School Students. In: L.A. Abramova, M.G. Petrova, (eds.). Education and Science in Modern Realities. Collection of Proc. of the II International Scientific and Practical Conference (Cheboksary, November 5, 2017). (pp. 150–155). Cheboksary: Central Scientific Society “Interactive Plus” Publ. (In Russ.)
Zaretsky, V.K., Kholmogorova, A.B. (2026). On the Concept of “Reflection” in Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical Psychology: From Its Origins to the Present. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 22(1), 30–41. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2026220104
Zuckerman, G.A. (2000). How do primary school students learn to learn? Moscow; Riga: Experiment Publ. (In Russ.)
Zuckerman, G.A., Obukhova, O.L. (2014). Developing Written Speech in Primary School Students by Means of Instruction. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, (1), 34–44. (In Russ.)
Zuckerman, G.A., Obukhova, O.L., Shibanova, N.A., Litvinova, S.A. (2025). I Know What I Don’t Know: At the Origins of Defining Reflection. Psikhologo-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya = Psychological and Pedagogical Research, 17(4), 129–146. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2025170408
Zukerman, G.A. , Obukhova, O.L., Shibanova, N.A., Litvinova, S.A. . Doubt as a Tool of Reflexive Action. // National Psychological Journal 2026. 3. Pages130-143. doi: 10.11621/npj.2026.0310
Copied to Clipboard
Copy