Keyword: «historical knowledge»

The study of history is a necessary condition for the education of a patriotic and moral person. History accompanies us throughout our lives. As children, we listen to fascinating myths, and later we encounter history wherever we are. History is a set of sciences that study the past of human society. Thus, in order to form a correct idea of historical events, it is necessary to cultivate a historical awareness among the population. This issue should be approached systematically, cultivating the historical awareness at different stages of a person's life. In particular, this process is important in adolescence – the period of self-awareness development, determining one's place in society, active self-tests, expanding the sphere of socialization, reflection. The purpose of the study was to examine the concept of "historical awareness" and define the components of this phenomenon, as well as to work out and test a program for the formation of historical awareness in students of grades 5-6. Historical awareness is considered as a source of social experience, a sense of self-consciousness in it, contributing to the understanding of the unity of oneself and society, based on the memory of the past of a person, society and humanity. Historical awareness is represented as the sum of four components: historical memory, historical feeling, experience and knowledge. It is suggested that the process of cultivating historical awareness will be effective with a comprehensive pedagogical impact on all the listed components, thereby forming the so-called "historical combo", which will contribute to the education of a patriotic person. The authors present the results of a questionnaire for students aimed at studying historical knowledge, emotional attitude to history, awareness of the traditions of their family and the country. The article describes the main elements of the program for the formation of students' historical knowledge. The program includes five sections: "Primitive society. The resettlement of the Eastern Slavs", "The Rule of the Rurik dynasty", "The Rule of the Romanovs", "The Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", "Modern Russia". After the program implementation, students of grades 5-6 have shown positive changes in the process of forming historical awareness and its components (historical knowledge, memory, experience, feeling).