Wiedza osobista uczniów jako punkt zwrotny w teorii i praktyce dydaktycznej

The article presents the students’ personal knowledge as a crucial element of the learning and teaching process. The discovery of personal knowledge by psychologists caused a paradigmatic turn in the theory of teaching. While the conceptions inspired by behaviourism do not take into consideration the personal knowledge and notice/see only the public knowledge assigned by the formal curriculum and textbooks, the constructivist conceptions place personal knowledge very high among the factors significant for the learning process. However, its status is still controversial as far as we treat it not only as a starting point for learning but as a final point determining personalisation of new knowledge as well. To explain this mechanism, the author uses the notions of „a mental gentling of the public knowledge” and „a cognitive partnership”.