PLAN:

Introduction

General characteristics of the concept of "thinking": types, operations, forms of thinking

Features of thinking of preschoolers

The problem of the development of visual-figurative thinking in children before school age

Conclusion

Introduction

Thinking is the basis of learning, therefore, the development of various types of thinking and mental operations is traditionally considered as preparation of the foundation for educational activity.

Throughout the preschool age, the predominance of figurative forms of thinking (visual-effective and visual-figurative) is characteristic. At this time, the foundation of intelligence is laid. Conceptual thinking also begins to develop.

However, Russian psychologists assign the leading role in the cognitive activity of a preschooler to visual-figurative thinking. The level of development of visual-figurative thinking, achieved in preschool age, is essential for the entire subsequent life of a person. Visual-figurative thinking, being a psychological neoplasm of senior preschool age, is the main contribution that preschool childhood makes to the overall process of mental development. The degree of formation of visual-figurative thinking largely determines the success of the child's further education at school and determines the readiness for the development of verbal-logical thinking.

1. General characteristics of the concept of "thinking": types, operations, forms of thinking

Man not only perceives the world but also wants to understand him. To understand is to penetrate into the essence of objects and phenomena, to know the most important thing, essential in them. Understanding is provided by the most complex cognitive mental process, which is called thinking.

The ability to think is the crown of the evolutionary and historical development of human cognitive processes. Thanks to conceptual thinking, a person has infinitely pushed the boundaries of his being, outlined by the capabilities of cognitive processes of a "lower" level - sensation, perception and representation.

So, our knowledge of objective reality begins with sensations and perception. But, starting with sensations and perception, knowledge of reality does not end with them. From sensation and perception, it passes to thinking. Thinking correlates the data of sensations and perceptions - it compares, compares, distinguishes, reveals relations, mediations, and through the relations between directly sensibly given properties of things and phenomena, reveals new, directly not sensibly given abstract properties of them; Revealing interconnections and comprehending reality in these interconnections, thinking deeper cognizes its essence. Thinking reflects being in its connections and relationships, in its diverse mediations.

Thinking Is a socially conditioned, cognitive mental process inextricably linked with speech, characterized by a generalized and mediated reflection of connections and relationships between objects in the surrounding reality.

Thinking is the most complex and multifaceted mental activity, therefore, the selection of types of thinking is carried out on different grounds.

Firstly, depending on the extent to which the thought process is based on perception, representation or concept, there are three main types of thinking:

substantively effective (or visual-effective)- for kids early age to think about objects means to act, to manipulate with them;

pictorial- typical for preschoolers and partly for younger students;

verbal-logical (abstract)- characterizes senior schoolchildren and adults .

These are not only stages in the development of thinking, but also its various forms inherent in an adult and playing important role in mental activity. It is possible to accelerate and intensify the passage of certain stages of the development of thinking, but none of them can be avoided without prejudice to the mental makeup of the individual as a whole.

Secondly, by the nature of the course of the thinking process, we can talk about reasoning (or discursive) thinking, the result of which is achieved in the course of sequential reasoning, and intuitive thinking, where the final result is achieved without knowing or thinking through the intermediate stages.

Thirdly, if we take the nature of the results of thinking as a basis, then we can have reproductive thinking (when we clearly trace the train of thought of another person, for example, a proof of a mathematical theorem in a textbook, etc.) and creative thinking (if we create new ideas, objects, original solutions and proofs) ...

Fourth, thinking is divided by the effectiveness of control into critical and non-critical.

B.M. Teplov notes that thinking is a special kind of activity that has its own structure and types. He divides thinking into theoretical and practical. At the same time, in theoretical thinking, he distinguishes conceptual and figurative thinking, but in practical - pictorial and demonstratively effective... The difference between theoretical and practical types of thinking, in his opinion, is only that “they are connected in different ways with practice. The work of practical thinking is mainly aimed at solving particular specific problems, while the work of theoretical thinking is mainly aimed at finding general patterns. "

Conceptual thinking Is the kind of thinking that uses certain concepts. At the same time, when solving certain mental tasks, we do not turn to search using special methods any new information, but we use ready-made knowledge obtained by other people and expressed in the form of concepts, judgments, inferences.

The conceptual content of thinking is formed in the process of the historical development of scientific knowledge on the basis of the development of social practice. Its development is a historical process, subject to historical laws.

Creative thinking Is a type of thought process that uses images. These images are retrieved directly from memory or recreated by the imagination. In the course of solving mental problems, the corresponding images are mentally transformed so that, as a result of manipulating them, we can find a solution to the problem of interest to us. It should be noted that conceptual and figurative thinking, being varieties of theoretical thinking, in practice are in constant interaction. They complement each other, revealing to us the various aspects of being. Conceptual thinking gives the most accurate and generalized reflection of reality, but this reflection is abstract. In turn, figurative thinking allows you to get a specific subjective reflection of the reality around us. Thus, conceptual and figurative thinking complement each other and provide a deep and versatile reflection of reality.

Visual-figurative thinking - this is a type of thought process that is carried out directly in the perception of the surrounding reality and cannot be carried out without it. Thinking graphically, we are tied to reality, and the necessary images are presented in short-term and random access memory.

Visual-Action Thinking - this is a special kind of thinking, the essence of which lies in the practical transformative activity carried out with real objects.

All these types of thinking can be considered as levels of its development. Theoretical thinking is considered more perfect than practical, and conceptual thinking is a higher level of development than figurative thinking.

The mental activity of people is carried out with the help of the following mental operations:

comparison- establishing relationships of similarity and difference;

analysis- mental dismemberment of the integral structure of the object of reflection into its constituent elements;

synthesis- reunification of elements into a holistic structure;

abstraction and generalization- highlighting common features;

concretization and differentiation- return to the completeness of the individual specificity of the comprehended object.

All these operations, according to S.L. Rubinstein, are different aspects of the main operation of thinking - mediation (that is, the disclosure of more and more essential connections and relationships).

There are three main forms of thinking: concept, judgment and inference.

Judgment - This is a form of thinking containing the approval or denial of any position regarding objects, phenomena or their properties. Judgment as a form of existence of elementary thought is the starting point for two other logical forms of thinking - concepts and inferences.

Judgment reveals the content of concepts. To know any object or phenomenon means to be able to express a correct and meaningful judgment about it, i.e. be able to judge him. The truthfulness of judgments is tested by social practice of a person.

Concept Is a thought that reflects the most general, essential and distinctive features of objects and phenomena of reality.

Inference Is a form of thinking, which is a sequence of judgments where, as a result of the establishment of relations between them, a new judgment appears, different from the previous ones. Inference is the most developed form of thought, the structural component of which is, again, judgment.

A person uses mainly two types of inferences - inductive and deductive. Induction - it is a way of reasoning from private judgments to general judgment, the establishment of general laws and rules based on the study of individual facts and phenomena. Deduction- this is a way of reasoning from general judgment to private judgment, knowledge of individual facts and phenomena based on knowledge of general laws and rules.

Thus, judgment is a universal structural form of thought, genetically preceding the concept and included as an integral part of inference.

2. Features of thinking of preschoolers

In accordance with the accepted age classification, it is customary to distinguish three stages in the mental development of a child: infancy (from 0 to 1 year), early childhood (from 1 to 3 years) and preschool age (from 3 to 7 years).

Each of these stages of the child's mental development has its own characteristics. A change in leading activity marks the child's transition from one stage to another.

According to Vygotsky L.S., the leading activity of preschoolers is play, as a means of the child's versatile development, which constitutes the fundamental basis for further mental development, including visual-figurative thinking.

Preschool age is an important period in the development of all mental functions: speech, thinking, emotions, mechanisms for controlling voluntary movements, for which the higher structures of the brain are responsible - this is the cortex. All of this has to do with the game. The mental development of preschoolers is characterized by the formation of figurative thinking, which allows him to think about objects, to compare them in his mind, even when he does not see them. but logical thinking has not yet formed. This is hindered by egocentrism and the inability to focus on changes in the object.

The problem of the emergence and development of thinking in a child has been discussed in psychology many times and from a variety of points of view. However, in recent years, the most widespread idea has been the idea of ​​the genesis of thinking as a path from its more primitive forms to more and more perfect ones, which is verbal-logical (discursive) thinking.

The idea of ​​other previous forms in different psychological systems is different, as well as the idea of ​​the dynamics of their development and the distinctive features of the transition from the initial, more primitive to more and more perfect. In Soviet psychology, the most widespread concept was Vygotsky L.S., in which the genesis of thinking was traced from the visual-effective to the visual-figurative and further logical. At the same time, the greatest achievement of this approach was the idea of ​​children's thinking as an adequate way of orientation in reality. This position differs from the concept of J. Piaget, in which the initial forms of thinking are transductive in nature.

Modern psychologists, following Vygotsky L.S., distinguish three main stages in the development of a child's thinking: visual-effective, visual-figurative and conceptual thinking. Visual-active thinking is inherent mainly in children of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd year of life. However, already in the third year, visual-figurative thinking begins to form, and then older preschoolers have their first concepts, thinking becomes more and more abstract.

In a period of time from 3 to 7 years, under the influence of design, artistic activity, the child develops the ability to mentally dismember a visible object into parts, and then combine them into a single whole. Children learn to distinguish the structure of objects, their spatial characteristics, the ratio of parts. The development of perception occurs in stages. At the first stage, perceptual actions are formed directly as a result of playing with various subjects... At the second stage, children get acquainted with the spatial properties of objects with the help of orientation-exploratory movements of the hand and eye. At the third stage, children get the opportunity to quickly learn the properties of objects of interest, while the external action turns into mental.

V preschool age the child's thinking enters a new phase of development, namely: there is an increase in the range of ideas of children and an expansion of mental horizons, there is a restructuring of mental activity itself. For a seven-year-old child, the simplest forms of logical thinking begin to take shape for the first time.

By older preschool age, tasks of a new type appear, where the result of an action will not be direct, but indirect, and in order to achieve it, the child will need to take into account the connections between two or more phenomena occurring simultaneously or sequentially. For example, such problems arise in games with mechanical toys (if you place the ball in a certain place of the playing field and pull the lever in a certain way, the ball will be in the right place), in construction (its stability depends on the size of the base of the building), etc.

When solving such problems with an indirect result, children of four to five years old begin to move from external actions with objects to actions with images of these objects performed in the mind. This is how visual-figurative thinking develops, which relies on images: the child does not need to pick up the object in his hands, it is enough to clearly imagine it. In the process of visual-figurative thinking, visual representations are compared, as a result of which the problem is solved.

The possibility of solving problems in the mind arises due to the fact that the images used by the child acquire a generalized character. That is, they do not display all the features of the subject, but only those that are essential for solving a specific problem. That is, schemes and models appear in the child's mind. Model-figurative forms of thinking are especially vividly developed and manifested in drawing, design and other types of productive activity.

So, children's drawings in most cases represent a scheme in which the connection of the main parts of the depicted object is conveyed and its individual features are absent. For example, when sketching a house, the base and the roof are depicted in the figure, while the location, shape of windows, doors, some interior details are not taken into account.

For example, from the age of five, a child can find a hidden object in a room, using a mark on the plan, select the desired path in a branched system of paths, based on a scheme such as a geographic map.

Mastering models takes the way children gain knowledge to a new level. If, with a verbal explanation, a child cannot always understand, say, some primary mathematical actions, the sound composition of a word, then based on a model, he will do this easily.

Figurative forms reveal their limitations when tasks arise in front of the child that require the allocation of such properties and relations that cannot be clearly represented. This type of tasks was described by the famous Swiss psychologist J. Piaget and called them "tasks to preserve the amount of substance."

For example, a child is presented with two identical plasticine balls. One of them turns into a cake in front of the child's eyes. The child is asked where there is more plasticine: in a ball or a cake. The preschooler replies that he is in a cake.

When solving such problems, the child cannot independently consider visually the changes occurring with the object (for example, a change in area) and the amount of substance remaining constant. Indeed, this requires a transition from judgments based on images to judgments based on verbal concepts.

Bityanova M.T. and Barchuk O.A. characterize the thinking of preschoolers as follows:

the child solves mental problems, presenting their conditions, thinking becomes out-of-situational;

mastering speech leads to the development of reasoning as a way to solve mental problems, an understanding of the causality of phenomena arises;

children's questions are an indicator of the development of curiosity and speak about the problematic nature of the child's thinking;

a new relationship between mental and practical activity appears when practical actions arise on the basis of preliminary reasoning; the orderliness of thinking increases;

the child moves from using ready-made connections and relationships to “discovering” more complex ones;

there are attempts to explain phenomena and processes;

experimentation arises as a way to help understand hidden connections and relationships, apply existing knowledge, try your hand;

prerequisites for such qualities of the mind as independence, flexibility, inquisitiveness are formed.

But the development of thinking does not happen in isolation. This is due to general changes in the child's life. His relationship with the surrounding reality is changing, the child is being prepared for school, the transition play activities to the training.

Leontiev A.N. emphasizes that preschool childhood is the period of the initial actual formation of the personality, the period of development of personal "mechanisms" of behavior. In the preschool years of the child's development, the first knots are tied, the first connections and relationships are established, which form a new, higher unity of the subject - the unity of the personality. It is precisely because the period of preschool childhood is the period of such an actual folding of the psychological mechanisms of the personality that it is so important.

So, summarizing the features of the development of preschooler thinking, we can conclude that at this age stage:

the child is distinguished by a sufficiently high level of mental development, including dismembered perception, generalized forms of thinking, semantic memorization;

before the age of seven, various types of thinking are formed: visual-effective, visual-figurative, abstract, which are based on associative processes, the ability to build a system of generalizations.

3. The problem of the development of visual-figurative thinking in preschool children

The development of visual-figurative thinking in preschool age has a special role.

This is due to the fact that in a study conducted under the scientific supervision of Elkonin D.B. in the 80s, scientists came to the conclusion that the formation of figurative, rather than logical, thinking is of the greatest importance for the successful teaching of children. It is figurative thinking that allows the child to outline a method of action, based on the characteristics of a particular situation or task. If this function is transferred to logical thinking, then it is difficult for the child to take into account the many particular features of the situation. The extreme generalization of logical thinking, according to scientists, turns into a weakness for a six-year-old student, giving rise to a well-known phenomenon - formalism of thinking.

In world psychology today, two opposite approaches to solving the problem of learning and development are known: according to J. Piaget, success in learning is determined by the level of mental development of the child, who assimilates the content of education in accordance with his current intellectual structure. According to L.S. Vygotsky, on the contrary, development processes follow the learning processes that create a zone of proximal development.

Consider the views of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget on the process of the child's intellectual development.

According to Piaget, intelligence is not a blank board on which knowledge can be written. If the information received by a person about the world corresponds to the structure of his intellect, then this information, images and experiences are "understood" or, in Piaget's terminology, assimilated. If the information does not correspond to the structure of the intellect, it is either rejected, or the person adapts to the new information, changing his mental (intellectual) structures, in Piaget's terms, accommodation occurs.

Assimilation- This is the process of including new information as an integral part of the already existing ideas of the individual. Accommodation Is a change in our thought processes when new idea, the information does not fit into the existing ideas about the world.

Piaget argues that the intellect always strives to establish a balance between assimilation and accommodation, to eliminate inconsistencies or discrepancies between reality and its reflection created in the mind. He calls this process balancing.

Research allowed Piaget to highlight stages of intelligence development:

sensorimotor stage- from birth to 1.5-2 years. Cognition is carried out through actions: grasping, sucking, biting, examining, etc.;

preoperative- from 2 to 7 years old. Using language, the child makes judgments on the basis of personal direct experience, there is no understanding of conservation, has difficulties in classifying objects or events;

stage of specific operations- from 7 to 11-12 years old. There are elementary logical reasoning about specific objects and phenomena;

stage of formal operations- from 12 years old onwards. Teenagers are able to solve abstract mental problems in their minds, put forward and test hypotheses.

What factors are responsible for the transition from one stage to another? Piaget believes that this factor is training and education. But the leading role in development is played by biological maturation, which provides opportunities for development.

Thus, according to Piaget, maturation, development "goes" ahead of learning. The success of the learning depends on the level of development already achieved by the child.

Vygotsky, on the other hand, asserts that learning "leads" development, that is, children develop through participation in activities that are slightly beyond their capabilities, using the help of adults. He introduced the concept of "zone of proximal development" - this is something that children cannot do on their own, but can do with the help of adults. The zone of proximal development corresponds to the difference between the child's current level and his potential level, determined by the tasks that he solves under the guidance of adults.

The point of view of Vygotsky L.S. on this problem in modern science is the leading one.

With the beginning of training, thinking moves to the center of the child's mental development and becomes decisive in the system of other mental functions, which, under his influence, are intellectualized and acquire an arbitrary character.

By the time a child of 6-7 years old enters school, visual-active thinking should already be formed, which is a necessary basic education for the development of visual-figurative thinking, which is the basis of successful learning in primary school. In addition, children of this age should have elements of logical thinking.

What is formed action thinking? A child with a high level of development of visual-active thinking copes well with any types of productive activity, where solving the problem requires the ability to work according to a visual model, to correlate the sizes and shapes of objects (designer blocks, mechanism parts).

Visual-figurative thinking is characterized by the ability to solve a problem first of all in terms of presentation and only then on a concrete subject basis. Logical thinking assumes that the child has the ability to perform basic logical operations: generalization, analysis, comparison, classification.

The condition for the emergence and development of a child's thinking, according to A. V. Zaporozhets, is a change in the types and contents of children's activities. Simple accumulation of knowledge does not automatically lead to the development of thinking.

The peculiarity of a child's development lies in the child's active mastery of methods of practical and cognitive activity that have a social origin. Mastering such methods plays an essential role in the formation of not only complex types of abstract, verbal-logical thinking, but also visual-figurative thinking, characteristic of preschool children.

A. V. Zaporozhets notes that the forms children's thinking(visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical) do not represent the age stages of its development. Rather, these are stages of mastering some content, some aspects of reality.

Therefore, although they generally correspond to certain age groups and although visual-active thinking appears earlier than visual-figurative thinking, these forms are not unambiguously associated with age. verbal thinking occurs on the basis of a change in the nature of orientation-research activity, due to the replacement of orientation on the basis of trial and error with a more purposeful motor, then visual and, finally, mental orientation.

All types of activities available to him can contribute to the development of thinking in a preschool child. At the same time, emphasize Kolominskiy Ya.L. and Panko E.A., it is necessary to organize conditions conducive to in-depth knowledge of a particular object.

I. V. Dubrovina emphasizes in this regard that preschool childhood is one of the most important stages in a child's life: without a fully lived, comprehensively fulfilled childhood, his entire subsequent life will be flawed. An extremely high rate of mental, personal and physical development during this period, it allows the child in the shortest possible time to go from a helpless creature to a person who owns all the basic principles of human culture. He walks this path not alone, adults are constantly next to him - parents, educators, psychologists. Competent interaction of adults in the process of raising a child ensures the maximum realization of all the possibilities available to him, will avoid many difficulties and deviations in the course of his mental and personal development. The plastic, rapidly maturing nervous system of a preschooler requires a careful attitude towards itself. When creating new intensive programs for developing work with a child, it is necessary to keep in mind not only what he can achieve, but also what physical and neuropsychic costs it will cost him. Any attempts to shorten the preschool period of life as "preliminary", "fake" disrupt the course of the child's individual development, do not allow him to use all the opportunities that a given age provides for the flourishing of his psyche and personality.

In the development of the preschooler's thinking, an essential role is played by children's mastery of the methods of visual modeling of certain phenomena. Visual models, in which the essential connections and relationships of objects and events are reproduced, are the most important means of developing the child's abilities and the most important condition for the formation of an internal, ideal plan of mental activity. The emergence of a plan of visual representations of reality and the ability to act in terms of images (internal plan) constitute, according to A. V. Zaporozhets, the first, "basement" of the general building of human thinking. It is laid down in various types of children's activities - in play, construction, visual activity and others.

So, the most effective way of developing visual-figurative thinking is object-tool activity, which is most fully embodied in the activity of construction, and all kinds of didactic games aimed at developing thinking.

In addition, the following types of tasks contribute to the development of this type of thinking: drawing, passing mazes, working with constructors, but not according to a visual model, but according to verbal instructions, as well as according to the child's own intention, when he must first come up with an object of construction, and then implement it yourself.

Conclusion

Thinking is the highest cognitive mental process, as a result of which new knowledge is generated on the basis of a person's creative reflection and transformation of reality.

Modern psychologists distinguish three main stages in the development of a child's thinking: visual-effective, visual-figurative and conceptual thinking. Already in the third year of life, the child begins to form visual-figurative thinking, and then older preschoolers have the first concepts, thinking becomes more and more abstract.

For the successful teaching of children, the formation of figurative rather than logical thinking is of the greatest importance. It is figurative thinking that allows the child to outline a method of action, based on the characteristics of a particular situation or task. Therefore, the problem of developing and improving the visual-figurative thinking of preschoolers is one of the most important in psychological and pedagogical practice.

The condition for the emergence and development of visual-figurative thinking of a child is a change in the types and contents of children's activities. The mere accumulation of knowledge does not automatically lead to the development of thinking. The most effective way of developing visual-figurative thinking is object-tool activity, which is most fully embodied in the activity of designing, drawing, all kinds of didactic games aimed at developing thinking, passing the labyrinths.

However, when creating new intensive programs for developing work with a child, it is necessary to keep in mind not only what he can achieve, but also what physical and neuropsychic costs it will cost him. Only competent interaction of adults in the process of raising a child ensures the maximum realization of all the possibilities available to him, will allow avoiding many difficulties and deviations in the course of his mental and personal development.

LIST OF USED LITERATURE:

Bityanova M.T. Barchuk O.A. Diagnostics of preschool maturity // School psychologist. - 2000. - No. 30.

Questions of psychology of a child of preschool age / Ed. A.N. Leontyev, A.V. Zaporozhets. - M., 1948

Vygotsky L.S. Pedagogical psychology. - M., 1991

Dubrovina I.V., Andreeva A.D. and others. Junior student: development cognitive abilities: A guide for the teacher. - M., 2002

Efimkina R.P. Child psychology: Methodical instructions... - Novosibirsk, 1995 .-- 220s.

A. V. Zaporozhets Psychology. - M., 1953

Kataeva A.A., Obukhova T.I. On the genesis of the development of thinking in preschool age // Questions of psychology. - 1991. - No. 3

Kolominskiy Ya.L., Panko E.A. To the teacher about the psychology of children of six years of age: Book. for the teacher. - M .: Education, 1988 .-- 190s.

Mukhina V.S. Age-related psychology: phenomenology of development, childhood, adolescence. - M .: Academy, 2000 .-- 456 p.

Nikulina E.G. Psychological features of the cognitive sphere of preschool and primary school children // elementary School... - 1998. - No. 4. - S.10-14

Obukhova L.F. Age-related psychology. Jean Piaget's teaching on the intellectual development of the child. - M., 1999

O.N. Pervushina General psychology: Methodical recommendations. - M., 2003

Ponomarev Ya.A. Knowledge, thinking and mental development... - M., 1967

Workshop on developmental and educational psychology / Ed. A.I. Shcherbakov. - M., 1987 .-- 320s.

Psychocorrectional and developmental work with children: Tutorial for university students / Edited by I.V. Dubrovina. - M .: Academy, 1998 .-- 160s.

Rean A.A., Bordovskaya N.V., Rozum S.I. Psychology and Pedagogy: Textbook for universities. - SPb: Peter, 2002 .-- 432s.

Rubinstein S.L. About thinking and the ways of its research. - M., 1958

Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - SPb: Peter, 2000

Serova E.O. This is important - the development of thinking in a child // Preschool education. - 1999. - No. 2

B.M. Teplov Practical thinking // Reader on general psychology: Psychology of thinking. - M .: Moscow State University, 1981

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Sections: Working with preschoolers

Classes: d / s, 1

Keywords: logical thinking, visual-action thinking

Thinking in young children develops - from perception to visual-active thinking, and then to visual-figurative and logical thinking.

The development of thinking at an early and preschool age. The first thought processes arise in a child as a result of cognition of the properties and relationships of objects around him in the process of their perception and in the course of the experience of his own actions with objects, as a result of acquaintance with a number of phenomena occurring in the surrounding reality. Consequently, the development of perception and thinking are closely related, and the first glimpses of children's thinking are of a practical (effective) nature, i.e. they are inseparable from the child's objective activity. This form of thinking is called "visual-effective" and is the earliest.

Visual-effective thinking arises where a person encounters new conditions and a new way of solving a problematic practical problem. The child encounters tasks of this type throughout childhood - in everyday life and play situations.

An important feature of visual-active thinking is that the ways of transforming the situation are practical action, which is carried out by the method of trial. When revealing the hidden properties and connections of an object, children use the trial and error method, which in certain life circumstances is necessary and the only one. This method is based on discarding the wrong options for action and fixing the correct, effective ones, and, thus, plays the role of a mental operation.

When solving problematic practical tasks, there is an identification, “discovery of the properties and relationships of objects or phenomena, hidden, internal properties of objects are revealed. The ability to obtain new information in the process of practical transformations is directly related to the development of visual-active thinking.

How does the development of thinking in a child take place? The first manifestations of visual-active thinking can be observed at the end of the first - beginning of the second year of life. With the mastery of walking, the child's encounters with new objects expand significantly. Moving around the room, touching objects, moving them and manipulating them, the child constantly encounters obstacles, difficulties, looks for a way out, widely using in these cases tests, attempts, etc. In actions with objects, the child moves away from simple manipulation and proceeds to object-play actions that correspond to the properties of the objects with which they act: for example, he does not knock with a wheelchair, but rolls it; puts the cup on the table; a spoon interferes in a saucepan, etc. Performing various actions with objects (feeling, stroking, throwing, examining, etc.), he practically cognizes both the external and hidden properties of objects, reveals some connections that exist between objects. So, when one object hits another, noise occurs, one object can be inserted into another, two objects, colliding, can move in different directions, etc. As a result, the object becomes, as it were, a conductor of the child's influence on another object, i.e. effective actions can be performed not only by directly affecting the object with the hand, but also with the help of another object - indirectly. The object, as a result of the accumulation of some experience of its use, is assigned the role of a means with the help of which the desired result can be obtained. A qualitatively new form of activity is being formed - an instrumental one, when a child uses auxiliary means to achieve a goal.

Children get acquainted with auxiliary objects primarily in everyday life. Children are fed, and then they themselves eat with a spoon, drink from a cup, etc., begin to use aids when they need to get something, fix something, move something, etc. The child's experience gained in solving practical problems is consolidated in the methods of action. Gradually, the child generalizes his experience and begins to use it in various conditions. For example, if a child has learned to use a stick to bring a toy closer to him, then he takes out a toy that has rolled under the closet with the help of another, suitable in shape and length: a toy-spatula, a net, a club, etc. Generalization of the experience of activity with objects prepares the generalization of experience in words, i.e. prepares the formation of visual-effective thinking in the child.

The development of object-related activity and its “ritualization” in a child occurs with the active participation of the people around him. Adults set certain tasks for the child, show ways to solve them, name actions. The inclusion of a word denoting the action being performed qualitatively changes the thought process of a child, who does not even know colloquial speech yet. The action designated by the word takes on the character of a generalized method for solving a group of homogeneous practical problems and is easily transferred to other similar situations. Involving into the practical activity of the child, speech, even at first only audible, as if from within rebuilds the process of his thinking. Changing the content of thinking requires its more perfect forms, and already in the process of visual-effective thinking, the prerequisites for visual-figurative thinking are formed.

In the younger preschool age, profound changes take place both in the content and in the forms of visual-active thinking. Changing the content of visual-active thinking of children leads to a change in its structure. Using his generalized experience, the child can mentally prepare, foresee the nature of subsequent events.

Visual-active thinking contains all the main components of mental activity: definition of goals, analysis of conditions, choice of means of achievement. When solving a practical problem task, orienting actions are manifested not only on the external properties and qualities of objects, but also on the internal interconnections of objects in a certain situation. At preschool age, the child is already free to navigate in the conditions of the practical tasks that arise before him, can independently find a way out of a problem situation. A problem situation is understood as a situation in which it is impossible to act in the usual ways, but you need to transform your past experience, find new ways to use it.

The basis for the formation of visual-effective thinking of preschoolers is the development of independent orienting-research activities in solving problem-practical problems, as well as the formation of the basic functions of speech. In turn, this allows you to strengthen the weak relationship between the main components of cognition: action, word and image.
In the process of acting with objects, a preschooler has a motive for his own statements: reasoning, inferences. On this basis, images-representations are formed, which become more flexible and dynamic. When performing actions with objects and changing the real situation, the child creates a fundamental basis for the formation of images-representations. Thus, the visual-practical situation is a kind of stage in establishing a strong connection between the action and the word in a preschooler. On the basis of this connection, full-fledged images-representations can be built.

Formation of the relationship between word and image

The ability to correctly present a situation according to its verbal description is a necessary prerequisite for the development of figurative forms of thinking and speech of a child. It underlies the formation of the mechanism of mental operation with images of the recreational imagination. In the future, this allows you to take adequate actions according to instructions, solve intellectual problems, and plan. Thus, this skill is the foundation of high-quality, purposeful voluntary activity.

It is the relationship between word and image that forms the basis for the development of elements of logical thinking.

Tasks for the formation of skills to find a toy or object by verbal description, consolidation of ideas about the environment.

QUESTION "GUESS!"

Equipment: toys: ball, matryoshka, herringbone, hedgehog, bunny, mouse.

The course of the lesson. The teacher shows the children nice box and says, "Let's look at what's in there." The teacher examines all the toys with the children and asks them to remember them. Then he covers the toys with a napkin and says: "Now I will tell you about one toy, and you will guess which toy I am talking about." The teacher recites a poem: "Round, rubber, rolls, they beat him, but he does not cry, only higher, higher jumps." In case of difficulty, he opens the napkin and repeats the description of the toy when it is directly perceived by the children. After the child chooses a toy according to the description, he is asked to tell about it: “Tell me about this toy. What is she like? "

The lesson continues, the teacher talks about other toys.

ASSIGNMENT "FIND THE BALL!"

Equipment: five balls: red small, large red with a white stripe, large blue, small green with a white stripe, large green with a white stripe.

The course of the lesson. Children are shown one by one all the balls and asked to remember them. Then the teacher covers all the balls with a napkin. After that, he gives a description of one of the balls in the form of a story. He says: “Vova brought the ball to Kindergarten... The ball was large, red, with a white stripe. Find the ball that Vova brought. We will play with him. " The teacher opens the napkin and asks the child to choose the ball he has told about. In case of difficulty or an erroneous choice, the teacher repeats the description of the ball, while the balls remain open. If this technique does not help the child, then it is necessary to use clarifying questions: “What is the largest ball brought by Vova? What colour? What was painted on the ball? What is the color of the strip? "

After the child has chosen the ball, he is asked to tell which ball he has chosen, i.e. justify your choice in a speech statement. Then the children stand in a circle and play with this ball. The game can be continued by asking the children to describe another ball. With such techniques, the teacher draws the attention of children to the consideration and analysis external signs toys, which, in turn, contributes to the connection of these signs with the child's own speech.

Equipment: stencils depicting animals: hare, crocodile, giraffe; rectangles representing cells; toys: hare, crocodile, giraffe and building set - bricks.

The course of the lesson. The teacher invites children to help "settle" animals in the cages of the zoo, he says: "There are three free cages in the zoo, they are different in size: one is small, low; the other is large and very tall; the third is large and very long. Animals were brought to the zoo: a crocodile, a hare and a giraffe. Help put these animals in cages that are convenient for them. Tell us which animal in which cage you want to "settle". In case of difficulty, the teacher offers children to build cages from bricks and put animals in these cages. After the practical activity, the children are asked to tell which animals they have "settled" in which cages and why.

TASK "WHO LIVES WHERE?"

GUESS AND DRAW!

"HALF TOYS" ASSIGNMENT

Equipment: for each player - a collapsible toy (or object): mushroom, machine, hammer, plane, umbrella, fishing rod, shovel; bags for each player.

Course of the lesson... Children are given one half of the toy in bags and are asked to guess the toy by touch, without naming it out loud. Then you need to tell about it so that another child, who will have a soul mate from this toy, guesses and shows his soul mate. After that, the children put both halves together and make a whole toy.

Puzzles.

• A hat and a leg - that's all Ermoshka (mushroom).
• The cab and the body, but four wheels, two shiny lights, does not buzz, but buzzes and runs down the street (car).
• Wooden neck, iron beak, knocks "knock, knock, knock" (hammer).
• What a bird: does not sing songs, does not build nests, carries people and cargo (airplane).
• On a clear day I stand in the corner, on a rainy day I go for a walk, you carry me over you, but what am I - tell yourself (umbrella).
• A string on a stick, a stick in a hand, and a string in the water (fishing rod).
• I walk next to the janitor, shovel snow around and help the guys make a hill, build a house (scapula).

When repeating the game, put other toys in the bags.

HALF PICTURE ASSIGNMENT

Equipment: subject cut pictures from two parts: scissors, watering can, leaves, turnip, fishing rod, glasses, cucumber, carrot, snowflake; envelopes.

Course of the lesson... Children are handed out one part of a cut picture in envelopes and offered to examine it without showing it to other children. Having guessed the object shown in the cut picture, the child must draw the whole object. Further, each child makes a riddle to the children or tells about the object shown in the picture (or describes it: what is it in shape, color, where it grows, what is it for, etc.). After the children guess the riddle, the child shows his answer drawing. In case of difficulty, the teacher invites the child to ask the children a riddle with him.

Puzzles.

• Two ends, two rings, studs in the middle (scissors).
• The cloud is made of plastic, and the cloud has a handle. This cloud walked around the garden bed in order (watering can).
• They grow green on a tree in spring, and gold coins fall from a branch in autumn (leaves).
• Round, but not onions, yellow, but not butter, sweet, but not sugar, with a tail, but not a mouse (turnip).
• What is in front of us: two shafts behind the ears, in front of the wheel and a seat on the bow? (glasses).
• I have a magic wand, my friends. With this wand I can build: a tower, a house, and an airplane, and a huge steamer. What is the name of this stick? (pencil).
• Slips away like a living thing, but I will not let him go. Foams with white foam, hands are not lazy to wash (soap).
• The red nose has grown into the ground, and the green tail is outside. We don't need a green tail, we only need a red nose (carrot).
• In the summer in the garden - fresh, green, and in the winter in a barrel - green, salty, guess, well done, what are our names ...? (cucumbers).
• A white star fell from the sky, fell on my palm and disappeared (Snowflake).
• When repeating the game, children should be offered other pictures.

Tasks for the formation of skills to perform classification

Target- to teach children to single out the essential and the secondary, to combine objects on various grounds, into one group based on common characteristics.

Games and tasks "Grouping objects (pictures)" without a sample and without a generalizing word. The goal is to teach children to use a visual model when solving elementary logical problems for classification.

PLAY TOYS GAME!

Equipment: a set of toys of different sizes (three each): nesting dolls, bells, vases, houses, Christmas trees, bunnies, hedgehogs, cars; three identical boxes.

The course of the lesson. The teacher shows the toys to the children and says: “These toys should be put in three boxes. Each box should contain toys that are somewhat similar to each other. Think about which toys you will put in one box, which ones in the other, and which ones in the third. " If the child lays out toys in random order, the teacher helps him: “What toys are similar to each other, choose them (for example nesting dolls). How do these nesting dolls differ from each other? Put them in boxes. " Then the teacher gives the child bells and asks to distribute them to the nesting dolls: "Think about which bell you will give to the biggest matryoshka." Then the child lays out the toys himself and generalizes the principle of grouping. The teacher asks: "Tell me which toys you put in the first box, which ones in the second, and which ones in the third." In case of difficulty, he summarizes himself: “In one box - the smallest toys; in the other - more, and in the third - the largest. "

PLAY THE PICTURE GAME!

Equipment: pictures depicting objects: transport, dishes, furniture (eight of each type).

The course of the lesson. The teacher shows the children a set of pictures and asks them to put them into several groups so that in each group the pictures are somewhat similar. In case of difficulty, the teacher gives the child the instruction as a basis for grouping: “Select all the pictures with the image of dishes. Now let's see where the furniture is, ”and so on. After the child has laid out all the pictures, it is necessary to help him formulate the principle of grouping: "In one group, all the pictures depicting dishes, in the other - furniture, and in the third - transport."

GAME "DECLINE OBJECTS!"

Equipment: a set of eight toys and objects of various purposes, but some are wooden, and others are plastic: cars, pyramids, mushrooms, plates, beads, cubes, houses, two Christmas trees; two identical boxes.

The course of the lesson. The teacher examines all the toys with the child one at a time (not in pairs), and then says: "These toys should be laid out in two boxes so that each box contains toys that are somewhat similar to each other." In case of difficulty, the teacher takes the first pair of toys - Christmas trees - puts them next to each other and asks the children to compare: "How are these Christmas trees different from each other?" If the children cannot find the main difference, the teacher draws the children's attention to the material from which these toys are made. Then the children act independently. At the end of the game, it is necessary to generalize the principle of grouping: “In one box - all wooden Toys, and in the other - all plastic. "

TASK "DRAW A PICTURE!"

Equipment: 24 cards depicting fish, birds and animals (eight of each type); three envelopes.

The course of the lesson. The teacher tells the children: “Someone mixed up my pictures. It is necessary to arrange these pictures in three envelopes so that the pictures are somewhat similar to each other. On each envelope it is necessary to draw such a picture so that it is clear what kind of pictures are there. " The teacher does not interfere in the process of completing the task, even if the child does the task incorrectly. After the child has laid out the pictures, the teacher says: “Tell me, what pictures did you put in this envelope, why? How are they similar to each other? " etc. In case of difficulty, the teacher gives samples for folding the pictures into envelopes. Then he asks the child to name this group of pictures in one word and draw a picture on the envelope.

TASK "PAIRED PICTURES"

Equipment: eight pairs of pictures, which depict the same objects, only one - in the singular, and others - in the plural: one cube - three cubes; one chicken - five chickens; one pencil - two pencils; one apple - four apples; one nesting doll - three nesting dolls; one flower - eight flowers; one cherry - seven cherries; one car - six cars.

Course of the lesson... The teacher allows the child to look at all the pictures, and then suggests to divide them into two groups: "Divide them so that in each group there are pictures that are somewhat similar to each other." Regardless of how the child lays out the pictures, the teacher does not interfere. After the child has laid out the pictures, the teacher asks: "Which pictures did you put in one group, and which ones in another?" Then he offers to explain the principle of grouping. In case of difficulty, the teacher asks the child to choose one pair of booths, compare them, explain how they differ. After that, it is again proposed to decompose the pictures according to the model, and then explain the principle of grouping.

Word games

"WHAT'S ROUND AND WHAT'S OVAL?"

The course of the lesson. The teacher invites the child to name as many objects as possible round and oval... The child starts the game. If he cannot name, the teacher begins: “I remembered that the apple is round and the testicle is oval. Now you go on. Remember, what is the shape of the plum, and what is the gooseberry? Right, the plum is oval, and the gooseberry is round. " (Helps the child to name objects and compare them in shape: ring-fish, hedgehog-ball, cherry-leaf cherry, watermelon-melon, acorn-raspberry, tomato-eggplant, sunflower-seed, zucchini-apple). In case of difficulty, the teacher shows the child a set of pictures and together they put them into two groups.

"FLYING - DOESN'T FLY"

The course of the lesson. The educator encourages children to quickly name objects when he says the word "flies", and then name other objects when he says the word "does not fly." The teacher says: "Flies." Children call it: "Crow, plane, butterfly, mosquito, fly, rocket, pigeon," etc. Then the teacher says: "Doesn't fly." Children call: "Bicycle, chamomile, cup, dog, pencil, kitten", etc. The game continues: the words "flies", "does not fly" are named by one of the children, and the teacher names the objects together with the children. The game can be played while walking.

"EDIBLE-NON-EDIBLE"

The game is carried out by analogy with the previous one.

"LIVE-NOT LIVE"

The game is carried out by analogy with the game "Flies does not fly".

"WHAT IS BOTTOM, AND WHAT IS UP?"

Course of the lesson... The teacher invites children to think and name what happens only above. If the children find it difficult, he prompts: “Let's look up, the sky is above us. Is it at the bottom? No, it is always only at the top. And what else happens only at the top? Where are the clouds? (stars, moon). Now think, what happens only below? Look at the ground. Where does the grass grow? Where does she go? »(Plants, reservoirs, earth, sand, stones, etc.). After that, the children independently enumerate the objects of nature that are only above, and those that are only below.

"WHAT IS SWEET?"

The course of the lesson. The teacher suggests to the children: “Listen carefully, I will name what is sweet. And if I am mistaken, then I must be stopped, I must say: "Stop!" The teacher says: "Sugar, marshmallows, raspberries, strawberries, lemon." Children listen carefully and stop him at the word where he "made a mistake." Then the children themselves name what is sweet.

"ANSWER QUICKLY"

Equipment: ball.

Course of the lesson... The teacher, holding the ball in his hands, stands with the children in a circle and explains the rules of the game: “Now I will name a color and throw a ball to one of you. Whoever catches the ball must name the object of the same color. Then he himself names any other color and throws the ball to the next one. He also catches the ball, names the object, then his color, etc. ”. For example, "Green", - says the teacher (makes a short pause, giving the children the opportunity to remember green objects) and throws the ball to Vita. “Grass”, - Vitya answers and, having said: “Yellow”, throws the ball to the next one. One and the same color can be repeated several times, since there are many objects of the same color.

The main feature for classification can be not only color, but also the quality of the object. The beginner says, for example, "Wooden" and throws the ball. "Table", - the child who caught the ball answers, and offers his word: "Stone". "House", - the next player answers and says: "Iron", etc. The next time the form is taken as the main characteristic. The teacher says the word "round" and throws the ball to anyone playing. "Sun" - he answers and calls another shape, for example "square", throwing the ball to the next player. He calls a square-shaped object (window, handkerchief, book) and suggests some form. The same shape can be repeated several times since many objects have the same shape. With repetition, the game can be complicated by suggesting to name not one, but two or more items.

"WHAT DO YOU LIKE?"

The course of the lesson. The teacher invites children to look around and find two objects that are somewhat similar to each other. He says: “I will call it: the sun-chick. How do you think they are similar to each other? Yes, that's right, they are similar in color to each other. And here are two more items: a glass and a window. How are they similar to each other? And now each of you will name your two similar objects. "
Games for the elimination of the fourth "extra" word.

"BE CAREFUL!"

The course of the lesson. The teacher tells the children: “I will name four words, one word does not fit here. You must listen carefully and name the "extra" word. " For example: matryoshka, tumbler, cup, doll; table, sofa, flower, chair; chamomile, hare, dandelion, cornflower; horse, bus, tram, trolleybus; wolf, crow, dog, fox; sparrow, crow, pigeon, chicken; apple, tree, carrot, cucumber. After each highlighted "extra" word, the teacher asks the child to explain why this word does not fit into the given group of words, i.e. explain the principle of grouping.

"GUESS WHAT WORD DOES NOT FIT!"

The course of the lesson. The teacher says that this game is similar to the previous one, only here the words are combined in a different way. He further explains: “I will name the words, and you think how three words are similar, but one is not similar. Name the "extra" word. " The teacher says: “Cat, house, nose, car. Which word doesn't fit? " In case of difficulty, he himself compares these words by sound composition. Then he offers the children another set of words: frog, grandmother, duck, cat; drum, crane, machine, raspberry; birch, dog, wolf, kitten, etc. The teacher in each suggested row of words helps the child compare words by syllable.

"COME UP A WORD!"

The course of the lesson. The teacher invites the children to come up with words for a certain sound: “Now you and I will find out what words are made of. I say: sa-sa-sa - a wasp is flying. Shi-shi-shi - these are the kids. In the first case, I repeated a lot of the "s" sound, and in the second, which sound did I name the most? - The sound "sh" is correct. Now you can think of words with the sound "s". I will name the first word - "sugar", and now you name words with the sound "s". Then, by analogy, the game continues with the sound "sh".

"LISTEN CAREFULLY!"

The course of the lesson. The teacher tells the child: “I will name the words, and you say which word does not fit: a cat, a bump, a dress, a hat; tractor, basket, rubber, elderberry; river, turnips, beets, carrots; book, crane, ball, cat; water, pen, watchman, cotton wool ". In case of difficulty, he slowly repeats a certain set of words and helps the child to highlight the general sound in the words. When the game is repeated, the teacher offers children various options for tasks to eliminate the fourth "superfluous".

Thinking is a socially conditioned, speech-related mental process of seeking and discovering an essentially new, mediated and generalized reflection of reality in the course of its analysis and synthesis. It arises on the basis of sensory knowledge and goes far beyond its limits.

Thinking is a process of mediated and generalized human cognition of objects and phenomena of objective reality in their essential properties, connections and relationships.

The foundations of thinking are formed in early childhood. Over time, on the basis of visual-active thinking, the visual-figurative develops, the first generalizations are formed, based on the experience of practical objective activity and are fixed in the word.

General characteristics of thinking of preschoolers

In preschool age, the child learns the basics of knowledge about the world around him, the relationship of people, about external and internal qualities, the essential connections of objects. Older preschoolers are already able to make utterances and generalizations, their thinking is characterized by curiosity, activity, and the like.

The main directions of the development of the preschooler's thinking are the improvement of visual-active thinking, the intensive development of the visual-figurative and the beginning of the active formation of the verbal-logical by using language as a means of setting and solving intellectual problems, the assimilation of scientific concepts.

At the age of about 2 years, the child is already able to name the same object in several words, which indicates the formation of such a mental operation as a comparison. On the basis of comparison, induction and deduction develop, which reach a significant level of development up to 3-3.5 years. Up to 4 years of age, thinking acquires a visual and effective character, which, despite the fact that this is an elementary level, persists for life. Gradually, there is a transition to visual-figurative thinking, which at 4-5 years old becomes the main one.

The most important feature of the thinking of a preschool child is connection with the action of the first generalizations (the child thinks "by acting"). For example, when a 4-5-year-old child is asked to define what is common and different between a ball and a cube, it is faster and easier for him to do this by holding them in his hands, and very difficult - mentally. An adult can figure out which picture is depicted on the cubes, not by adding them, but by analyzing the fragments depicted on each cube. The child cannot understand this, she needs to add the cubes.

An equally characteristic feature of children's thinking is its clarity. The child thinks based on available facts from experience or observation. For example, to the question: "Why can't you play on the road?" replies with a specific fact: "One boy was playing and he was run over by a car."

Over time, the child solves all complex and varied problems that require the isolation and use of connections, relationships between objects, phenomena, actions. In playing, drawing, modeling, designing, when performing educational and work assignments, he not only uses memorized actions, but also modifies them, obtaining new results. Thanks to this, he finds and uses the relationship between, for example, moisture and pliability of clay during molding, between the shape and stability of the structure, between the force of impact on the ball and the height of its bouncing, etc. Development of thinking helps to anticipate the results of actions, to plan them. The child activates curiosity, cognitive interests of thinking in the knowledge of the world around him. These interests are much broader than the tasks of the child's practical activity. She constantly sets herself cognitive tasks, seeks explanations for the phenomena that have to be observed, sometimes resorting to experiments. Increasingly, children talk about phenomena that are not related to their experience, about which they know from the stories of adults, television programs, books, etc. Their reflections are not always infallible, because they do not have enough knowledge and experience for this.

From clarifying simple connections and relationships, preschoolers gradually move on to learning and understanding much more complex, hidden dependencies. One of the most important types of such dependencies is the relationship of cause and effect. 3-year-old children can only find the reason that they are manifested in an external effect on an object (the chair was pushed - it fell) 4-year-olds - begin to understand that the properties of objects can also be the cause of the phenomena (the chair fell because it has only one leg) 5-b-year-olds - take into account and are noticeable at first glance, the features of objects and their permanent properties (the chair fell because it has one leg, it has many edges, it is heavy and not supported, etc.).

Observing the course of phenomena, analyzing their own experience of actions with objects allows older preschoolers to clarify their ideas about the causes of phenomena, thanks to this, to get closer to a more correct understanding of them.

The development of an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships occurs due to the child's transition from reflecting external causes to highlighting hidden, internal ones; by transforming an undifferentiated, global understanding of causes into a differentiated and accurate explanation; as a result of reflection not of single causes of the phenomenon, but of its general laws.

The child's understanding of new tasks, due to the assimilation of new knowledge, is a prerequisite development of thinking. The baby receives some knowledge directly from adults, the rest - from his own observations and activities, guided and directed by adults. However, the enrichment of knowledge is not the main prerequisite for the development of thinking, because their assimilation in the unleashing of mental tasks occurs as a result of reflection. The acquired new knowledge is included in the further development of thinking, is used in thinking actions to solve new problems.

Even before a child enters school, a primary picture of the world and the beginning of a worldview are formed. However, the preschooler's cognition of reality occurs not in a conceptual, but in a visual-figurative form. The assimilation of forms of figurative cognition contributes to the child's understanding of the objective laws of logic, contributes to the development of conceptual thinking, the basis of which is the formation and improvement of mental actions, on which the child's ability to assimilate and use knowledge depends. The mastery of these actions in preschool age occurs according to the law of assimilation and internalization of external orienting actions. Depending on the nature of external influences and their internalization, the child's mental actions occur in the same way as actions with images or actions with signs, words, numbers, and the like.

Acting with images mentally, the child imagines a real action with objects and its result, thus solving problems that are relevant for her. Such thinking is called visual-figurative. Performing actions with signs requires abstracting from real objects, using words and numbers as their substitutes. Thinking, which is carried out with the help of such actions, is abstract, subject to the rules of logic, and is called logical.

Abstraction (lat.Abstractio - withdrawal) - mental separation of signs and properties from objects and phenomena to which they belong.

Visual-figurative and logical thinking allows the selection of properties for various situations, the correct solution to various problems. Imaginative thinking is effective in solving problems that require imagination, the ability to see through the prism of the inner world. So, the child imagines the transformation of snow into water. Often the properties of objects and phenomena are hidden, they cannot be imagined, but they can be designated by words, other signs. In this case, the problem can be solved on the basis of abstract-logical thinking, which allows, for example, to find out the reason for the floating of bodies. It is not difficult to imagine the swimming of a ball, a wooden log, but the ratio of the specific gravity of the body, floating and liquid can only be indicated by words or by the corresponding formula. Using the image in such a situation is unproductive.

To use the word as an independent means of thinking, which provides the solution of mental problems without the use of images, the child must assimilate the concepts developed by humanity.

Concept - knowledge about the general, essential and fixed in words signs of objects and phenomena of objective reality.

Concepts combined into a coherent system help to derive another from one knowledge, that is, to solve mental problems without using objects or images. So, knowing that all mammals breathe with the lungs, and having found out that a whale is a mammal, it is easy to conclude that it has this organ.

By the time the child's thinking is visual-figurative, words for her express the idea of ​​objects, properties, relations that they denote. The child's concept words and the adult's concept words differ significantly. Representations reflect reality faster and brighter than a concept, but they are not as clear, definite and systematized as they cannot spontaneously turn into concepts, but they can be used in the formation of concepts, children learn in the process of studying the basics of science.

The systematic mastery of concepts begins in the process of schooling. However, if organized teaching is appropriate, some concepts can be assimilated by older preschoolers. For this, it is necessary, first of all, to organize special external orienting actions of children with the material that they are studying. In this case, children, as a rule, must, with the help of their own actions, highlight in objects or their ratios essential features, which should be included in the content of the concept. Further, the formation of concepts occurs during the transition from external orienting actions to actions in the mind. For this, external means are replaced by verbal designations.

In the formation of abstract concepts, both external orienting actions and the process of interiorization are different "than when mastering visual-figurative thinking. After all, abstraction is associated with the replacement of" real action with detailed verbal reasoning, which over time does not happen aloud, but silently, shortens and turns into the action of abstract-logical thinking occurs with the help of internal speech. At preschool age, it is not yet possible to fully perform such actions, the child mainly uses them, reasoning aloud.

Features of the development of thinking and imagination of a preschooler.

Thinking, undoubtedly, is one of the most important components of the human psyche. It is difficult to imagine the implementation of any kind of activity without connecting thinking. As Vygotsky emphasized, the development of thinking is central to the entire structure of consciousness and to the entire system of activity of mental functions.

At three to four years the child, albeit imperfectly, is trying to analyze what he sees around him; compare objects with each other and draw conclusions about their interdependencies. In everyday life and in the classroom, as a result of observing the environment, accompanied by explanations of an adult, children gradually get an elementary idea of ​​the nature and life of people. The child himself seeks to explain what he sees around. True, it is sometimes difficult to understand him, because, for example, he often takes the consequence for the cause of the fact.

Younger preschoolers are compared, analyzed in a visual and effective way. But some children are already beginning to show the ability to solve problems by representation. Children can compare objects in color and shape, distinguish differences in other ways. They can generalize objects by color (it's all red), shape (it's all round), size (it's all small).

In the fourth year of life, children, somewhat more often than before, use in conversation generic concepts such as toys, clothes, fruits, vegetables, animals, dishes, and include in each of them a greater number of specific names.

At four to five years old figurative thinking begins to develop. Children are already able to use simple schematized images to solve simple problems. They can build according to the scheme, solve labyrinth problems. Anticipation develops. Children can tell what will happen as a result of the interaction of objects based on their spatial location.

Thinking as a whole and the simpler processes that make it up (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, classification) cannot be considered in isolation from the general content of the child's activity, from the conditions of his life and upbringing.

The solution of problems can take place in a visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal plans. In children 4-5 years old, visual-figurative thinking prevails, and the main task of an adult is the formation of a variety of specific ideas. But we should not forget that human thinking is also the ability to generalize, therefore it is also necessary to teach children to generalize. Child given age able to analyze objects simultaneously in two ways: color and shape, color and material, etc. He can compare objects in color, shape, size, smell, taste and other properties, finding differences and similarities. By the age of 5, a child can assemble a picture from four parts without reference to the sample and from six parts supported by the sample. Can generalize concepts related to the following categories: fruits, vegetables, clothing, shoes, furniture, dishes, transport.

In older preschool age (five to six years) imaginative thinking continues to develop. Children are able not only to solve the problem visually, but also in their minds to make the transformation of the object, etc. The development of thinking is accompanied by the development of means of thinking (schematized and complex ideas, ideas about the cyclical nature of changes are developing).

In addition, the ability to generalize is improved, which is the basis of verbal-logical thinking. Older preschoolers, when grouping objects, can take into account two signs.

As it was shown in the studies of domestic psychologists, children of senior preschool age are able to reason, giving adequate causal explanations, if the analyzed relations do not go beyond their visual experience.

At six to seven years old visual-figurative thinking is still leading, but by the end of preschool age, verbal-logical thinking begins to form. It involves the development of the ability to operate with words, to understand the logic of reasoning. And here you will definitely need the help of adults, since the illogicality of children's reasoning is known when comparing, for example, the size and number of objects. In preschool age, the development of concepts begins. Fully verbal-logical, conceptual, or abstract, thinking is formed by adolescence.

An older preschooler can establish causal relationships, find solutions to problem situations. Can make exceptions based on all learned generalizations, build a series of 6-8 consecutive pictures.

Thinking in preschool age is characterized by the transition from visual-effective to visual-figurative and at the end of the period to verbal thinking.

The main type of thinking, however, is visual-figurative, which corresponds to representational intelligence (thinking in representations), in the terminology of Jean Piaget.
-The preschooler thinks figuratively, but has not yet acquired the adult logic of reasoning. Solves mental problems in the presentation, thinking becomes out-of-situational.
- The prerequisites for such qualities of the mind as independence, flexibility and inquisitiveness are being formed.
-There are attempts to explain phenomena and processes. Children's questions are indicators of the development of curiosity.
-The mental development of a preschool child is constantly influenced by game situation and actions. Experience of play and real relationships of the child in role-playing game lays the basis for a special property of thinking that allows you to take the point of view of other people, to anticipate their future behavior and, depending on this, to build your own behavior.

Imagination
Imagination is formed in play, civic and constructive activity and, being a special activity, turns into fantasy. The child masters the techniques and means of creating images, while there is no need for a visual support for their creation.
Towards the end of preschool age, the child's imagination becomes manipulated. The actions of the imagination are formed as a concept in the form of a visual model; as an image of an imaginary object; as a way of acting with an object.

The imagination of a preschooler differs from the imagination of an adult; behind his apparent wealth lies poverty, vague, schematic and stereotyped images. Indeed, images of the imagination are based on the recombination of the material stored in memory. And preschoolers have not enough knowledge and ideas. The apparent richness of imagination is associated with the low criticality of children's thinking, when children do not know how it happens and how it does not happen. The lack of such knowledge is a disadvantage and merit of the child's imagination. The preschooler easily combines different ideas and is uncritical about the combinations obtained, which is especially noticeable in younger preschool age (L.S. Vygotsky).

A preschooler does not create anything fundamentally new from the point of view of social culture. The characteristic of the novelty of images is important only for the child himself: whether there was a similar thing in his own experience.

Until children reach 5-6 years old, almost throughout the entire preschool age, they have no idea or it is extremely unstable, easily destroyed. And sometimes (especially at 3-4 years old) the idea is born only after the action. The child does not think about the possibilities of the practical implementation of the images that he creates. For an adult, a dream acts as a stimulus to action. And in a child, combinations of images are practically unpromising. He fantasizes in order to fantasize. He is attracted by the very process of combining, creating new situations, characters, events, which has a bright emotional coloring.

At first, imagination is inextricably linked with an object that performs the function of an external support. So, in play, a 3-4-year-old child cannot imagine an action with an object. He cannot rename an item if he does not act with it. He represents a chair as a ship or a cube as a saucepan when he acts with them. The substitute object itself must resemble the substituted object. It is toys and attribute items that push the kid to one or another plot of the game (M.G. Vityaz). For example, I saw a white coat - I started playing at the hospital, I saw the scales - I became a "salesman". If for younger preschoolers, toys are the support in the game, then for middle and older children - the fulfillment of the role assumed. Gradually, the imagination begins to rely on objects that are not at all similar to those being replaced. So, older preschoolers use natural material (leaves, cones, sticks, pebbles, etc.) as play material.

The role of visual support in the reconstruction of a literary text is especially clearly manifested. This is an illustration, without which the younger preschooler cannot recreate the events described in the fairy tale. In older preschoolers, the words of the text begin to evoke images even without visual support. But they still have difficulties in understanding the inner meaning of the work. For children of this age, an illustration is important, which clearly depicts those actions and relationships of the heroes, in which their inner characteristics and character traits are most clearly revealed.

Gradually, the need for external supports disappears. There is an internalization of the actions of the imagination in two planes. First, the transition to a game action with an object that actually does not exist. Secondly, the transition to the playful use of the object, giving it a new meaning and the presentation of actions with it in the mind, without real action. In this case, the game takes place entirely in terms of presentation.

At 4-5 years of age, children increase their creative manifestations in activities, primarily in play, manual labor, storytelling and retelling. At the age of five, dreams of the future appear. They are situational, often unstable, caused by events that caused an emotional response in children.

Let's give an example. Dasha N. (5 years 3 months) explains the desire to be a fairy as follows: A fairy has wings. She can fly like an airplane. You can fly across the sky to Sevastopol to see your grandmother. Mom will fly too. You need to touch her shoulder with a magic wand, and she will have wings.

Thus, imagination turns into a special intellectual activity aimed at transforming the surrounding world. The basis for creating an image is now not only the real object, but also the representations expressed in the word. A rapid growth of verbal forms of imagination begins, closely associated with the development of speech, thinking, when the child composes fairy tales, shape-shifters, continuing stories. The preschooler "breaks away" in his imagination from a specific situation, he has a feeling of freedom, independence from it. He, as it were, rises above the situation and sees it through the eyes of not only different people, but also animals and objects.

The preschooler's imagination remains mostly involuntary.... The subject of fantasy becomes something that greatly excited, captivated him, struck: a fairy tale read, a cartoon seen, new toy... At 5-7 years old, the external support prompts the plan and the child arbitrarily plans its implementation and selects the necessary means.

So, watching the cartoon "Sleeping Beauty" prompts Dasha N. (5 years 3 months) to play the fairy. She cuts wings, glues and paints magic wand and a hat. Imagining himself as a fairy, he takes off his wings and hat only when eating and sleeping, wears this outfit for several days, touches objects with a stick to turn them into something.

The growth of the arbitrariness of the imagination is manifested in the preschooler in the development of the ability to create a plan and plan its achievement.

In younger preschoolers, an idea is often born after an action has been completed. And even if it is formulated before the start of activity, it is very unstable. The idea is easily destroyed or lost in the course of its implementation, for example, when faced with difficulties or when the situation changes. The very emergence of an idea occurs spontaneously, under the influence of a situation, an object, a short-term emotional experience. In children under 5 years of age, the creation of new images occurs unintentionally. Therefore, despite the fact that they are happy to fantasize, they often refuse in response to an adult's request "Draw what you want" or "Think of a fairy tale". Refusals are explained by the fact that babies do not yet know how to direct the activities of the imagination.

The increase in the purposefulness of the imagination during preschool childhood can be concluded from the increase in the duration of the children's play on the same topic, as well as the stability of the roles.

So, in the given example, Dasha N. played the fairy for three days, having previously prepared the attributes for the role.

Initially, the wings cut from whatman paper seemed small to her, and she cut out new, large ones from cardboard.

Younger preschoolers play for 10-15 minutes. External factors lead to the appearance of side lines in the plot, and the original intention is lost. They forget to rename items and start using them according to their real functions. At 4-5 years old, the game lasts 40-50 minutes, and at 5-6 years old, children can play with enthusiasm for several hours and even days. In older preschoolers, play ideas are relatively stable, and children often carry them out to the end.

The purposeful development of imagination in children first occurs under the influence of adults, who encourage them to create images at will. And then the children independently present their ideas and a plan for their implementation. Moreover, first of all, this process is observed in collective games, productive types of activity, that is, where the activity takes place using real objects and situations and requires the coordination of the actions of its participants.

Later, the arbitrariness of the imagination manifests itself in individual activity, which does not necessarily imply reliance on real objects and external actions, for example, in speech.

An important point in goal-setting and planning, the design of the idea and plan in speech acts. The inclusion of a word in the process of imagination makes it conscious, arbitrary. Now the preschooler plays the intended actions in his mind, considers their consequences, understanding the logic of the development of the situation, analyzes the problem from different points of view.

Imagination allows the baby to learn about the world around him, performing a gnostic function. It fills in the gaps in his knowledge, serves to combine disparate experiences, creating the whole picture the world.

Further improvement of visual-active thinking based on imagination;

Improving visual-figurative thinking based on voluntary and mediated memory;

The beginning of the active formation of verbal-logical thinking by using speech as a means of setting and solving intellectual problems.

1) questions that are posed by the child in order to receive help (i.e., their motive is the child's desire to involve the adult in complicity in the various activities of the child himself);

2) questions expressing a desire to receive reinforcement (emotional empathy, assessment, agreement);

3) questions expressing children's desire for knowledge, or cognitive issues: a) issues related to mastering the rules of conduct; b) cognitive questions in the proper sense of the word.

The reasons for the emergence of cognitive questions are:

1. Meeting with a new, unknown object, which the child cannot understand, find a place in his past experience.

2. In violation of the prevailing ideas, when there are contradictions between what the child sees or learns, and his past experience, available knowledge.

3. If the new representation coincides with the formed only in some characteristics, and differs in the rest.

The statement of the question speaks of the awareness of the problem situation.

At 3 - 4 years old, the questions do not yet have a cognitive orientation. Children often run away without even listening to the answer, or, having received an answer, repeat their question again. Questions like “Who? What? Which? For what?" wear chain character is a form of active communication with adults. At 4 - 5 years old - questions like “Why? Why?" are already cognitive character, but still unsystematic, disorderly and varied, no longer associated with direct perception. The child is not yet trying to generalize the knowledge gained, to somehow connect them. At 5 - 7 years old, the questions “Why? Why?" more varied in content, the child is waiting for an answer, expresses doubts, objects. Children already compare the answers received from adults with what they know, they compare, express doubts, enter into an argument.