Genesis of the regional-environmental approach in Russian historical and pedagogical science

The purpose of the article is to reveal the content of the regional-environmental approach and to characterize its genesis in the advanced Russian social thought and historical and pedagogical science. The definition of the approach is given and the process of its development over the past two and a half centuries is described in detail. The following scientific methods were used in the course of the study: diachronization (periodization), retrospective analysis, reconstruction of historical events, actualization and historical-typological, as well as axiological methodological approach, which allows to identify the value content of the subject under study. These scientific tools were implemented in the course of characterizing the views of leading Russian thinkers of the XVIII-XIX centuries (V. V. Krestinin, A. I. Herzen, N. A. Dobrolyubov, N. G. Chernyshevsky, N. H. Wessel, K. D. Ushinsky, D. D. Semenov, etc.) and twentieth-century scientists and educators (B. V. Vsesvyatsky, G. N. Volkov, A. I. Kondakov, etc.) on this issue. The article provides material on the activities of various organizations (provincial statistical committees, scientific archival commissions, etc.) and individuals — local historians, teachers and patrons of different eras (N. M. Meyer, P. K. Meyer, A. I. Veshtomov, T. T. Rapinov, V. I. Fedyaev, etc.), who contributed to the implementation of the regional-environmental approach in educational practice with their theoretical and practical deeds. The conclusion is made about the socio-political significance and scientific and pedagogical relevance of a consistent, scientifically formulated study of the regional-environmental approach in the theory and history of pedagogy. Permanent changes in the regional educational environment and society as a whole make it socially necessary and socially significant for pedagogic theorists to comprehend constantly the complex of problems related to regional educational topics and, in particular, to determine the role and disclosure of the content of the regional environmental approach in the history of education, including the present time.