ИСТИНА

Introduction.– Interest in digital education and psychodiagnostics of child development is steadily increasing among educators, psychologists and parents. A large number of digital platforms promise the rapid development of intelligence, cognitive abilities and social skills. At the same time, the requirements for these platforms are still not elaborated in correspondence to the scientific principles of developmental psychology. Objective. The study examines whether the digital educational platforms and cartoons correspond to the principles of L.S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach. Methods. The method of expert platform analysis (Bogost, Montfort, 2009) has been applied. Experts analyzed the widespread platforms: Wikium (cognitive functions in primary school children and younger adolescents), LinguaLeo (English for children); and educational animated series: “Learning to speak” (speech development at an early age), and “Fixics” (social competence in preschool and primary school children). Results.– The platforms use tasks of varying types and complexity and integrate game components into the development process. However, the digital applications do not comply with several principles of the cultural-historical approach. They do not take into account the type of leading activity, the age-related features of motivation and mental development, the sociocultural context. They also do not include the zone of proximal development into the process of learning. Conclusion.– Thus, the analyzed digital platforms and educational programs can become effective tools for mental and personal development only with the active participation of a competent adult and high motivation of the child. Support.