Development of cognitive abilities in preschool children | Consultation (junior, middle, senior, preparatory group) on the topic:

Text of the book “Development of cognitive abilities of preschool children. For working with children 4-7 years old"

Evgeny Evgenievich Krasheninnikov, Olga Leonidovna Kholodova

Development of cognitive abilities of preschool children. For working with children 4-7 years old

Introduction

The main goal of this manual is the development of creative, productive, dialectical thinking of preschoolers. Dialectical thinking is one of the forms of thinking that allows you to see significant contradictions in the objects of knowledge and produce new ideas based on the structural transformation of this contradiction. Dialectical thinking is carried out through the use of dialectical mental actions, that is, it can be conscious and directed; it can be developed by solving dialectical mental problems and immersing in contradictory situations that are significant for the child. Dialectical thinking is a form of thinking that is organically inherent in childhood. But in the process of later life, when confronted with a formally organized culture, the ability to identify contradictions in the surrounding world and transform them decreases, as a result of which the desire for novelty and creativity disappears, and a person’s life becomes more conflicting, since he cannot identify productive elements in discrepant with his opinion positions. The development of dialectical thinking in a preschooler is necessary so that it can resist the average routine and routine of triviality into which mass culture and often traditional school pedagogy immerse a person.

The system of work proposed in the manual is based on a structural-dialectical approach in psychology, developed by a research team led by Doctor of Psychology, Professor N.E. Veraksa, who described dialectical structures. Their use allows one to discover, pose and solve dialectical thinking problems.

Dialectical transformation

means: for any objects, ideas, phenomena, situations, there are always opposite objects, ideas, phenomena, situations. This is a basic action of creative thinking, because without transformation you can only improve the old, not create the new. The truly new always denies the old, is always the opposite of it. If we say that the old can be left, but modified and improved, then we are doing something useful (creating a new model of a car or washing machine), but this will not yet be creativity. Let's pay attention to the difference between the two designers: the first, who says that for the rapid movement of transport it is necessary to strengthen what pulls the load (modify the harness so that more horses can fit in it without stepping on each other's hooves; make better fuel for motor; increase the number of propellers on the aircraft's wings; physically develop the rickshaw, etc.), and the second designer, who suggests not pulling the load, but pushing it from behind - and comes up with a jet engine, a rocket. The first one moves in an already given logic (drag a load and one’s own weight), while the second one refuses this logic and changes it to the opposite one. And it is the second that makes a qualitative breakthrough in science, technology, and life.

Another action of dialectical thinking is dialectical unification

: the structure of any developing object (that is, any object) consists of mutually negating opposites (there may be several such pairs; each characterizes the essential properties of the object). Any development (that is, the appearance of something new in an object) is born from an internal struggle. If there is no internal conflict (for example, there is only one need, or all needs are aimed at achieving one goal, or some need is much stronger than others and therefore in a difficult situation of choice always comes to the fore), then there is no need for more one need. But when the needs are equal, equally powerful and important for a person, then he cannot simply refuse to realize any of them. Or rather, maybe - and many do this - but with losses (a person wants to preserve his health and earn money; the more he works, the less health he has; but money is also needed - including for a healthy life; and a person chooses what - one thing, coming up with excuses for myself: then, when I get my million, I’ll renew my stem cells and look younger - but by then it’s often too late).

And then there is an urgent need for a dialectical mental action of mediation

, which is as follows: if there is any pair of opposites that deny each other, striving for mutual destruction, then there are still necessarily objects in which these opposites will be present simultaneously without destroying each other. If, in the struggle of equal essential needs, one destroys the other, then this leads to the loss of values that are important to a person. Productive resolution of conflict consists in the simultaneous implementation of opposing, mutually denying needs, which, of course, is extremely difficult. Dialectical mediation presupposes the ability to find a solution in which both needs (real, truly important needs, and not just good wishes - “it would be nice if at least I always had something everywhere...”), mutually exclusive needs, will be realized in specific actions and as a result will be satisfied.

The effect of dialectical circulation

: when analyzing any process, we can assume that what was initially the end of the process, the result, can be considered as its beginning, and what was described as the initial state, as the cause, on the contrary, is the consequence and the state to which the process tends . This allows you to evaluate yourself in a completely new way in the situation and find a new point from which you can start moving towards a seemingly unattainable goal.

Dialectical identification

means: what we considered opposites can actually be considered as one and the same thing. Where there was an obvious irreconcilable struggle, absolute unity was revealed.

There are other dialectical mental actions presented in the structural-dialectical approach in psychology. If you learn to apply them purposefully and systematically, then creativity ceases to be a random act, while retaining all its wonder and magic, since the solution of fundamentally new problems does not become easy or unambiguous - but becomes possible and dependent on a consciously acting person.

During the work, the child is not offered any “knowledge of philosophy” or descriptions of philosophical concepts. The content of philosophy is not mental abstractions, but essential content, because philosophy is thinking about the most important questions of life that concern everyone, and without searching for answers to which it is difficult to remain human. The problem with studying philosophy at any age is that people forget about it. Considering the philosophical concept of the universe of Democritus and, for example, his idea that the atoms of fire are balls with hooks, or the views of Anaximander that the origin of everything is apeiron, those who study them often forget that these people were mentally healthy and were looking for answers to what - very deep and significant questions for their lives. The attitude towards philosophy sometimes develops either as unsubstantiated eccentricities of the ancients, or as something very, very smart, sophisticated, incomprehensible, and therefore has nothing to do with my life.

Therefore, it would be logical to organize work in this area as a discussion of problems that are important to everyone, but this is difficult, since children do not have the mental means for such a discussion. The questions asked by children, of course, are quite philosophical (“Who made the clouds?” or “Where do children come from?”), but if you start discussing them at a “children’s” level, then this will be a profanation of the most philosophical content.

Therefore, we focus on another necessary property of any philosophy - the obligatory presence of reflection. According to the great Russian philosopher A.F. Losev, studying philosophy means learning to think. But you can’t just think like that; You can only think about specific content. Such content are philosophical concepts that can be denoted in words of ordinary language, and not in specifically philosophical terms. The scheme for constructing work with children is that a number of tasks are created for children: concepts are taken that can only be solved by using specific dialectical mental actions, that is, the dialectical structure of philosophical concepts is prescribed and embodied in tasks that are interesting to the preschooler in terms of the plot. The concepts “Movement” and “Development” were chosen as such concepts.

As an example, consider the concept of “Beauty”. First of all, we highlight the basic contradiction in it, which creates its real complexity, diversity of understandings and embodiments (that is, we must apply the dialectical mental action of unification

). Suppose this is a pair of opposites: beautiful - ugly, although other opposites are possible. Further, in relation to these opposites, the dialectical mental actions known to us are applied.

Here are some possible examples of the application of dialectical mediation

, demonstrating that dialectical thinking is not the discovery of one single correct answer, but the search for different options, which at the same time are a solution to the problem: Venus de Milo (a sculpture that is the embodiment of ancient beauty, despite the broken off arms);
portrait of a freak by Raphael; cyclopean “Stalinist” architecture, an insect - a spider, etc. We also use other dialectical mental actions: transformation
(a bad painting by a bad artist of the 12th century, which now hangs in a museum);
treatment
(the artist improved the painting of another master of the past by tinting it; now the restorer scrapes it all off to improve);
identification
(the poetry of German expressionism, where the object of aesthetic admiration is dirt, squalor and ugliness);
closure
(“Black Square”, in which there is nothing but pure form, but people substitute infinite content there);
change of alternative
(we can perceive “original” as the other opposite of “beautiful”). The solution options can be any, since dialectical thinking will manifest itself and develop in the collectively distributed activity of children in the process of living a contradictory situation, which can be given in the form of a game, a task to draw a picture, solving a problem, writing an essay, etc. Based on For each answer option, a task is created taking into account the age of the children. For example, it is proposed to finish drawing, “improve” a picture drawn by a friend, and then give the original author the opportunity to agree or disagree with the revision and, if necessary, erase what was completed; in this case, of course, it turns out that something corrected can no longer be restored. Of course, when communicating with children, the words “dialectics”, “dialectical thinking”, “dialectical mental action of mediation” and the like are never mentioned.

Classes should not have strict time limits, either higher or lower - they last as long as new content continues to appear in children. Therefore, any lesson can last for two or three meetings or, on the contrary, be very short - but this usually happens if the teacher forgets that the point of the lesson is for children to “experience” a contradictory situation, in the clash of opposing versions and their justification, and not in developing a general correct answer. The main thing is the teacher’s understanding of the essence of dialectical thinking. The teacher improvises in relation to the content of the lesson, while remaining within the framework of the general scheme of operating with opposites; he can introduce his own version of the solution into the space of general discussion, and this becomes just another equivalent option, along with the children's ones. Since for children these activities are simply games, drawing, walks, etc., the teacher does not summarize the results (in the form of a conclusion related to the main task) - neither for individual classes, nor for each cycle as a whole.

The effectiveness of classes is determined not during their implementation and not by subsequent psychological diagnostics of dialectical thinking, but by detecting cases of children using dialectical mental actions in other activities (communication with parents, games with peers, etc.). Similarly, the search and recording of such situations in the life of the teacher himself indicates the success of the classes.

Contents of working with children

Theme "Movement"

1–2. Introduction to the problem situation

Goals

.
Formation of ideas about movement, its signs (distance from the reference point, observer; changing pictures outside the window of a moving bus, etc.); about the internal unity of movement and rest. Development of dialectical mental action - unification
.

Materials.

Doll, toy truck on a string.

Guidelines.

The main thing is to introduce children into a problematic and contradictory situation.
The teacher organizes a discussion, encourages the children to put forward their versions and justify them; draws attention to contradictions (a person on an escalator “moves” and “does not move”), encourages the search for more and more new evidence, developing in children the ability to operate with opposites, to use the dialectical mental action of unification
. Since the activity proposed by the teacher is unusual for children, the problematic issues listed below can be discussed over the course of two lessons.

Methodology.

The teacher asks the children: “Guys, were you on the subway? Have you seen escalators? Do you know what an escalator is?”

Briefly explains the purpose of the escalator, if any of the guys don’t know: “An escalator is a special mechanical staircase that moves up or down on its own.” If necessary, explains the difference between the words “escalator” and “excavator”.

Next, the teacher asks a problematic question:

– What do you think, is a person standing on an escalator in the subway moving or not?

Children put forward their versions. It’s good that they don’t just give a short answer (moves or doesn’t move), but justify it.

Most likely, opposite versions will be heard. It is worthwhile to dwell on each version in detail, first to discover its validity, and then to provide counterarguments.

So, if children say that a person is moving because “he’s going up,” you must first provide reasons for the movement. It is important to support the guys who point out signs of movement (for example, “he is moving because at first we saw him all over, and then he disappeared, went up,” etc.). Some guys may say that a person “moves on the stairs, but doesn’t move” or “moves a little and doesn’t move a little.” These versions should be supported and children should be asked to explain them.

Then the teacher gives counterarguments:

- So, that means the person moves himself. Does everyone think so? And Anya says that “his ladder is lucky,” but the man himself does not move.

One of the children may say, for example, that “a person stands calmly and does not move his arms and legs,” which means he “does not move” or “the mechanism operates, but the person himself does not move.”

The teacher differentiates the concepts, explains to the children that when a person moves his arms, legs, head, then parts of his body move, and when a person or object changes place, position in space, moves from place to place - this is the movement of the entire object (object) .

Then the teacher moves on to the second point of view, which one of their children will probably express - “the person does not move”, and tries to refute it. He introduces a reference point, and the children act as observers of the movement.

– How does a person end up on top if at the very beginning he was underground? Let's imagine that the boy Sasha stood on an escalator going up, and we remained below and looked at him. Sasha stands still, doesn’t move, and once he’s on top. Is it moving or not moving?

Opinions may differ. The teacher should, while supporting the significance of each version, provide critical remarks, for example:

– Katya says that the person is moving. Maybe the escalator is moving, and not the person standing on it?

– Lena said that the person on the escalator does not move, he stands calmly. And if a person runs along an escalator, then he is moving. But both end up at the top!

Perhaps one of the children will discover a combination of opposites in the situation - a person is moving and not moving. However, one should not expect exactly this formulation to appear: it is important that during the discussion, children consistently see the validity of each of the opposing versions.

When the situation has exhausted itself, the teacher can offer the children another problematic issue.

, similar in content, for example:

– What do you think, does a person sitting on a bus move or not move?

The course of discussion of the new issue is similar to the previous one.

The teacher encourages children to justify their answers; invites the guys who gave opposite answers to prove to each other the correctness of their version. If the child gives the option “does not move,” the teacher asks the other children if this is really the case. An adult uses arguments, criticizing each version, provoking discussion, for example:

– Sasha says that the person is moving. Or maybe he fell asleep, this happens, and doesn’t move at all. Maybe it's the bus that's moving, not the person sitting on it?

– And if a person does not move, then how does he end up at the next stop, far enough from home?

Children's opinions are divided. A child can change his point of view to the opposite and vice versa. It is important for the teacher that the children explain why they decided this way. As in the discussion of the previous question, some guys believe that “a person does not move,” for example, because he is sitting still. Others argue that “a person moves” because he has traveled far.

Next, the teacher introduces a reference point into the problem, and the children act as observers of the movement:

- Let's imagine the situation differently. You and I are sitting at the bus stop, waiting for our bus, and Sasha sat on the bus in a seat at the window and waves to us. The bus left. Is Sasha moving or not?

In case of possible difficulties for children in answering the questions posed, the teacher can visualize the situation:

- We will put the Masha doll in the truck. Look carefully, is it moving or not? (The teacher quickly rolls the truck from one end of the table to the other.) One! Well, how? Did Masha move or not?

The teacher encourages the expression of different versions. It is important that children understand that movement is visible to the observer in relation to a reference point; signs of movement may be changing pictures in the bus window, retreating figures of people at a bus stop, a bus hiding from view, etc.

Some guys will say that “the doll didn’t move” because she didn’t move her arms or legs and only looked out the window while the truck was carrying her. Other children will say that “the doll was moving” because the car was shaking and the toy was swaying. Perhaps someone will say that although we did not see that the doll made movements, it moved because it was on one end of the table and then ended up on the other edge. Some of the children may notice a change in the states of movement and rest and thereby determine that the Masha doll was moving: “it moves because it was driving and then stopped.”

During the discussion of the three tasks above, one of the guys may not understand the task and, instead of explanations, offer a detailed description of the situation: “the person does not move because he might fall,” “because the rules are written there - do not move” (subway safety rules) or perceive the person and the escalator as a single whole: “it moves because the metro has wheels”, “the motor is moving”, “he is sleeping and cannot get up”, “he was reading a newspaper, fell asleep out of boredom and passed his station.” Some children begin to describe the situation in detail, delve into the details of the functioning of transport, for example: “it (the escalator) can only move because it has wheels; there the aunt presses a button, the wheels move and he drives” or “the driver pressed the button, warned that the doors were closing, and they drove on and on, stopped at a stop, and then he walked on his own.” Such comments are valuable for broadening one’s horizons and understanding the operation of mechanisms, but they lead away from understanding the essence of movement and solving the dialectical problem. These guys need to be brought back into the context of the situation at hand.

At the end of the lesson, you should repeat the first problematic question

– So what do you think, is a person standing on an escalator in the subway moving or not?

Some children can say that a person “both moves and does not move” at the same time, using the dialectical mental action of association. If the children do not find a solution on their own, then the teacher, finishing, can unobtrusively summarize:

– Today we solved complex problems about movement. It turns out that even if movement is not visible, there may be movement. For example, a doll was in one place without moving, and then at one moment, it immediately moved, disappeared from its original place, which means there was movement.

Homework for parents.

Together with your child, play with cars at home, rolling different toys (bears, dolls, etc.), and discuss whether the toys move or not and why.

It is important to strengthen the child’s understanding of the reference point, which is necessary to determine the movement of an object.

Evgeny Evgenievich Krasheninnikov, Olga Leonidovna Kholodova

Development of cognitive abilities of preschool children. For working with children 4-7 years old

Introduction

Dialectical transformation

Another action of dialectical thinking is dialectical unification

And then there is an urgent need for a dialectical mental action of mediation

MAGAZINE Preschooler.RF

Development of cognitive abilities of children of early and preschool age

Teacher - psychologist N.A. Dolgopolova

Developing speech and sensations with clothespins

What are the benefits of games with clothespins:

Fine motor skills develop perfectly
Pressing on a clothespin is similar to pressing on a pen, and is a good practice before writing or just drawing (preschool age).
All games with clothespins enrich the sensory experience, develop perseverance, attention and speech.

Games without preparations:

Attach several clothespins to the mother’s clothes and ask the child to remove them
Ask your child to attach clothespins to a napkin, paper, cardboard or fabric. We can say that these are flies/fish/sharks looking for a house.
Just squeeze and unclench, imagine as if the “crocodile” is talking
A somatognosis game: the child closes his eyes, and the mother uses a clothespin to “pinch” the skin on his arm, leg, back, finger, and without opening his eyes he must say where he was bitten by a dog or a duck (your choice). The child learns to navigate his own body, learns the parts of the body, develops sensitivity and tactile sensations!

Ideas for games with simple preparations:

How to develop auditory attention

Without auditory perception, it is impossible to learn to hear and understand speech, which is why it is so important to draw the child’s attention to the sounds he hears, and also try to speak clearly, beautifully and quietly himself. In addition to natural conditions, it is necessary to conduct simple but interesting activities with the child to develop auditory attention.

I give as an example games that can be played, including with non-speaking children.

Noisy boxes. Option 1 “Quiet-louder” . Fill small boxes with cereals, coins, beads and determine what sounds quieter and what sounds louder. Ideally, arrange the boxes as the sound increases.
Noisy boxes. Option 2 “Find a pair” . Make 2 copies of noisy boxes and ask the child to identify the pair for each by sound.
Noisy boxes. Option 3. “Store” . Fill 3-5 boxes with various cereals. Introduce your child to what this or that “cereal” in a box. The seller (Mom) invites the buyer (baby) to identify by ear the flour, peas and any cereal that he wants to buy from the “store” .
Where is it ringing? The baby stands blindfolded in the center of the room, while the mother rings a bell in some corner. The child must show with his hand where it rings.
"Quiet, loud" . Mom rings the tambourine quietly - the child must walk slowly, if the mother rings loudly, the baby must jump or run quickly. The conditions are negotiated by the mother in accordance with “skills” .
Musical instruments. Definition by ear. In front of the child are several musical instruments (for example, rattle, xylophone, tambourine, pipe). Mom introduces the sound of each instrument. Then he asks the child to turn away and guess by ear what instrument it sounds. Or point to the tool when it turns.

By the way, children's musical instruments are included in the basic set of toys for preschoolers (starting from infancy). It is recommended to start with bells and other soft-sounding instruments, at six months - a drum and various noisemakers (maracas), by one year, offer a xylophone, drum, pipe (an excellent instrument for the development of breathing and articulation apparatus), after a year the child will be interested in playing the children's guitar. violin, plucking the strings also has a good effect on the development of fine motor skills. And a children's piano (now there are many options, including flexible ones) is also suitable for joint lessons with mom, where you can sing scales and memorize notes. By the age of 1.5-2 years, you can offer a harmonica; it also perfectly develops breathing and lung function. I indicate the age approximately, it all depends on the individual abilities of the child.

With the help of these games, your child will quickly learn colors. According to most experts, by the age of two, a child should be able to distinguish at least 4-5 primary colors. Colors can be memorized in everyday life, from books, there are many games for children from one to 2.5-4 years old, which are based on the study of colors. The most accessible and at the same time very fun way is to use toys, household items and natural materials to learn colors:

Mom is involved in the process, since initially she prepares the game herself
the child sees that the same object is useful for different games (for example, colored molds or ortho mats)
the child learns to analyze and compare objects in real space

- These are great games for communication between mother and baby.

Color Sorting Game Ideas

Sorting toys by color. Instead of pallets and at the same time color samples, ortho-mats are used. We give toys gradually, the child may get confused and completely forget about the task.

Sorting with ortho mats

Sorting small items by color (lids, buttons, mosaic pieces, painted pasta). As a pallet (basket), you can use colored plates, colored paper or cardboard, or play-doh. The mother also gives out 2-3 items, or the child himself takes out the items one at a time from the bag.

Sorting with colored paper

Sorting with colored play dough

Sorting by color with baskets/plates/moulds

Sorting - colored boxes

We use an egg carton instead of a sorting tray. We draw the desired pattern (to begin with, you can simply decorate it in 2-3 colors) and place the colored pompoms in the box. A rainbow as a template is also great for playing with pom poms. Until two years old, the child grabs pompoms with his fingers, after two years we try to offer tweezers.
Lotto in the form of flowers. We draw flowers of different colors without a core. We cut out either circles from colored cardboard, or use colored covers for the core of the flower.

And, of course, a great way to learn colors is sculpting and drawing (including with finger paints). If you regularly draw and sculpt, and the mother names the colors, the child will very soon remember them.

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