Learning theory is an independent part of the science of pedagogy. It is also customary to call it didactics (from the Greek "didacticos" - educating, teaching). Teachers in the schools of Ancient Greece were called didaskals, since they were entrusted with the responsibility not only to give young people certain knowledge, but also to educate them by real citizens. Gradually in colloquial language, this concept has acquired a contemptuous meaning: "the desire to teach everyone, to unnecessarily moralize."
But the German teacher W. Ratke returned this term to its lost meaning - the art of education or the scientific theory of instruction. In the work of Jan Amos Comenius “Great didactics” it is indicated that this theory applies not only to children in school, “it teaches everyone everything,” and therefore it is universal. Indeed, in the process of our life, we learn something new every day, and how well we will learn the information depends on how it is presented. Methods, techniques and types of didactics were further developed by such prominent scientists as V.I. Zagvyazinsky, I.Ya. Lerner, I.P. Podlasy and Yu.K. Babansky.
Thus, the modern theory of teaching explores the interaction and the relationship of "upbringing" teaching with the cognitive activity of students. She sets herself the task of improving the educational process, developing new effective pedagogical technologies. In addition, she describes and explains the process of upbringing and education. For example, didactics at different stages of the learning process calls for the use of various forms and methods of cognitive activity: teacher - students; schoolboy - a book; the child is a class and others.
Thus, the theory of learning says that we learn knowledge not on our own, not in isolation, but in unity with the principles of their presentation and the practice of their application. Moreover, each science has its own specifics of material presentation: physics, chemistry, other applied disciplines are fundamentally different from the process of teaching music or philosophy. On this basis, didactics distinguishes subject methods. In addition, it is believed that this science performs two main functions: theoretical (gives general concepts to students) and practical (instills certain skills in them).
But also one should not discount the most important task of pedagogy - the education of an independent personality. A person must not only acquire theoretical knowledge and apply it as the teacher explained to him, but also be creative in using these initial theories and practices to create something new. This area of pedagogy is called the “theory of developing learning”. Pestalozzi put forward its foundations as early as the 18th century, indicating that in man, from birth
development. The task of the teacher is to help these abilities to fully develop.
Soviet pedagogy proceeded from the principle that education and information should be ahead of, lead to the development of students' inclinations and talents. Therefore, the domestic theory of teaching is based on such principles: a high level of difficulty for the entire class (designed for the most gifted children); primacy of theoretical material; fast pace of mastering the material; students' awareness of the learning process itself. Developmental learning is focused on the student’s potential to “spur” them to their full potential.