A tool for innovative education: organizational-activity pedagogy

innovative education is a key factor of the transformational potential of social development. The author presents a logical-historical analysis of the Organizational-Activity Pedagogy (OAP), derived from the Systemic-Thought-Activity (STA) methodology, as well as its «toolbox» for innovative education, in which new cultural experience generation is produced. The article reviews development of OAP in the USSR / Russia throughout half a century, and traces its influence on the educational mindset, and practice of educational experiments. The author claims that STA methodology has shaped a unique combination of educational thinking traits: problematizing (setting cognitive «gaps»); reflective learning (priority of understanding over knowledge); reflective self-positioning; schematization; activity-learning type of content. These components of OAP mentality influenced many teachers working at all levels of the educational ladder, and are reflected in the experimental teaching practices and projects. Examples of the OAP implementation include: Developmental education, Thought-Activity pedagogy, practices of the New Humanitarian School, and «Extreme education». The article is addressed to managers of education, developers of educational practices (from primary and secondary schools to adult and continuing education), readers interested in in understanding innovative educational phenomena, and exploring innovative developments of education in Russia, and the world.