How to develop logical thinking in a child. Development of thinking in preschool children How to develop thinking in a child

A special process of cognition of the surrounding world in humans is thinking. Children preschool age They quickly go through stages of development, which is reflected in the development of types of thinking.

Characteristics of thinking

Thinking is one of the basic psychological processes. Its formation has been well studied. It has been proven that it is closely related to speech. And it is characterized by the following features:

As the child grows and socializes, the nervous system and thinking improve. For their development, they will need the help of adults who surround the baby. Therefore, as early as one year you can begin classes aimed at developing cognitive activity children.

Important! It is necessary to consider what objects and how the child is ready to work. Educational materials and assignments are selected taking into account the individual characteristics of children.

The thinking characteristics of this age group are determined by the following:

• generalization – the child is able to compare and draw conclusions about similar objects;
• visibility – the child needs to see facts, observe various situations to form your own idea;
• abstraction – the ability to separate signs and properties from the objects to which they belong;
• concept - an idea or knowledge about a subject related to a specific term or word.

Systematic mastery of concepts occurs already at school. But groups of concepts are laid down earlier. Along with the development of abstraction, children gradually master inner speech.

Types of mental activity in preschoolers

At preschool age, children are able to acquire knowledge about the world around them. The more they know the synonyms and characteristics of objects, the more developed they are. For children preschool stage Development is the norm - the ability to generalize and establish connections between objects. At 5–7 years old, they are more inquisitive, which leads to numerous questions, as well as independent actions to discover new knowledge.

Types of thinking characteristic of children before school:

• visually effective – predominates at the age of 3–4 years;
• figurative – becomes active in children over 4 years old;
• logical – mastered by children aged 5–6 years.

Visually effective thinking assumes that the child is observing visually different situations. Based on this experience, chooses required action. At 2 years old, the baby takes action almost immediately; he goes by trial and error. At 4 years old, he thinks first and then acts. The situation with opening doors can be used as an example. A two-year-old baby will knock on the door and try to find the mechanism for opening it. Usually he manages to carry out an action by accident. At 4 years old, the baby will carefully examine the door, remember what they are like, try to find the handle and open it. These are different levels of mastering visual-effective thinking.

It is important in preschool age to especially actively develop thinking based on images. In this case, children acquire the ability to perform tasks assigned to them without having an object in front of their eyes. They compare the situation with those models and schemes that they have encountered before. In this case, children:

• highlight the main features and characteristics that characterize the subject;
• remember the correlation of an object with others;
• are able to draw a diagram of an object or describe it in words.

Subsequently, the ability to identify only those features of an object that are needed in a specific situation develops. You can verify this by offering your little one tasks like “remove the unnecessary things.”

Before school, a child can, using only concepts, reason, draw conclusions, and characterize subjects and objects. This age period is characterized by:

• start of experiments;
• the desire to transfer the acquired experience to other objects;
• searching for relationships between phenomena;
• active generalization of one's own experience.

Basic mental operations and their development

The first thing a baby masters in the cognitive sphere is the operations of comparison and generalization. Parents identify a large number of objects with the concept of “toys”, “balls”, “spoons”, etc.

From the age of two, the comparison operation is mastered. Often it is built on opposition, so that it is easier for children to form judgments. The main comparison parameters are:

• color;
• size;
• form;
• temperature.

The generalization comes later. For its development, a richer vocabulary child and accumulated mental skills.

Divide objects into groups for children three years old quite possible. But to the question: “What is this?” they may not answer.

Classification is a complex mental operation. It uses both generalization and correlation. The level of surgery depends on various factors. Mainly based on age and gender. At first, the baby is only able to classify objects according to generic concepts and functional characteristics (“what is this?”, “what is he like?”). By the age of 5, a differentiated classification appears (dad’s car is a service truck or a personal passenger car). The choice of the basis for determining the types of an object in preschoolers is random. Depends on the social environment.

Questions as an element of improving mental activity

Little “whys” are a gift and a test for parents. Appearance in large quantities questions from children indicates a change in stages preschool development. Children's questions are divided into three main categories:

• auxiliary - a preschool child asks older people for help in his activities;
• cognitive - their goal is to obtain new information that interests the child;
• emotional – their purpose is to receive support or certain emotions in order to feel more confident.

Under the age of three, a child rarely uses all types of questions. It is characterized by chaotic and unsystematic questions. But even in them a cognitive character can be traced.

A large number of emotional issues is a signal that the baby lacks attention and self-confidence. In order to compensate for this, it is enough to communicate face-to-face for 10 minutes during the day. Children 2–5 years old will perceive that their parents take a lot of interest in their personal affairs.

The absence of cognitive questions at the age of 5 years should alert parents. More thinking tasks should be given.

Questions from children of junior and senior preschool age require answers of varying quality. If at three years old a child may not even listen to the answer, then at 6 years old they may have new questions in the process.

Parents and teachers of the preschool development system should know how much detail and in what terms they need to communicate with their child. This is the peculiarity of thinking and raising children.

The prerequisites for asking cognitive questions appear in children at about 5 years of age.

Auxiliary questions are typical for a period of up to 4 years. With their help, you can develop the skills necessary for further development and life in everyday life.

How to develop thinking processes in preschoolers?

To develop and improve thought processes in the preschool period, it is necessary to gradually increase the conceptual apparatus and characteristics of objects. You can focus on the following data:

• improvement based on imagination;
• activation of voluntary and indirect memory;
• the use of speech as a tool for setting and solving mental problems.

Attentive attitude towards the child is a kind of guarantee of the normal development of cognitive activity. For those who want to save money, it is important to know that games can be purchased “to grow.” At the same time, show a younger child some actions and explain the basic characteristics. Over time, complicate actions and concepts.

The following can help in the development of thinking in preschool age:

• various types of board games (lotto, dominoes, inserts, etc.);
• active dialogues with the child during walks or at home, which are not in the nature of separate lessons;
• explanations of the actions carried out by surrounding people or animals;
• modeling, applications, drawing;
• learning poetry, reading books.

Important! Sometimes poor nutrition and lack of vitamins lead to inhibited functioning of the nervous system and rapid fatigue of the child, which also affects the development of thinking.

In order for mental activity to be normal, you need to monitor the sufficient amount of B vitamins, iron, zinc, and magnesium in children’s food.

Thus, the psychology of a child involves a gradual immersion into the complex world of objects and phenomena of the external environment. Stringing together concepts, knowledge, and actions develops the thinking of preschoolers. Only joint activities can successfully acquire the skills needed for later life.

Reading strengthens neural connections:

In this article:

Before we talk about how thinking develops in children, let us dwell on what the thinking process is in principle, how it proceeds and what it depends on.

Thinking is a process in which two hemispheres of the brain take part at once. The decisions a person makes directly depend on how comprehensively he is able to think. This is why it is so important to pay attention to the development of thinking in childhood.

Many parents are sure that it makes no sense to develop their children’s thinking in early childhood, since they make the lion’s share of decisions for their children at this age. Children devote most of their time to games and development. creativity during modeling, drawing, design classes. Nevertheless, there will definitely come a time in the life of every child when, as an adult, he will have to accept the right decision- one on which his future life will depend.

Moreover, nowadays it is practiced to test employees for IQ level, based on the results of which decisions are made about hiring in reputable companies.

It is logical and creative thinking that forms the basis of almost every invention created by man.

Child's thinking

When children are born, they have no thinking. To do this, they simply do not have enough experience and their memory is not sufficiently developed. Around the end of the year, the baby can already
observe the first glimpses of thinking.

The development of thinking in children is possible through purposeful participation in the process, during which the child learns to speak, understand, and act. We can talk about development when the content of the baby’s thoughts begins to expand, new forms of mental activity appear, and cognitive interests. The process of development of thinking is endless and is directly related to human activity. Naturally, at each stage of growing up it has its own nuances.

The development of thinking in children occurs in several stages:

• effective thinking;
• figurative;
• logical.

First stage- effective thinking. Characterized by the child making the simplest decisions. The baby learns to understand the world through objects. He twists, pulls, throws toys, looks for and presses buttons on them, thus getting his first experience.

Second stage- imaginative thinking. It allows the baby to create images of what he will do with his hands in the near future, without directly using them.

At the third stage, logical thinking begins to work, during which, in addition to images, the child uses abstract, abstract words. If you ask a child with well-developed logical thinking questions about what the universe or time is, he will easily find meaningful answers.

Stages of development of thinking in children

In early childhood, babies have one peculiarity: they try to taste everything, take it apart, and they are guided by exclusively effective thinking, which in some cases persists even after they grow up. Such people, as adults, no longer break things - they grow up to be constructors, capable of assembling and disassembling almost any object with their hands.

Imaginative thinking develops in children in early preschool age. Usually the process is influenced by drawing, playing with a construction set, when you need to imagine the end result in your mind. Children's imaginative thinking becomes most active around the end of the preschool period - by the age of 6 years. Based on developed
logical thinking begins to form.

IN kindergarten the process of development of thinking is associated with the education in children of the ability to think in images, remember, and then try to reproduce scenes from life. When children enter school, you can also continue to do these exercises with them.

At the same time, you need to understand that most school programs are built with an emphasis on the development of logic and analytics, so parents will need to work on the development of imaginative thinking in children. To do this, you can invent and dramatize together with your child interesting stories, do it together various kinds crafts, drawing.

After 6 years, children begin the process of active development logical thinking. The child is already able to analyze, generalize, draw conclusions, and extract something basic from what he saw, heard or read. At school, most often they pay attention to the development of standard logic, completely not understanding that they are teaching children to think in patterns. Teachers try to suppress any initiative or non-standard solution, insisting that children solve problems as indicated in the textbook.

What should parents do?

The most important thing is that in the process of working on the development of a child’s thinking, parents do not get bogged down in dozens of identical examples, which completely kill creativity in children. It would be much more useful in such cases to play with the child in board games, for example, checkers or Empire. In such games, the child will have the opportunity to make truly non-standard decisions, in this way developing logic and gradually taking thinking to a new level.

Are there ways to help nurture creativity in a child? The most important thing to learn is development creative thinking occurs most actively in communication. In the process of communicating with people, as well as when reading a book or even viewing an analytical
transmission in consciousness, several opinions arise at once regarding the same situation.

As for personal opinion, it appears in a person exclusively in the process of personal communication. Creative individuals stand out from the mainstream primarily by understanding that there may be several correct answers to one question. To convey this to a child, just words will not be enough. The child must come to this conclusion himself after numerous trainings and exercises to develop thinking.

The school curriculum does not provide for the development of associative, creative, flexible thinking in children. Therefore, all responsibility for this falls on the shoulders of the parents. In fact, this turns out to be not at all as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It will be enough for the child to periodically design, work with pictures of animals and geometric shapes, put together a mosaic, or just fantasize with your baby from time to time, for example, describing all the possible functions of a particular object.

Features of the development of thinking at a young age

As noted above, at each age the development of thinking has its own characteristics. IN younger age this process is mainly associated with the actions of the child who tries to find solutions to certain immediate problems. Very young children learn to put rings on a pyramid, build towers from cubes, open and close boxes, climb onto a sofa, etc. When performing all these actions, the child is already thinking, and this process is still called visual-effective thinking.

As soon as the baby begins to assimilate speech, the process of developing visual and effective thinking will move to a new stage. Understanding speech and using it to communicate, the child tries to think in general terms. And even though the first attempts to generalize are not always successful, they are necessary for the further process of development.
A baby can group completely different objects if he can perceive a fleeting external similarity in them, and this is normal.

For example, at 1 year and 2 months, it is common for children to name several objects that seem similar to them in one word. It could be "apple" for anything that is round, or "pussycat" for anything that is fluffy and soft. Most often, children at this age generalize by those external signs that first catch the eye.

After two years, children develop a desire to highlight a certain feature or action of an object. They easily notice that “the porridge is hot” or that “the kitty is sleeping.” By the beginning of the third year, children can already freely identify the most stable ones from a whole range of signs, and also imagine an object based on its visual and auditory description.

Features of the development of thinking in preschool children: predominant forms

In preschool age, in a child’s speech, you can hear interesting conclusions like: “Lena is sitting, the woman is sitting, mom is sitting, everyone is sitting.” Or inferences may be of a different kind: seeing how mother puts on a hat, the child may note: “Mom is going to the store.” That is, at preschool age, a child is already able to make simple cause-and-effect relationships.

It is also interesting to observe how in preschool age children use two concepts for one word, among which one is generic, and the second is the designation of a single object. For example, a child may call a car “car” and at the same time
At the same time, “Roy” is named after one of the cartoon characters. In this way, general concepts are formed in the mind of the preschooler.

If at a very tender age a child’s speech is directly woven into actions, then over time it will outstrip them. That is, before doing anything, the preschooler will describe what he is going to do. This suggests that the idea of ​​action precedes the action itself and acts as its regulator. In this way, children gradually develop visual and figurative thinking.

The next stage in the development of thinking in a preschooler will be some changes in the relationship between words, actions and images. It is the word that will dominate the process of working on tasks. Nevertheless, until the age of seven, the child’s thinking continues to remain concrete.

Studying the thinking of preschoolers, experts asked children to solve problems in three options: in an effective way, figuratively and verbally. In solving the first problem, the children found a solution using levers and buttons on the table; the second - using a picture; the third was a verbal decision, which was reported orally. The research results are in the table below.

From the results in the table it can be seen that the children coped best with the tasks in a visual-effective manner. The verbal tasks turned out to be the most difficult. Until the age of five, children could not cope with them at all, and older ones solved them only in some cases. Based on these data, we can conclude that visual-effective thinking is predominant and the basis for the formation of verbal and visual-figurative thinking.

How does a preschooler's thinking change?

In preschool age, a child’s thinking is primarily situational in nature. Younger preschoolers are unable to think even about what is difficult for them to perceive, while middle and older preschoolers are able to go beyond personal experience, analyzing, telling and
reasoning. Closer to school age, the child actively uses facts, makes assumptions and generalizes.

The process of distraction in preschool age is possible both during the perception of a set of objects and during explanations in verbal form. The child is still pressured by images of certain objects and personal experience. He knows that the nail will sink in the river, but does not yet understand that this is because it is made of iron, and iron is heavier than water. He backs up his conclusion with the fact that he once saw a nail actually sink.

How actively thinking in preschoolers develops can also be judged by the questions they ask adults as they grow older. The very first questions are related to objects and toys. A child turns to adults for help mainly when a toy breaks, falls behind the sofa, etc. Over time, the preschooler begins to make attempts to involve his parents in games, asking leading questions about how to build a bridge, a tower, where to roll a car, and so on.

After a while, questions will appear indicating the onset of a period of curiosity. The child will be interested to know why it rains, why it is dark at night and how fire appears on a match. The thought process of preschoolers during this period is aimed at generalizing and distinguishing between events, objects and phenomena that they encounter.

When children enter first grade, their activities change. Schoolchildren need to think about new phenomena and objects; certain requirements are placed on their thinking processes.
The teacher makes sure that children learn not to lose the thread of reasoning, are able to think, and express thoughts in words.

Despite this, the thinking of schoolchildren in the lower grades is still concrete and figurative, although elements of abstract thinking are becoming more and more obvious. Younger schoolchildren are able to think about what they know thoroughly at the level of generalized concepts, for example about plants, about school, about people.

Thinking in preschool age develops rapidly, but only if adults work with the child. Upon entering school, scientifically developed methods are used to develop thinking, accelerating this process, and applied under the guidance and control of the teacher.

Peculiarities of thinking of secondary school students

Children of secondary school age are considered to be students from 11 to 15 years old. Their thinking is built primarily on knowledge acquired in verbal form. Studying subjects that are not always interesting to them - history, physics, chemistry - children understand that not only facts play a role here, but also connections, as well as natural relationships between them.

High school students have more abstract thinking, but at the same time, imaginative thinking is also actively developing - under the influence of studying works of fiction.

By the way, a kind of research was conducted on this matter. Schoolchildren were asked to talk about how they understand Krylov’s fable “The Rooster and the Grain of Pearls.”

The first and second grade students did not understand the essence of the fable. They imagined it as a story about a rooster digging. Third grade students were able to compare the image of a rooster with a man, while they literally perceived the plot, summing up,
that pearls are inedible for a person who loves barley grain. Thus, third-graders draw the wrong conclusion from the fable: all a person needs is food.

In the 4th grade, schoolchildren are already able to note for themselves some features of the hero’s image and even give him a description. They are sure that the rooster digs manure because he is confident in his knowledge, they consider the character to be proud and pompous, from which they draw the correct conclusion, expressing irony towards the rooster.

High school students are able to demonstrate a detailed perception of the image, due to which they deeply understand the moral of the fable.

In the process of studying the fundamentals of science, schoolchildren are introduced to a system of scientific concepts, where each concept is a reflection of one of the aspects of reality. The process of forming concepts is long and is largely related to the age of the student, the methods by which he learns, and his mental orientation.

How does the thinking of an average preschooler progress?

The process of mastering concepts is divided into several levels. As students develop, they learn about the essence of phenomena and objects, learn to generalize and make connections between individual concepts.

In order for a schoolchild to be formed as a holistic and harmonious, comprehensively developed personality, it is necessary to ensure that he masters the basic moral concepts:

• partnerships;
• duty and honor;
• modesty;
• honesty;
• sympathy, etc.

The student is able to master them step by step. At the initial stage, the child generalizes cases from his or her friends’ lives, drawing appropriate conclusions. At the next stage, he tries to apply the accumulated experience in life, either narrowing or expanding the boundaries of the concept.

At the third level, students try to give detailed definitions of concepts, pointing out the main features and giving examples. At the last level, the child completely masters the concept, applying it in life and realizing its place among other moral concepts.

At the same time, the formation of conclusions and judgments occurs. If younger schoolchildren judge everything categorically in an affirmative form, then in the third and fourth grade children’s judgments are rather conditional.

In the fifth grade, students reason using evidence, both indirect and direct, using personal experience, try to justify and prove.
High school students calmly use all forms of expression of thought available to them. They doubt, assume, assume, etc. It is easy for high school students to use deductive and inductive reasoning, pose questions and justify their answers.

The development of inferences and concepts occurs in parallel with the ability of schoolchildren to master the art of analyzing, generalizing, synthesizing and a number of other logical operations. How successful the result will be largely depends at this age on the work of teachers at school.

Features of the development of thinking in children with physical disabilities

We are talking about children with hearing, vision, speech impairments, etc. It is worth noting that physical defects cannot but affect the formation of a child’s thinking. A child with poor vision and lack of hearing is unable to gain personal experience to the same extent as fully healthy child. That is why a lag in the development of thought processes in children with physical disabilities is inevitable, since they will not be able to copy the behavior of adults, obtaining the necessary life skills.

Visual and hearing impairments will lead to difficulties in the development of speech and cognitive activity. Specialists - hearing loss psychologists - are involved in developing the capabilities of children with hearing impairments. They help improve the development of a child’s thinking processes. Help is here
is simply necessary, because deafness is the main obstacle to understanding the world and human development, since it deprives him of the main thing - communication.

Today, hearing-impaired children have the opportunity to study in specialized institutions, where they are provided with correctional assistance.

The situation is somewhat different with children who have intellectual impairments, which is manifested by a low level of mental abilities and thinking in general. Such children are inactive and do not strive to master objective activities, which are the basis for the formation of thought processes.

At three years old, such children have no idea about the surrounding world, they lack the desire to distinguish themselves and learn something new. Children are delayed in development in all respects, from speech to social.

By the end of preschool age, such children lack voluntary attention and memory, and are unable to remember. The main form of their thinking is visual and effective, which nevertheless lags far behind the level of its development in children without intellectual impairment. In order to have the opportunity to study in specialized institutions where they will work on the development of their thinking processes, such children must undergo special training in preschool age.

Exercises for developing thinking in children

In conclusion, here are several options for games and exercises with which you can develop thinking in children at an early age:

Games with construction sets, both wooden, metal or plastic, as well as modeling from dough, clay or plasticine, and appliques will be useful for the development of children's thinking.

You can invite your child to draw, color, play role playing games, collect puzzles and puzzles, complete pictures by dotted lines or numbers, look for differences in pictures, etc. Don’t forget to read to your child and communicate with him. And do not limit his communication with peers, from which he will also draw new ideas, improving his thinking.

As you can see, developing a child’s thinking is not so difficult and even interesting if you do it with pleasure and in a playful way. Just help your baby see the world in all its colors.

01.07.2017

Snezhana Ivanova

The development of thinking in children occupies an important place in the formation of consciousness. It is in preschool age that the development of cognitive processes and the formation of thinking occur.

The development of thinking in children occupies an important place in the formation of consciousness. The formation of an individual perception of life in children develops gradually; the foundations are laid already in preschool age. It is in preschool age that the development of cognitive processes, the formation of thinking and personal characteristics occurs. Parents should be extremely attentive to their children to help them develop. It is better for this purpose to use effective time-tested methods for developing thinking. So what should you pay close attention to? Let's try to figure it out.

Features of the development of thinking in children

Thinking is a special mental cognitive process which develops gradually. Along with the development of imagination, coherent speech, and attention, it is formed in children in preschool age. The development of thinking has its own individual characteristics. These are what caring parents should concentrate on.

Gradual expansion of images

As the child gets older, he actively learns about the surrounding reality. The images in his head do not form suddenly, not all at once, but develop gradually. Impressions are based on existing ideas about the world. First, fragmentary primitive impressions are transformed into something more complex, taking on the form of emotionally charged memories. They can leave both a pleasant positive mark and cause the formation of isolation and aggressiveness. The more impressionable a child is, the faster he develops imaginative thinking. The fact is that the little person makes his own assumptions based on the emotions he has. If some action of an adult evokes pleasant feelings in him, then it is remembered faster and finds a response in the baby’s heart. The gradual expansion of images contributes to the growth of thinking, since in children of preschool age the process of cognition is inseparable from feelings.

Consistent motivation

In order to fully develop, a child must have an interest in the subject of knowledge. Otherwise, it will be almost impossible to force him to perceive some important material. It is impossible to convince a child that mastering some abstract material is necessary for his future life. His motivation, as a rule, is born from unconscious interest. Motivation should push him to become interested in something on his own, without the influence of adults on this process. Of course, parents should control the development of thinking in their child. Just don’t rush and rush the child, such actions won’t be of much use. Satisfying the need for cognition is just as important for a preschooler as it is for an adult. It should be remembered that the child relies on his own emotions in everything. He becomes motivated when some object or phenomenon somehow attracts his attention.

Speech development

All cognitive processes are related to each other. One cannot fully develop without the other. It would be absurd to assume that an inattentive child who shows no interest in activities is capable of learning anything. The development of coherent speech is closely related to the development of thinking. Thinking as a process develops in children along with other cognitive processes: perception, memory, attention, imagination, etc. In order for it to develop more quickly, it is necessary to train the memory, as well as pay attention to the formation of coherent speech. The more intense and rich the speech, the better baby will begin to think. There really is a very close relationship here. When a child does not begin to speak for a long time, he experiences a delay in other mental processes. Conversely, slight success in one thing entails the development of other functions.

Uneven development

All cognitive processes do not develop in the same way. Some of them may go far ahead, while the rest will inevitably develop in their own time. The uneven development of cognitive processes often frightens parents and forces them to look for alternative ways to speed up the development of their child. Particularly impatient parents should be warned that there is still no need to rush. Each child develops as best he can, to the extent that he has the appropriate prerequisites for this. Thinking cannot outstrip memory, imagination and speech. These components have a strong influence on each other and are sometimes conditioned by each other. Techniques aimed at improving thinking are incredibly useful, so they should not be ignored or outright rejected. To prevent children's thinking from being delayed, there is no need to rush and rush events in every possible way. It is better to develop the baby gradually, but to do it correctly.

Development of thinking in preschool children

The development of thinking in children is a complex process that requires maximum dedication and perseverance from parents. You need to learn to notice even small victories and be proud of your child. Only then will he have the incentive to move forward, strive for new victories and achievements. If you simply place increased demands on a preschooler without offering help, he may very quickly become disappointed. In this case, the desire to do something often disappears very quickly. Thinking is a process that depends on many factors. At preschool age, children develop an interest in everything that surrounds them. That's why it's best time for growth of thinking, and it is important not to miss this moment.

Connection with action

A preschool child cannot think abstractly. His mind is occupied by many questions, but not all seem interesting to him. His thinking is connected, first of all, with action. This is a feature early years development, which also needs to be taken into account when planning appropriate activities in kindergarten. Sometimes it seems that some children's thinking is delayed. There is nothing tragic or extraordinary in such a situation. In this case, it is necessary to pay attention to other cognitive processes and conduct appropriate classes. Since thinking is conditioned by action, it can be assumed that its formation occurs gradually, depending on how clearly and clearly the child can imagine something. There are special techniques that allow you to take into account the peculiarities of the development of thinking in a preschool child. Artificially creating interest is an important step on the path to success. You cannot leave your child unattended; you must always try to keep him occupied with something.

Visual-effective thinking

In early childhood, visual-effective thinking predominates in the child. It relies on action. The child saw something, did it, remembered it. By performing certain actions, the child develops mentally, and not just physically. This is why fine motor skills activities are so beneficial. Visual and effective thinking allows you to repeat after an adult and at the same time acquire new knowledge. The idea of ​​a specific object is formed in accordance with the impression it made on the child. Both the external form and the function of the object that it carries within itself are important. For example, a child remembers that a dog is barking and a car is driving along the road. Then he will never confuse how one differs from another.

Methods for developing a child's thinking

Methods for developing thinking in children are aimed at developing a better understanding of speech and developing relevant skills. Below are the most popular and effective methods that educators still use today.

Maria Montessori Method

This technique is aimed at independent research things as a child. It is perfect for development fine motor skills, to generate interest in the surrounding reality. The creator of this theory loved children very much. She proposed providing them with the opportunity to get acquainted with the subjects that interest them, thereby developing thinking as a whole, and not just one direction.

Methodology of Nikitin and Voskobovich

This technique is focused on the development of logical thinking. Its creators insisted that logic and attention are the main prerequisites for the development of thinking. Therefore, they recommend directing all classes and assignments, first of all, to the formation of logic. A preschool child will be interested in such “lessons,” but they contain many difficulties.

Thus, thinking is an important cognitive process necessary for the all-round growth of the individual; it is involved in absolutely all spheres of life and affects any activity. Methods for developing thinking allow you to grow a truly successful person who will know how to achieve a satisfactory result.

The child will be born without thinking. Cognition of the surrounding reality begins with the sensation and perception of individual specific objects and phenomena, the images of which are stored in memory.

On the basis of practical acquaintance with reality, on the basis of direct knowledge of the environment, a child’s thinking develops. Speech development plays a decisive role in shaping a child’s thinking.

Mastering the words and grammatical forms of his native language in the process of communicating with people around him, the child learns at the same time to generalize similar phenomena using words, formulate the relationships that exist between them, reason about their characteristics, etc.

Usually, at the beginning of the second year of life, the child develops the first generalizations that he uses in subsequent actions. This is where the development of children's thinking begins.

The development of thinking in children does not occur by itself, not spontaneously. It is led by adults, raising and teaching the child. Based on the experience that the child has, adults pass on knowledge to him, inform him of concepts that he could not think of on his own and that have developed as a result of work experience and scientific research many generations.

Under the influence of upbringing, a child learns not only individual concepts, but also logical forms developed by mankind, rules of thinking, the truth of which has been verified by centuries of social practice. By imitating adults and following their instructions, the child gradually learns to formulate judgments correctly, correctly relate them to each other, and draw informed conclusions.

A decisive role in the formation of children's first generalizations is played by the assimilation of the names of surrounding objects and phenomena. An adult, in a conversation with a child, calls various tables in the room with the same word “table”, or the same word “fall” refers to the fall of various objects. Imitating adults, the child himself begins to use words in a generalized meaning, mentally combining a number of similar objects and phenomena.

It should be noted, however, that due to limited experience and insufficient development of thought processes small child At first, he experiences great difficulties in mastering the commonly used meaning of the most ordinary words. Sometimes he extremely narrows their meaning and denotes, for example, the word “mother” only his mother, perplexed when another child calls his mother the same. In other cases, he begins to use a word in too broad a sense, calling it a number of objects that are only superficially similar, without noticing the significant differences between them. So, one one-and-a-half-year-old child called a cat “kisa” in one word, fur collar on my mother’s fur coat, a squirrel sitting in a cage, and a tiger drawn in the picture.

Characteristic for children early age is that they think mainly about things that they perceive in at the moment and with which they are currently operating. Analysis, synthesis, comparison and other mental processes are not yet separable from practical actions with the object itself, the actual dissection of it into parts, the combination of elements into one whole, etc.

Thus, the thinking of a young child, although inextricably linked with speech, is still of a visual and effective nature.

The second feature of children's thinking in the early stages of its development is the peculiar nature of the first generalizations. Observing the surrounding reality, the child primarily distinguishes the external signs of objects and phenomena and generalizes them based on their external similarity. The child cannot yet understand the internal, essential features of objects and judges them only by their external qualities, by their appearance.

L.N. Tolstoy wrote about a small child: “The quality in a thing that first struck him, he accepts as the general quality of the whole thing. In relation to people, the child forms ideas about them based on the first external impression. If the face made a funny impression on him, then he won’t even think about it. good qualities, which can be connected with this funny side; but the whole totality of a person’s qualities already constitutes the worst concept.”

A characteristic feature of children's first generalizations is that they are based on external similarities between objects and phenomena.

Thus, already in early childhood the child begins to develop the rudiments of thinking. However, the content of thinking in preschool age is still very limited, and its forms are very imperfect. Further development of the child’s mental activity occurs in the preschool period. In preschool age, the child’s thinking rises to a new, higher level of development. The content of children's thinking is enriched.

A young child’s knowledge of the surrounding reality is limited to a rather narrow range of objects and phenomena that he directly encounters at home and in the nursery during his play and practical activities.

In contrast, the area of ​​cognition of a preschool child expands significantly. It goes beyond what happens at home or in kindergarten, and covers a wider range of natural and social phenomena that a child becomes familiar with on walks, during excursions, or from the stories of adults, from a book read to him, etc.

The development of a preschool child’s thinking is inextricably linked with the development of his speech, with his learning native language. In the mental education of a preschooler, an increasingly important role is played, along with visual demonstration, by verbal instructions and explanations from parents and educators, concerning not only what the child perceives at the moment, but also objects and phenomena that the child first learns about with the help of words. It is necessary, however, to keep in mind that verbal explanations and instructions are understood by the child (and not assimilated mechanically) only if they are supported by his practical experience, if they find support in the direct perception of those objects and phenomena that the teacher talks about, or in representations of previously perceived, similar objects and phenomena.

Here it is necessary to remember the instructions of I.P. Pavlov regarding the fact that the second signaling system, which forms the physiological basis of thinking, successfully functions and develops only in close interaction with the first signaling system.

At preschool age, children can learn known information about physical phenomena (the transformation of water into ice and vice versa, the floating of bodies, etc.), also get acquainted with the life of plants and animals (germination of seeds, plant growth, life and habits of animals), learn the simplest facts of social life. life (some types of human labor).

When organizing appropriate educational work, the preschooler’s area of ​​knowledge of the environment expands significantly. He acquires a number of elementary concepts about a wide range of natural phenomena and social life. The knowledge of a preschooler becomes not only more extensive than that of a young child, but also deeper.

The preschooler begins to be interested in the internal properties of things, hidden reasons certain phenomena. This feature of a preschooler’s thinking is clearly revealed in the endless questions “why?, why?, why?” that he asks adults.

E. Koshevaya, describing Oleg’s childhood, talks about the countless questions with which he bombarded his grandfather: “Grandfather, why is a wheat ear so big, and a rye ear smaller? Why do swallows land on wires? They think there are long branches, right? Why does a frog have four legs and a chicken have two?”

Within the range of phenomena known to him, a preschooler can understand some dependencies between phenomena: the reasons underlying the simplest physical phenomena (“The jar is light because it is empty,” says six-year-old Vanya); developmental processes underlying the life of plants and animals (five-year-old Manya hides the pit of an eaten peach: “I’ll plant it in a flowerpot and a peach tree will grow,” she says); social goals of human actions (“The trolleybus driver drives quickly so that his uncles and aunts are not late for work,” says five-year-old Petya).

In connection with this change in the content of thinking, the nature of children's generalizations changes.

As we have already said, young children in their generalizations proceed mainly from the external similarity between things. In contrast, preschoolers begin to generalize objects and phenomena not only according to external, but also internal, essential features and characteristics.

For example, Misha (5 years old), grouping pictures according to their content, puts images of a sleigh, a cart, a car, a steamship and a boat into one group, despite the fact that all these objects do not look similar to each other. He assumes that they all serve the same purpose: “they can be ridden.” The same child classifies those who are dissimilar in their own way into the same group. appearance objects such as a table, bookcase, wardrobe, sofa, on the grounds that they serve a person as furniture. Tracing the development of understanding of various kinds of phenomena, one can see how a child, throughout preschool age, moves from generalizations based on external, random similarities between objects to generalizations based on more significant features.

Children of primary preschool age often make their assumptions about weight based on such external features as the shape and size of an object, while middle-aged and especially older preschoolers are increasingly focused on such an essential feature of the object in this case as material, from which it was made. As the content of a preschooler’s thinking becomes more complex, the forms of mental activity are also restructured.

The thinking of a young child, as already indicated, occurs in the form of separate mental processes and operations included in play or practical activities. In contrast, the preschooler gradually learns to think about things that he does not directly perceive, with which he is not currently acting. The child begins to perform various mental operations, relying not only on perception, but also on ideas about previously perceived objects and phenomena.

In a preschooler, thinking acquires the character of coherent reasoning, relatively independent of direct actions with objects. Now you can set cognitive, mental tasks for the child (explain a phenomenon, guess a riddle, solve a puzzle).

In the process of solving such problems, the child begins to connect his judgments with each other and come to certain conclusions or conclusions. Thus, the simplest forms of inductive and deductive reasoning arise. In the early stages of development younger preschoolers, due to the limited experience and insufficient ability to use mental operations, reasoning often turns out to be very naive and does not correspond to reality.

The kid, seeing how the plant is watered, comes to the conclusion that the toy bear also needs to be watered “so that it grows better.” Knowing that children are sometimes punished for bad behavior, he decides that he needs to beat the nettle “so that next time it won’t sting so painfully.”

However, getting acquainted with new facts, in particular with facts that do not coincide with his conclusions, listening to the instructions of an adult, the preschooler gradually rebuilds his reasoning in accordance with reality, learns to substantiate them more correctly.

Already in a child of middle preschool age, one can observe relatively complex reasoning, in which he subtly takes into account all new data that is discovered in the process of solving a problem. A five-year-old girl sees a small sliver of wood, a piece of a match, or a pine needle being thrown into the water. Based on these observations, she concludes that “small, light things float in the water.” When they show her a pin, the girl confidently says: “It won’t drown because it’s small.” A pin thrown into water sinks. The child is embarrassed and, wanting to hide his mistake, cheats, saying: “You know, she’s not so small, she gets bigger in the water.” However, what follows shows that the girl perfectly took into account the discrepancy between her judgment and reality. When later they show her a small nail, she immediately says: “Now you can’t fool me, even if it’s small, it will still sink, it’s made of iron.”

Getting acquainted with new facts, in accordance with the phenomena of reality, a preschool child learns to reason more or less consistently, avoiding mistakes and contradictions.

A characteristic feature of the thinking of preschoolers is its concrete, figurative nature. Although a preschooler can already think about things that he does not directly perceive and with which he practically does not act at the moment, in his reasoning he does not rely on abstract, abstract concepts, but on visual images of specific, individual objects and phenomena.

So, for example, a preschooler already knows that various wooden things float, i.e. he has a certain generalized knowledge about these things and formulates it using words. However, when asked how he knows that a given wooden thing (for example, a chip or a match) will float, the child prefers to refer not to a general abstract position (“because all wooden things float”), but to some specific case or observation (for example, “Vanya threw a sliver, and it didn’t sink” or “I saw it, I threw it myself”).

Correctly classifying apples, pears, plums, etc. into the group of fruits, a preschooler often answers the question what a fruit is not with a general statement (a fruit is a part of a plant consisting of a seed, etc.), but with a description some specific fruit known to him. For example, he says: “It’s like a pear. You can eat it, but in the middle there are seeds, they are planted in the ground, and a tree grows.”

Due to clarity and figurative thinking, it is very difficult for a preschool child to solve a problem given in an abstract, abstract form. For example, younger schoolchildren easily solve problems with abstract numbers (like 5-3), without thinking particularly about what 5 and 3 were - houses, apples or cars. But for a preschooler, such a task becomes accessible only when it is given a concrete form, when, for example, he is told that five birds were sitting on a tree, and three more flew to them, or when he is shown a picture that clearly depicts this event. Under these conditions, he begins to understand the problem and perform the appropriate arithmetic operations.

When organizing the mental activity of a preschool child, when imparting new knowledge to him, it is necessary to take into account this specific, visual nature of children's thinking. However, it should be noted that with the organization of appropriate educational work, by the end of preschool age a child can achieve great success in the ability to abstract, in the ability to think abstractly.

These successes are revealed, in particular, in the fact that a child of senior preschool age can acquire not only specific, but also generic concepts, accurately correlating them with each other.

Thus, a child not only calls all dogs of different colors, sizes and shapes dogs, but also classifies all dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, etc., as a group of animals, i.e. makes a second-order generalization, assimilates more general concepts.

He can also compare and contrast not only specific objects, but also concepts. For example, an older preschooler can talk about the differences between wild and domestic animals, between plants and animals, etc.

Formation in children of senior preschool age general concepts is important for the further development of thinking at school age.

Preschool children experience intensive development of thinking. The child acquires a number of new knowledge about the surrounding reality and at the same time learns to analyze, synthesize, compare, and generalize his observations, that is, to perform the simplest mental operations. The most important role in mental development the child plays a role in education and training.

The teacher introduces the child to the surrounding reality, imparts to him a number of basic knowledge about natural phenomena and social life, without which the development of thinking would be impossible. However, it should be pointed out that simple memorization of individual facts and passive assimilation of imparted knowledge cannot yet ensure the correct development of children's thinking.

In order for a child to begin to think, he must be given a new task, in the process of solving which he could use previously acquired knowledge in relation to new circumstances.

Therefore, the organization of games and activities that would develop the child’s mental interests, set him certain cognitive tasks, and force him to independently perform certain mental operations to achieve the desired result is of great importance in the mental education of a child. This is done by questions asked by the teacher during classes, walks and excursions, didactic games, which are educational in nature, all kinds of riddles and puzzles, specifically designed to stimulate the child’s mental activity. Further development of thinking occurs at school age. In order for a child to study well at school, it is necessary that during preschool childhood his thinking has reached a certain level of development.

A child should come from kindergarten to school with an interest in acquiring new knowledge, with a stock of elementary concepts about the surrounding reality, and with the simplest skills of independent mental work.

If kindergarten does not prepare children in this regard, they will experience great difficulties when they come to school, especially in the first stages of schooling. School makes very large and complex demands on the child’s mind, requiring the transition of children’s thinking to a new, higher stage of development. In the process of mastering the fundamentals of science and becoming familiar with the basic laws of nature and society, the student’s thinking develops. At the same time, mastering scientific concepts requires more from schoolchildren high level abstractions, higher forms of generalization than those of which a preschool child was capable. Brief formulations, for example, of the laws of physics or the characteristics of entire eras, given in a history course, cover a huge range of phenomena and require the ability to abstract from various secondary, unimportant circumstances and highlight the most important, the most important in the phenomena.

A huge role in the development of a student’s thinking is played by teaching his native language and mastering the rules of grammar. The ability to correctly and coherently present the content of one or another educational material in oral or written speech organizes the child’s thinking and gives it a consistent character.

School teaches you systematic thinking. The teacher forces the child to systematically analyze any phenomena, synthesize individual elements into a single whole, compare objects in various relationships, draw informed conclusions and conclusions based on known data.

Thinking is a mental process in which both hemispheres of the brain participate. And the solution to the tasks assigned to him depends on how comprehensively a person can think. This is why the development of thinking in children is so important. Perhaps this is not very noticeable in early childhood, since everything important decisions His parents mistake him for a baby, and the baby’s achievements are most often measured by the number of steps taken, the ability to read syllables or fold a construction set. But sooner or later a moment comes when a person faces serious life goals and objectives. To get a job in large and successful companies, applicants undergo many tests, including an IQ test. Logical thinking and creativity are at the core of every invention created by mankind. And if you want your child to have a chance to do something brilliant in his life, teach him to think correctly from childhood. Even if he chooses the path of art or, for example, sports, the ability to analyze his actions, clearly and logically build a line of his behavior will certainly lead him to success in any field.

When starting to develop a child’s thinking, you must clearly understand how his consciousness works. Our brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is analytical. It is responsible for rational logical thinking. A person with a developed left hemisphere of the brain is distinguished by consistency, algorithmic and abstract thinking. He thinks heuristically, synthesizing individual facts in his mind into complete picture. Right hemisphere– creative. It is responsible for a person’s tendency to dream and fantasize. People with a developed right hemisphere of the brain love to read, write their own stories, and show abilities in various types art - poetry, painting, music, etc.

There are many examples with a clearly developed right or left hemisphere. But psychologists believe that initially parents should try to harmoniously develop both logic and creativity in the child. And already during classes, it is worth taking a closer look at how the child thinks in order to understand what comes easier to him. For example, a child who thinks figuratively automatically begins to solve a math problem from a drawing, and a child with analytical thinking begins to draw a house from a schematic sketch. Be sure to take into account the nature of the baby’s thinking in his further training.

Now a little theory. Despite its complexity and volume, human thinking is divided into 4 main types:

1. visually effective
2. figurative
3. logical
4. creative

A small child who strives to touch and try everything, breaking cars and tearing off the hands of dolls, is guided by visual-effective thinking. It is inherent in all children, and sometimes persists in some adults. But such people no longer break anything, but on the contrary, they construct beautiful cars or perform ingenious operations, securing for themselves the title of “golden hands.”

Imaginative thinking in children

Imaginative thinking in children involves operating with figures and images. It begins to develop in children in preschool age, when they build models from construction sets, draw or play, imagining something in their minds. The development of imaginative thinking in children is most active at the age of 5-6 years. And already on the basis of figurative thinking, logic begins to form in children. The development of thinking in kindergarten is based on developing in children the ability to create various images in their minds, remember and reproduce situations, memory training and visualization. At school age, it is also useful to periodically do such exercises. But since the school curriculum pays more attention to the analytical and logical component, parents should draw, create crafts from various materials, as well as reading and making up interesting stories.

At the age of 6-7 years, the child begins to develop logical thinking. The student learns to analyze, highlight the main thing, generalize and draw conclusions. But, unfortunately, the development of logical thinking in children at school has absolutely no element of creativity. Everything is very standard and formulaic. In a fifth-grader's notebook you can find as many problems as you like, solved by actions, and not a single one solved outside the box. Although for such relatively simple problems there may be many solutions. But teachers do not pay attention to this, since lesson time is limited and children do not have the opportunity to sit and think.

Parents should do this. Don’t force your child to solve ten similar examples “for training”; it’s better to play chess or monopoly with him. There are simply no standard solutions there, and you definitely won’t find template options there. This is what will help the child develop logic. And strong logic in combination with unexpected, non-standard and creative solutions will raise his thinking to a new level.

How to develop creativity in a child? The simplest thing you must remember is that the development of creative thinking in children occurs at the moment of communication. It is when communicating with other people (talking in person, reading a book or, for example, listening to an analytical program) that a comparison of different points of view on the same issue occurs in a person’s mind. And only as a result of communication can a person develop his own opinion, and this is nothing more than creativity. A person who clearly understands that there can be several correct answers to one question is a truly creative person. But for your child to understand this, simply telling him about it is not enough. He must come to this conclusion himself after doing many exercises.

And they don’t teach this in school either. Therefore, parents should work with their child at home to make his thinking original, associative and flexible. It's not that difficult. You can put together completely different pictures from the same geometric shapes, construct figures of people and animals from paper, or just take the most common and understandable household item and try, together with your child, to come up with as many new non-standard uses for it as possible. Fantasize, invent new exercises, think creatively yourself and be sure to teach this to your child. And then happy and loud exclamations of “Eureka!” will begin to sound more and more often in your house.