Cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age. Development of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age by means of didactic games
The problem of the development and formation of children's cognitive activity is one of the most relevant in child psychology, since the relationship of cognitive activity with the outside world is possible only with its activity and activity, and cognitive activity is an indispensable prerequisite for the formation of mental qualities of a person, his independence and initiative.
Today, the concept of "cognitive activity" is widely used in pedagogy and psychology. However, among the authors there is no consensus on the meaning of the concept of "cognitive activity", which is interpreted in different ways: M.A. Danilov, A.A. Lyublinskaya, V.K. Buryak, T.I. Shamova consider it as a kind or quality of mental activity, D.B. Godovikova, E.I. Shcherbakov - as a child's natural desire for knowledge. P.T. Jambazka, T.M. Zemlyanukhina, M.I. Lisina, N.A. Polovnikov define the concept of "cognitive activity" as a state of readiness for cognitive activity; while T.A. Ilyina, A.I. Raev, G.Ts. Molonov, A.Z. Iogolevich, T.D. Sartorius, Z.F. Chekhov, G.I. Shchukin believe that "cognitive activity" is a property or quality of a person.
The research of L.I. Bozhovich, A.A. Verbitsky, V.V. Davydova, A.M. Matyushkina, A.V. Petrovsky, N.F. Talyzina, G.A. Zuckerman, G.M. Schukina and others.
The term "cognitive activity" is characterized by the selective focus of the individual on objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, i.e. the child has a constant desire for knowledge, for new, more complete and deeper knowledge. With the pace of development of activity and strengthening, selective orientation becomes a support for cognitive activity.
Cognitive activity has its own structure. Working with preschool children, T. Kondratenko, V. Kotirlo, S. Ladivir identify three levels of cognitive activity of children, giving the characteristics of children of greater significance and depth:
High - the child is active, initiative in responses and communication, inquisitive, always attentive, follows advice, performs the task correctly, shows a desire to cope with difficulties, actively searches for solutions, easily contacts adults and peers, knows how to resolve conflicts;
Medium - the child responds only at the request of the teacher; listens to the explanations of an adult, but does not ask for help himself, requires repetition and instructions in the course of performing activities; distracted, imitate their peers, performs the task with additional stimulation; tries to cope with difficulties, but in case of failure, retreats;
Low - the child is passive, can start working only with personal appeal and help from an adult, does not start activities without special support, does not work without a model, at the slightest difficulty seeks help, refuses to work; joins in joint activities by invitation, but does not know how to maintain relationships.
In preschool pedagogy, various means of developing the cognitive activity of preschoolers were considered. So in the works of V.I. Loginova considered drawing as a means of developing cognitive activity. Studies of the mnemonic activity of preschoolers, carried out under the guidance of Z.M. Istomina and L.M. Zhitnikova, made it possible to establish that children use pictures, diagrams, plans with great success in the process of memorizing verbal material. HER. Sapogova and N.G. Salmin considered schematization as a means of cognitive activity.
We assume that for the effective development of cognitive activity it is necessary to use innovative educational technologies.
Currently, there are a large number of innovative technologies that a teacher can use to organize activities with children and organize independent activities of children.
The development of children occurs in various activities. The federal state standard for preschool education notes that the following activities are manifested at preschool age: gaming, communicative, constructive, cognitive research, perception of fiction and folklore, etc. With the right selection of innovative technologies in these activities, the level of development of cognitive activity will be higher.
Considering innovative pedagogical technologies, it is necessary to single out technologies that guide and ensure the development of the cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age in various activities.
Technology of project activity. The basis of this technology is the independent activity of the child, which develops in him a cognitive interest, self-regulation of his own activity, and creative possibilities.
It is possible to single out the main types of project activities, research and creative projects: children experiment, the results are drawn up in the form of posters, dramatization, children's design; role-playing projects (including elements of creative games); information-practice-oriented projects: children collect information and implement it, focusing on social interests (design and design of the group, stained-glass windows, etc.); creative projects in preschool organizations (formulation of the result in the form of a children's holiday).
Information and communication technology. The modern life of a child cannot do without the Internet, a computer, electronic toys, etc. By playing a computer, children learn to plan their activities, build a logical chain of sequential actions, he begins to think before doing something, so this will lay the foundation for initial learning. Computer games are constructed in such a way that a preschool child can get not a single concept or a specific educational situation, but a generalized idea of all such objects or situations.
Quest game. In preschool childhood, the game is the leading activity and therefore the use of game technology is an obligatory part of the educational process. An innovative approach to gaming technology is the introduction of quest games. The quest game makes it possible, when combining various types of children's activities, to unobtrusively implement the tasks, if not of each of the 5 areas of development and education of the child, then most of them. A properly organized quest is an effective pedagogical tool that allows you to develop cognitive activity and solve the problems of cognitive development of older preschoolers.
- "lepbook" technology. At present, the active use of innovative methods, the use of "lepbook" opens up new interesting horizons in working with pupils. By creating such a thematic folder, children will be able to learn how to independently choose material that is interesting to them, understand it, memorize it faster, and, if necessary, reproduce it. In addition, the "lapbook" ensures the right of every child to demonstrate originality, creativity and creativity when creating a folder.
In order to check the effectiveness of the use of innovative educational technologies, it is necessary to diagnose the level of development of cognitive activity of older preschool children.
To identify the level of formation of cognitive activity of preschoolers, we identified the following criteria and indicators:
Cognitive (presence of cognitive issues, emotional involvement of the child in activities);
Motivational (creating situations of success and joy, purposefulness of activity, its completeness);
Emotional-volitional (manifestation of positive emotions in the process of activity; duration and stability of interest in solving cognitive problems);
Effective-practical (initiativity in cognition; independence and perseverance in activities, the degree of initiative of the child).
Based on the selected criteria and indicators, three levels of formation of cognitive activity in a preschooler were identified: low, medium and high.
At the ascertaining stage, 26 children of senior preschool age took part. The children were divided into two groups - experimental and control.
During the diagnostics, the following methods were used:
Methodology "Mysterious letter" (A.M. Parishioners), aimed at identifying the presence, stability, strength and intensity of the cognitive need;
Methodology "Study of volitional manifestations" (G.A. Uruntaeva), aimed at studying initiative, perseverance, independence and arbitrariness of emotional manifestations;
The “Questioner” technique (N.B. Shumakova), aimed at studying the cognitive-questioning activity of the child, identifying the level of its development and the type of setting and solving problems.
Based on the results of the conducted methods, the average level of cognitive activity of older preschoolers prevails, this is 42% of children. Children are not always independent when performing tasks, in case of difficulties they turn to the teacher, show interest in one and show a neutral attitude towards others. Questions are asked based on practical needs. External emotional manifestations are inherent in relation to the process of performing activities, the use of game actions, weakly concentrate their attention on cognitive material.
Children with a low level of development of cognitive activity of children account for 38%. Children are characterized by a passive attitude to any activities, a manifestation of curiosity to individual phenomena that cause an emotional response, a superficial attitude to the tasks and material offered by the teacher. When organizing direct educational activities, children practically do not ask questions. Characterized by a lack of initiative, indifferent attitude to the performance of tasks, lack of desire to perform them at a high level.
Only 20% of children in the experimental group are at a high level of development of children's cognitive activity. Children show independence in performing tasks of varying complexity, show curiosity in organizing direct educational activities, ask questions related to the essential characteristics of the object or phenomenon being studied. Children with a high level are characterized by a constant favorable attitude to the process of completing tasks and to the result, showing initiative in evaluating their own work and the work of other children.
The data obtained update the implementation of the model aimed at developing the cognitive activity of older preschoolers through innovative educational technologies.
At the moment, we are at the stage of approbation of a model for the development of cognitive activity of older preschool children through innovative educational technologies.
Bibliography:
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- Godovikova, D.B. Formation of cognitive activity [Text] / D.B. Godovikova // Preschool education. - 1986. - No. 1. - P.29-34.
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marina greek
The specificity of the development of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age.
Specificity of development
senior preschool age is a special period child development, the heyday of the nursery cognitive activity.
In that age when the mental life of the child is rebuilt. Child tries sort it out and to know the world around, to more accurately determine the connections and patterns in it. There comes a period of ideas of little philosophers. At children gradually appears the first "sketch" children's worldview.
In the psychological and pedagogical literature cognitive activity regarded as permanent developing personality trait, reflecting readiness preschooler to knowledge, the manifestation of interest in something new, the manifestation of the child's transformative actions in relation to surrounding objects and phenomena, initiative, independence and perseverance in various activities, a positive emotional experience when receiving new information.
preschooler, active knowledge of the world around him, to strive to understand the observed phenomena, events. With well-organized pedagogical work in children's memory develops rapidly, speech, imagination, children master concepts, acquire the ability to reason, generalize.
A feature of the motivational-volitional sphere older preschoolers is: purposefulness of actions, subordination of motives, arbitrariness of activity. The most important role in the activity preschoolers play motives associated with interest in activities, cognitive motives, motives for determining a positive relationship with other people, motives for achieving success, moral and social motives, but there are still no motives for personal growth, characteristic of older ages.
It is known that for preschool children are inherently bright, involuntary feelings, abruptly "flash" and fade away just as quickly. senior preschoolers in difficult situations, they can already restrain their feelings, regulate or hide their manifestations. By virtue of age characteristics in children begin to develop such qualities as independence, responsibility, perseverance, initiative, guaranteeing volitional regulation in behavior. An important fact in development the child is the formation of self-consciousness (the highest meaningfulness of the motives of one's own activity, the most fair assessment of one's abilities, personality traits and behavior, but there is still a tendency to overestimate self-esteem).
There are features in development of the cognitive sphere of preschoolers. The main type of thinking is visual-figurative. It allows the child, when solving a particular problem, to rely not on specific actions and objects, but on their representations. A significant condition for the formation of this type of thinking is the ability to distinguish between the plan of real objects and the plan of models that reflect these objects. One of the most important prerequisites for the emergence of figurative thinking is imitation of an adult. It should be noted that many children senior preschool age demonstrate the presence of the rudiments of conceptual thinking, its individual elements. FROM development thinking is closely related to changes in the child's speech. By the end preschool age speech becomes a means of thinking and takes part in setting goals and planning activities.
Consider the concept « cognitive activity» in terms of the presence of two aspects: psychological and social. As a psychological aspect cognitive activity the active state of the child and the quality of the cognitive activity of a preschooler. The range of the social component is limited not only by the personal manifestations of the child, but also by his attitude to the content and character activities: interest, development of the motivational sphere, the desire to mobilize their moral and volitional efforts and the specific addressee of the application of these efforts, the child's achievement of educational cognitive purpose.
Therefore, it will be objective to note that cognitive activity establishes the quality of activity, but very peculiar - through the attitude of the subject, containing the willingness and desire to act, to do the work faster, more energetically, to take the initiative.
Peculiarity cognitive activity in senior preschool age finds its expression through the selection of its structural components. The desire to structure cognitive activity has been underway for quite a long time. The main structural components are the following:
- individual pace of action, the need for strenuous activity, the desire for various activities (M. V. Bodunov);
- the type of needs that cause activity, the structure of mental regulation activity, patterns development(and upbringing) activity(A. M. Matyushkin);
– cognitive needs, abilities, volitional qualities (F. Z. Zabikhullin);
- a critical approach to oneself, self-esteem, attentiveness, organization, erudition, curiosity, initiative, emotional interest, creative thinking (A. G. Chachovaya).
Sh. A. Amonashvili believes that in the structure cognitive activity should be highlighted: motive, object knowledge, ways and means of action with the object, the mediating role of the teacher, the result cognitive activity.
In structure cognitive activity of older preschoolers we have identified the following Components:
1) personal, which shows itself in certain behavioral changes preschooler, related to his cognitive sphere. intensive development of all cognitive processes conditioned child's memory development, the occurrence of such behavioral reactions and manifestations that testify about a special state of readiness for the forthcoming activity. This state is expressed through a system of actions, signs, depending on the mood. preschooler on the upcoming activity, and finds a way out through focused attention, the manifestation of excessive interest, curiosity, active energy, etc.. d.
So the personality component cognitive activity essentially reflects the state that preceded the activity;
2) motivational. Level development motivational-need sphere older preschooler, which is the basis for development of his cognitive interest needs. Interest is most often defined as a perceived need. Hence, interest "is fixed as an objectively existing relationship between the state of the environment and the needs of the social subject." However, as active power interest will appear only reflected in the mind, taking the form of an incentive motive for action. Therefore, the motivational component is an instrumental basis cognitive activity, expressing a special relationship between individuals regarding the implementation and satisfaction of their needs. She finds herself through presence and character cognitive need, cognitive motivation, manifestations cognitive interest;
3) emotional-volitional, manifested in the existence of the emotional states of the child and the manifestation of his volitional impulses.
Emotions and feelings inherent in the child contribute to the acquisition and processing of knowledge. The integrity of feelings and thinking contains meaning only when the subject is a person. “Feeling, a person experiences uniqueness, singularity, individuality, all the diversity of being. Hence, any human activity directed at another person or at a thing is mediated by feelings and sensuality. On the other hand, emotions and feelings are a manifestation active cognitive need, in which the intellectual, emotional and volitional spheres are combined into one whole. The contemplative activity of a person begins with the impact of being on feelings and ends with the verification of abstract thinking in the sphere of feelings, even if all this happens in communication.
The emotional-volitional component is a period of reinforcement, adjustment and renewal cognitive activity, where emotions guarantee the direct flow of the activity, color activity, give it emotional meaning, personal significance for older preschooler. Reality breaks through and is regularly corrected by sensory contemplation. It is only through feelings that the uniqueness and individuality of being can be revealed. The manifestation of feelings is possible in the case of « active relationship» . Inclusion in the process cognitive activity, will justified the emergence of the need for tension in the process itself cognitive activity. Will in this case acts as a regulator cognitive activity and sets the direction activity.
Thus, the starting system of this component cognitive activity is driven: a) emotional interest that affects the perception and focus of the child's attention; b) the will that regulates the process and flow cognitive activity;
4) activity characterizing the activity itself preschooler, its intensity and character. “The objective activity of a person without his development loses its meaning and expediency, and development the person himself outside of objective activity is impossible" (K. Marx, F. Engels). We see confirmation of the need to single out this component in the fact that in the process of realizing human subjectness, only objective activity is capable of creating forms of mental reflection and self-consciousness. The very personality of a person is created by activity. Consciousness is the necessary moment of its own movement of activity to change the objective world. The subjectivity of a person is represented by his consciousness.
It should be emphasized that it is in activity and only through activity that the accumulation of a new content of human activity(A. N. Leontiev, S. L. Rubinshtein) and cognitive activity. Activity Component cognitive activity involves the implementation of activity through stages of successive actions and operations. cognitive activity is revealed through the presence of a complex of such characteristics as the desire to achieve educational purposes, the ability to act, to show independence, responsibility in the performance of a task, the desire to complete the work quickly, take the initiative, etc.
Consequently, development of cognitive activity of older preschoolers in this case, it is carried out through the selection of structural components cognitive activity. The structural components are personal, motivational, emotional-volitional and activity.
Note that the special significance for development of cognitive activity of preschool children has communication. Communication with senior for the child it serves as the only possible contact in which he comprehends and appropriates what people have previously acquired. It is through communication with adults cognitive activity of preschoolers increases, develops, is being improved. Of particular importance is not the intensity of communication, but its content and direction. Most efficient in terms of development of cognitive activity the child will have communication - cooperation, objectively determined by the style of interaction that the adult adheres to. Most efficient in terms of development of cognitive activity of preschool children there will be a democratic style of communication between a teacher and a child, which is characterized by a focus on the individual characteristics and capabilities of the child, an open and free discussion of problems together with children.
Thus, particular importance for optimal development of cognitive activity of preschoolers has a style of communication with them on the part of an adult.
So, as a result of our analysis, we have determined cognitive activity, as a changing property of the personality, which shows the deep conviction of the child in the need knowledge, which finds manifestation in the consciousness of the purpose of the activity, readiness for action and directly in the cognitive activity.
The development of cognitive activity in preschool age has a positive effect on personal development. Because of this, it is necessary, in our opinion, purposeful pedagogical activity to development of cognitive activity of preschoolers.
Bibliography
1. Voloshena, E. A. Diagnostics cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age psychological sciences / E. A. Voloshena, O. N. Istratova // Privolzhsky Scientific Bulletin. - 2014. - No. 9. – P. 93–97.
2. Istratova, O. N. Workshop for children psycho-correction: games, exercises, techniques [Text] / O. N. Istratova. - Rostov-on-Don, 2008. - 2nd ed. – 349 p.
3. Kozlova, S. A., Preschool pedagogy [Text]: studies. allowance for students 2nd edition / S. A. Kozlova, T. A. Kulikova. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2008. - 416 p.
4. Nefedova, A. N. Structure cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age in pre-school education [Text] / A. N. Nefedova // Pedagogical education and science. -2011. - No. 3. - S. 19-22.
Ryabova, L. N. Study cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age / L. N. Usova // Bulletin of the Cherepovets State University. - 2015. - No. 4. - P. 136–139.
GRADUATE WORK
FORMATION OF COGNITIVE ACTIVITY IN OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE DIDACTIC GAME
Introduction
1. Theoretical foundations of the problem of the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game
Conclusion
Applications
Introduction
Changes in the social conditions of life in our society are determined by other trends in the development of the education system. Education is defined as the process of training and education in the interests of the individual, society and the state. The reorientation of education to personal values requires the teacher to carry out such activities that will be aimed at developing the individuality and uniqueness of each child, which implies, first of all, the development of cognitive activity and the disclosure of his creative potential.
The problem of the development of cognitive activity of preschoolers is one of the most relevant in child psychology, since human interaction with the outside world is possible due to his activity and activity, and also because activity is an indispensable prerequisite for the formation of mental qualities of a person, his independence and initiative. And so now, modern programs provide for the formation of preschoolers not separate fragmentary "lightweight" knowledge about the environment, but quite reliable elementary systems of ideas about the various properties and relationships of objects and phenomena. One of the leading experts in the field of mental education of preschoolers, N. N. Poddyakov just as rightly emphasizes that at the present stage it is necessary to give children the key to understanding reality, and not strive for an exhaustive amount of knowledge, as was the case in the traditional system of mental education.
The problem of cognitive activity is one of the most difficult in pedagogy, since, being an individual psychological characteristic of a person, it reflects very complex interactions of psychophysiological, biological and social conditions of development. The problem of cognitive activity, methods and methods of activating educational activity were studied by L. I. Bozhovich, L. S. Vygotsky, P. I. Galperin, V. V. Davydov, A. N. Leontiev, A. M. Matyushkin, A. V. Petrovsky , N. F. Talyzina , T. I. Shamova , G. M. Shchukina , D. B. Elkonin , I. S. Yakimanskaya .
In domestic preschool pedagogy, various forms of cognitive activity of children have been studied: curiosity (D. B. Godovikova, T. M. Zemlyanukhina), cognitive interests (T. A. Kulikova, N. G. Markova, etc.).
Cognitive activity with the correct pedagogical organization of the activities of pupils and systematic and purposeful educational activities can and should become a stable feature of the personality of a preschooler and has a strong influence on his development.
All this determined the relevance of the research topic.
Object of study: cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age.
Subject of study: didactic game as a means of developing the cognitive activity of older preschool children.
The purpose of the study: to theoretically identify and, through experimental work, test the effectiveness of didactic games as a means of developing the cognitive activity of older preschool children.
The study of psychological and pedagogical literature on the topic of the study made it possible to put forward the following hypothesis: it is assumed that cognitive activity in children of older preschool age can be really and significantly increased if didactic games are purposefully and comprehensively used in the process of teaching preschoolers.
In accordance with the purpose and hypothesis of the study, the following tasks were defined:
) Consider the concept of "cognitive activity" in the psychological and pedagogical literature.
) To identify the features of the development of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age.
) Determine the means of developing cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age.
) Experimentally test the effectiveness of didactic games as a means of developing cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age.
The methodological basis and theoretical basis for the study of this work are the conceptual ideas of the development of cognitive activity in preschoolers.
To solve the tasks and test the hypothesis, the following research methods were used: theoretical analysis and generalization of psychological and pedagogical literature on the research problem, observation of the educational process, pedagogical experiment, method of analyzing the pedagogical experiment, statistical methods of data processing.
Experimental research base: MDOU "Kindergarten No. 85 of the combined type", Saransk. The experiment involved pupils of the senior group in the amount of 24 people.
The practical significance lies in the fact that the use of the results and conclusions of the study in the conditions of modern preschool educational institutions allows educators to solve issues related to the development of cognitive activity of older preschool children in a didactic game.
Structure and scope of work: the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references, including 58 titles, applications. The work includes tables (4), diagrams (2). The total amount of work is 68 pages of computer text.
Theoretical foundations of the problem of the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game
1 The concept of "cognitive activity" in the psychological and pedagogical literature
The problem of the development of the child's personality is one of the central ones in pedagogy, as evidenced by the works of scientific teachers, including: P. P. Blonsky, V. A. Kan-Kalik, Ya. A. Comensky, B. G. Likhachev, A. S. Makarenko, I. G. Pestalozzi, K. D. Ushinsky, etc.
The process of development and education of a child of preschool age is reflected in the works of L. G. Bolotina, S. A. Kozlova, M. I. Lisina, E. O. Smirnova and others.
Let's reveal the concepts of "cognition", "activity", "cognitive activity".
Cognition - “the process of mental reflection and perception of the objective world in the mind, the result of which is new knowledge about its essence; specific human activity, focused on the discovery of the laws of nature and society, the secrets of human existence and the world, the discovery of possible ways of acting with objects and phenomena. Specially organized knowledge is the essence of the educational process.
Activity. The concept of "activity" is approximately equally often used in psychology and related sciences to refer to three different phenomena: 1) a certain, specific activity of an individual; in Romance and Anglo-Germanic languages for two different Russian terms - activity and activity - there is only one term (for example, in English - activity), 2) a state opposite to passivity, but this is not necessarily an actual activity, but maybe just readiness for activity, a state close to what is denoted by the terms alertness, level of wakefulness, and, finally, 3) to denote initiative, or a phenomenon opposite to reactivity: in this case, the fact that the subject acted on his own initiative is emphasized, inwardly involved, rather than reacting thoughtlessly, like a machine.
So, activity - activity, activity - readiness for activity and activity - initiative. In the selected three variants (and there are undoubtedly many more of them), despite significant differences, there is also a common part: one where they mutually overlap. Common, coinciding is an indication of the presence of energy and its mobilization. When psychologists use the term "activity" without any additional definitions, they usually have in mind just the central energy charge, which lies in the variants of phenomena it designates. Therefore, such phrases as “mental energy” (C. Spearman), “nervous-psychic energy” (A.F. Lazursky) are synonymous with “activity”. Understood in this way, activity is naturally regarded as the "general factor of giftedness" and an important "base for the classification of personalities." .
mental activity. This concept has a more limited scope than activity in general or mental activity. Its central core is made up of cognitive functions and processes. D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya and I. A. Petukhova define mental activity as “the need for mental activity”, and in N. S. Leites we read an amended and expanded formulation indicating that “mental activity ... largely expresses the natural conditioned need for mental impressions and mental effort. At the same time, we are talking primarily about broad curiosity, no matter what psychological means it may be realized: intellectual, perceptual, or even purely sensory.
Particular attention is drawn to the genetic approach to the study of mental activity, presented in the book by N. S. Leites “Mental abilities and age”. The author believes that, along with self-regulation, activity is one of the two universal conditions for activity at all levels "from elementary movement to the most complex types of creativity" . At the same time, he claims that “mental activity is inherent in every healthy child,” albeit to varying degrees. It gives the dynamic properties of mental activity an extremely important role in the formation of general abilities. The extensive material of his own observations leads N. S. Leites to the conclusion that "each long period of school childhood is also a qualitatively unique stage in the development of activity." N. S. Leites' statement about the qualitative transformation of mental activity with age seems to us extremely productive for specialists working in the field of genetic psychology. There is no doubt that it applies not only to school age, as described in detail in the book of N. S. Leites, but also to all previous stages of childhood.
intellectual activity. In recent years, an even narrower concept has often been used in the series "activity" - mental activity - mental activity - the concept of intellectual activity. It denotes only mental (and not generally cognitive) activity, and even unfolding in peculiar conditions. The nomination and most frequent use of the term is associated with the works of D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya: “Intellectual activity is an integral property of some hypothetical system, the main components (subsystems) of which are intellectual (general mental abilities) and non-intellectual (primarily motivational) factors of mental activity. At the same time, intellectual activity is not reduced to either one or the other separately.
cognitive activity. The concept of cognitive activity has been used for about two decades by employees of the laboratory of psychology of children of early and preschool age, who are engaged in studying the mental development of children during the first seven years of life in the course of communication with people around them.
The advancement of this concept was preceded by an experimental study of cognitive activity in young children. Even in the first six months of life, an infant can observe complexly structured activities that include all the most important structural elements - needs, motives, actions, and not just simple operations that occur almost automatically under the influence of an external stimulus that triggers them. Cognitive activity has a specific subject and result: its subject is the information contained in the subject to which the child's attention is directed, and its result is a reflection of the properties of the subject, their image.
We believe that cognitive activity occupies a structural place in activity close to the level of need. This is the state of readiness for cognitive activity, the state that precedes activity and generates it. Activity is fraught with activity. The concept of cognitive activity has an important meaning for us. The psychologist cannot observe the need in an open form: it is inaccessible to the eye. What we see, measure and record in an experiment is the essence of action. Starting from them, we can conclude about the properties of the need, about its quantitative and qualitative parameters. And in this mental movement from outside to inside, we go through an intermediate stage, called the term "activity": activity - activity - need. Activity is a need, already weighed down by the matter of movement and words, anticipations and memories. When we say that a subject has a need, we usually prove it by referring to a subsequent activity which he then develops. Saying that the subject is cognitively active, we list the states that are not yet an activity, but already indicate readiness for it (signs of interest, attention, signals about setting up to start work).
Thus, based on the above points of view, as well as on the works of M. I. Lisina, A. M. Matyushkin, convincingly proving that cognitive activity is a formed quality of the personality, we define cognitive activity as a complex personality formation that develops in vivo, which determines the qualitative characteristics of cognitive activity.
An analysis of the literature has shown that the most substantiated is the allocation by the authors of the following components of the structure of cognitive activity: emotional, volitional, motivational, content-procedural, and the component of social orientation.
Given the difficulty of fixing such a complex phenomenon as cognitive activity, and foreseeing the possibility of uneven development of its individual components, we chose the approach of element-by-element study. In each structural component, we have designated empirical elements that can be observed, fixed and theoretically analyzed. Each external sign of an element of the structure of cognitive activity can be reflected in certain criteria that characterize the level of manifestation of this element.
The system of external signs allows fixing the qualitative state of the components of cognitive activity, and the selected levels of manifestation of these signs reflect the degree of formation of the components from a quantitative standpoint.
Given that the development of the emotional, volitional and motivational components is largely due to the flow of internal mental processes, we attribute these components to the internal sphere of cognitive activity, and the content-operational and social orientation component to the external sphere.
The selected components of cognitive activity can be at different levels of development, but at the same time they, as parts of the system, are in complex relationships of mutual influence and interdependence.
So, for example, a positive emotional attitude to cognitive activity stimulates the development of the content-process component and vice versa, a significant amount of knowledge of skills and abilities creates a positive attitude towards learning activities.
All the levels of cognitive activity identified by researchers (D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya, A. M. Matyushkin, G. I. Shchukina, etc.) can be classified according to the following criteria.
In relation to activity:
Potential activity that characterizes a person in terms of readiness, desire for activity.
Realized activity characterizes the personality through the quality of the activity performed in this particular case. Main indicators: vigor, intensity, effectiveness, independence, creativity, willpower.
By duration and stability:
Situational activity that is episodic in nature.
Integral activity, which determines the general dominant attitude towards activity.
By the nature of the activity:
Reproductive-imitative. It is characterized by the desire to remember and reproduce ready-made knowledge, to master the way of their application according to the model.
Search and execution. It is characterized by the desire to identify the meaning of phenomena and processes, to determine the connections between them, to master the ways of applying knowledge in changed conditions. The means to accomplish the task are found independently.
Creative. It is carried out by searching, initiative in setting goals and objectives, developing an independent optimal program of action, transferring knowledge to new conditions.
These levels of formation of cognitive activity are distinguished from the standpoint of a qualitative measurement, from the point of view of a quantitative measurement, three levels are usually distinguished: high, medium and low.
The degree of success in the formation of cognitive activity depends on the influence of a system of external and internal factors. We refer to internal factors biological factors, as well as mental properties of a person (abilities, character, temperament and orientation), to external ones - social and pedagogical ones.
In productive cognitive activity, these levels are expressed:
) as the activity of attention, caused by the novelty of the stimulus and unfolding into a system of orienting-research activity;
) as an exploratory cognitive activity evoked in a problem situation in the conditions of training, in communication, professional activity;
) as a personal activity, expressed in the form of "intellectual initiative", "supra-situational activity", "self-realization" of the individual.
Adaptive forms of activity and the processes corresponding to them are caused by numerous needs and those types of motivation that have received a common characteristic of achievement (success) motives. Modern strategic goals of education focus on the formation of a creative, independent personality, its development as an active subject of its own life and activity. In this regard, pedagogy is actively discussing the problem of the transition from the reproductive model of education, which ensures the reproduction of "ready-made knowledge", to a productive model focused on enhancing the cognitive activity of students.
In this direction, research is being carried out on various aspects of the process of forming the cognitive activity of children (L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Godovikova, V. V. Golitsin, E. E. Kriger, S. A. Kozlova, T. A. Kulikova, A N. Leontiev, G. I. Schukina and others). Scientists define the essence of the concept of "cognitive activity", however, in modern science there is still no unambiguous interpretation of it, which requires additional research to clarify. Single studies are devoted to the study of the factors and conditions for the development of cognitive activity in preschool children. At the same time, scientists and teachers point out that there is a decrease in cognitive activity in children of older preschool age.
All authors involved in the study of this issue (B. G. Ananiev, D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya, D. B. Godovikova, T. M. Zemlyanukhina, T. A. Kulikova, A. V. Petrovsky, G. I. Shchukina and etc.), believe that cognitive activity is one of the important qualities that characterize the mental development of a preschooler. Cognitive activity, formed during preschool childhood, is an important driving force in the cognitive development of the child.
We define cognitive activity as the desire for the most complete knowledge of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.
The development of cognitive activity is determined by qualitative changes reflected in energy and content indicators. The energy indicator characterizes the child's interest in activities, perseverance in cognition. A meaningful indicator characterizes the effectiveness of activities in the process of obtaining knowledge, the allocation of various cultural contents in a situation.
As factors influencing the formation of a child's cognitive activity, the authors who studied this problem singled out communication (D. B. Godovikova, T. M. Zemlyanukhina, M. I. Lisina, T. A. Serebryakova, etc.), the need in new impressions (L. I. Bozhovich), the general level of development of activity (N. S. Leites). The study of this issue forces us to pay attention to the situation in which the development of the child takes place, and the social norms within which this development takes place. Therefore, it seems to us especially relevant to study the development of cognitive activity within the framework that society defines.
The study and use of various types of situations has become widespread in educational psychology (problem situations - A. M. Matyushkin, G. I. Shchukina and others, conflicting situations - N. E. Veraksa).
Cognitive activity develops from the need for new experiences, which is inherent in every person from birth. At preschool age, on the basis of this need, in the process of developing orienting and research activities, the child develops a desire to learn and discover as much as possible new things.
The most common indicators of a child's cognitive activity are:
concentration, concentration of attention on the subject being studied, topic (for example, any teacher recognizes the interest of the class by “attentive silence”);
the child, on his own initiative, turns to a particular field of knowledge; seeks to learn more, participate in the discussion;
positive emotional experiences when overcoming difficulties in activities,
emotional manifestations (interested facial expressions, gestures).
The latter are often considered as the most diagnostic, but their use is associated with significant difficulties.
Direct cognitive activity, curiosity.
This is a genetically early form of cognitive activity, characteristic mainly of preschool age, but quite often manifested during school childhood.
direct interest in new facts, entertaining phenomena, related questions to adults - parents, teachers;
The main condition that ensures this level of cognitive activity is a rich information environment, as well as the possibility of practical activities in it. The main "barrier" that prevents the development of this level of cognitive activity is the early introduction of theoretical forms of education, too early familiarization of the child with "book culture".
In other words, everything helps that contributes to the enrichment of the sensory-practical experience of the child, interferes with what gives him ready-made knowledge before he needed them to comprehend his own experience.
At each age stage, cognitive activity has its own forms of behavioral manifestations and requires special conditions for its formation.
In pedagogical dictionaries, the concept of cognitive activity is interpreted as “a personality trait that manifests itself in its positive attitude to the content and process of learning, to the effective mastery of knowledge and methods of activity in the optimal time, in the mobilization of moral and volitional efforts to achieve educational and cognitive goals.
According to G. M. Kodzhaspirova, activity is “an active attitude of the individual to the world, the ability to produce socially significant transformations of the material and spiritual environment based on the development of human historical experience; it manifests itself in creative activity, volitional acts, communication, is formed under the influence of the environment and education", and cognitive activity is "the active state of the student, which is characterized by the desire for learning, mental stress and the manifestation of volitional efforts in the process of mastering knowledge" .
Cognitive activity determines the degree (intensity, strength) of the "contact" of the student with the subject of his activity (playing, labor, educational).
The following components are distinguished in the structure of cognitive activity:
willingness to make independent decisions, learning tasks;
desire for independent activity;
conscientiousness of performance of tasks;
systematic training;
the desire to know the surrounding activities.
Management of personality activity is traditionally called activation. It can be defined as a constantly driving process of stimulating energetic, purposeful learning, overcoming passive and stereotyped activity, recession and stagnation in mental work.
The concept of cognitive interest is closely related to the concept of cognitive interest.
The problem of cognitive interest is widely reflected in psychological and pedagogical research: B. G. Ananiev, L. I. Bozhovich, L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, A. K. Markova and others.
Thus, Ya. A. Comenius considered cognitive interest to be one of the main ways to create a bright and joyful environment for teaching a child.
K. D. Ushinsky saw the main internal mechanism of successful learning in cognitive interest. The great teacher and didactician showed that the external mechanism of coercion in teaching does not achieve the desired result.
Studies by psychologists and educators (A. N. Leontiev, A. Maslow, P. I. Pidkasisty, Sl. Rubinshtein, etc.) have shown that the content of knowledge is not the only source of stimulation of interest in learning: there are a lot of various incentives to strengthen and form interest in knowledge comes from the activity itself, which gives birth to intellectual and emotional satisfactions.
The formation of cognitive activity and independence of children is one of such areas of stimulation. This is one of the defining lines of adult activity, and the formation of activity and independence is the most important indicator of the fruitfulness of cognition.
Cognitive activity, if it is sufficiently stable, is considered in the studies of psychologists and teachers as a personal formation that expresses an intellectual response to the process of cognition, active participation, mental and emotional responsiveness of the child in the cognitive process. It is characterized by:
search orientation in cognition;
cognitive interest, the desire to satisfy it with the help of various sources;
emotional upsurge, well-being of the course of any activity.
In turn, cognitive independence, which is formed on the basis of cognitive activity, is characterized by many scientists as a personality trait.
The well-known didacticist M. A. Danilov reveals cognitive independence with the help of the following features:
desire and ability to think independently;
the ability to navigate in a new situation, find your own approach to a new task;
the desire not only to understand the acquired knowledge, but also the ways of obtaining them;
critical approach to the judgment of others;
independence of one's own judgments.
2 Features of the development of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age
Preschool childhood is a long period that lays the foundation for the future personality and largely determines it. It is preschool childhood that is the period of initial knowledge of the surrounding reality. In modern developmental and pedagogical psychology, the mental development of a child is understood as a process and result of the appropriation of the cultural and historical experience of previous generations. A necessary condition for the appropriation of this experience is the activity of the child, including cognitive activity, manifested in the corresponding activity.
The earliest form of cognitive activity is curiosity.
Outwardly, it appears as follows:
direct interest in new facts, entertaining phenomena, related questions for adults;
positive emotional experience associated with obtaining new information.
This manifests the orientation of preschoolers to the outside world, their sensual and predominantly practical attitude to reality.
The main condition that ensures this level of cognitive activity is a rich information environment, as well as the possibility of practical activities in it. In other words, everything that contributes to the enrichment of the child's sensory-practical experience helps, and everything that gives him ready-made knowledge before he needs it to comprehend his own experience hinders.
Cognitive activity associated with the acquisition of knowledge and skills is necessary for solving cognitive problems, striving for intellectual achievements.
This type of activity is characterized by:
the desire to solve intellectual problems;
the desire to obtain funds to solve these problems;
the need for intellectual achievements;
questions on the topic being studied such as “how to do it”, “why it should be done”, “what is right, what is wrong”, etc., characterizing the desire to learn, assimilate new information, master a new way of acting;
installation on mastering the proposed method of activity;
positive emotional experience associated with the assimilation of new knowledge, techniques, methods of activity, the development of complex operations, finding ways to solve problems;
interest in the meaning of unfamiliar words;
situational nature of cognitive interest: after receiving new information, at the end of the action (class, task completion), interest is exhausted, symptoms of satiety appear.
The next type of cognitive activity, aimed at understanding the essential properties of objects and phenomena, understanding the significant relationships between them, is characterized by a combination of appropriation of an activity goal set from the outside and an independent choice of ways and means to achieve it.
To the external features characteristic of this species are added:
questions characterizing the interest in comprehending the content, essential properties of objects and phenomena;
free and interested operation of knowledge and skills in the area related to interest;
the desire to perform tasks of increased difficulty;
search for independent ways to solve the tasks;
using your own examples on the topic under study;
relative stability of interest, the manifestation of interest is not associated with a specific learning situation.
The main conditions for the development of this level of cognitive activity are the inclusion of cognitive activity in the general context of a child's life, the level and ways of expressing the cognitive activity of adults - teachers and parents.
Independent cognitive activity is characterized by an orientation towards establishing sources, cause-and-effect relationships, mechanisms of surrounding phenomena, events and oneself.
In addition to the above signs in this case are added:
insatiable nature of cognitive interest - the desire to learn more; new knowledge, new skill gives rise to new questions aimed at a deeper penetration into its content;
interest in the knowledge of patterns, significant cause-and-effect relationships, manifested both in independent activity and in questions asked by the teacher;
independent formulation of questions and objectives of the study; initiative in setting new tasks and problems;
search for original ways to achieve goals, solve problems;
interest in the method of obtaining new knowledge, the discovery of new patterns in a particular area, that is, in mastering the primary forms of professional thinking;
highlighting the most significant, important aspects of the phenomenon under study;
active participation in discussions, disputes on a subject of interest, area;
the desire to express and defend their point of view;
awareness of interest - the child is able to explain what he likes or dislikes.
Each level of cognitive activity forms the basis for a higher level and is included in its composition, is necessary for the full manifestation of higher levels of cognitive activity. The conditions necessary for the development of cognitive activity at each stage are also included in the conditions necessary for ensuring cognitive activity at a higher level, but they occupy an increasingly subordinate position.
The cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age is characterized by the optimal attitude to the activities performed, the intensity of mastering various ways of positively achieving results, the experience of creative activity, and the focus on its practical use in their daily lives. The basis of the child's cognitive activity in experimentation is the contradiction between the existing knowledge, skills, experience gained in achieving results by trial and error and new cognitive tasks, situations that have arisen in the process of setting the goal of experimentation and achieving it. The source of cognitive activity is the overcoming of this contradiction between the acquired experience and the need to transform, interpret it in their practical activities, which allows the child to show independence and creative attitude when performing the task.
An analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature makes it possible to formulate the features of the development of the cognitive activity of preschoolers: early detection, intensive development, manifestation in various types of activities; vivid expression in questions, reasoning, comparison, experimentation; manifestation of cognitive interest at the level of curiosity; after 4-5 years, this activity takes the form of initiative transformative activity. The study defines the criteria for the cognitive activity of preschool children: cognitive orientation, interest, initiative, independence and originality.
Thus, the cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age is characterized by the optimal attitude to the activities performed, the intensity of mastering various ways of positively achieving results, the experience of creative activity, and the focus on its practical use in their daily lives.
Analyzing the above, we can draw conclusions: with the growth and development of the child, his cognitive activity more and more begins to gravitate towards cognitive activity, which, like any activity, is characterized by a certain structure. Its elements are: the incentive-motivational part (need, motives, goals), the subject of activity, the correspondence between the subject and motive of the activity and the means of its implementation (actions and operations). It follows that a necessary condition for the development of cognitive interest in preschoolers is an activity that carries a cognitive function.
In the period of preschool childhood, the primary image of the world is born due to the cognitive activity of the child, which has its own specifics at each age stage.
At senior preschool age, on the basis of the experience gained in educational, playful and labor activities, prerequisites are formed for the development of cognitive activity.
3 Didactic game - as a means of forming cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age
cognitive activity preschool game
Developing the cognitive sphere of a preschool child, it is necessary to strive to create such conditions for his life, development and learning, so that the richest emotional and sensory perception of the world will allow the baby to become a Human. This also requires the use of various means. A means is a technique, a way of doing something to achieve something.
Conventionally, the means of developing cognitive activity and cognitive interest are divided into two groups: the activities of children and works of spiritual and material culture. At the early stages of a child's development, personal experience is the most important way to learn about the world around him. But very soon it becomes insufficient.
The activities of preschool children differ in types and content, and, consequently, in their ability to influence mental development. In various types of activity, different cognitive tasks arise before the child, the solution of which is an organic part of this or that activity. The mental education of preschoolers is carried out in game activities, in mobile, didactic games specially created by adults, various knowledge, mental operations, and mental actions that children must master are enclosed. Creative games are reflective in nature: in them, children reflect their impressions of the life around them, the knowledge they have learned earlier. During the game, this knowledge rises to a new level - it is translated into a speech plan, therefore, it is generalized, transformed, improved.
The "Concept of preschool education" orients teachers towards the humanization of the educational process of the kindergarten through "... the implementation of specific age-specific mental development opportunities for preschoolers ... in age-appropriate activities ...".
During the period of active transformations in preschool pedagogy, the search for ways to humanize educational work with children and the construction of new models of interaction between an adult and a child, the attention of scientists and practitioners is drawn to play activities. Studies by domestic psychologists (Leontiev A.N., Elkonina D.B.) showed that the development of the child occurs in all types of activities, but, above all, in the game.
The essence of the game as the leading type of activity lies in the fact that children reflect in it various aspects of life, features of adult relationships, clarify their knowledge of the surrounding reality. The game is, in a way, a means of cognition of reality by the child.
Elkonin D. B. emphasized that the game is a complex psychological phenomenon that gives the effect of general mental development. According to Ushinsky K.D., the child “lives” in the game and the traces of this life remain deeper in him than the traces of real life. In the game, the child learns to subordinate his behavior to the rules of the game, learns the rules of communication with people, develops his mental abilities and cognitive interests, which are especially important for successful schooling. Playing for a child is a serious occupation.
Practitioners have developed the principles, content and methods of mental education of children, allowing to increase the learning effect of education, which is essentially a didactic game.
The use of didactic games as a means of developing the mental abilities of preschool children has its roots far into the past. Thus, the tradition of widespread use of didactic games for the purpose of educating and educating children, which has developed in the folk teacher, has been developed in the works of scientists and in the practical activities of many teachers of the past F. Fröbel, M. Montessori, E. I. Tikheeva, A. I Sorokin and others. In fact, in every pedagogical system of preschool education, didactic games occupy a special place.
In Soviet pedagogy, the system of didactic games was created in the 60s in connection with the development of the theory of sensory education. Its authors are well-known teachers and psychologists: L. A. Venger, A. P. Usova, V. N. Avanesova and others. Recently, the search for scientists (O. M. Dyachenko, N. E. Veraksa, E. O. Smirnova, A. K. Bondarenko, N. Ya. Mikhailenko, N. A. Korotkova and others) are moving towards creating a series of games for the full development of children's intellect.
Assessing the didactic game and its role in the education system, A.P. Usova wrote: “Didactic games, game tasks and techniques can increase the susceptibility of children, diversify the child’s learning activities, and make them entertaining.”
At present, as in the past, great importance is attached to the didactic game. There is a clear effective impact on the intellect of the growing child, which confirms the experience of many years of practice of working with children, not only in the work of well-known teachers, but also in the work of educators in general.
The research has accumulated facts that characterize the didactic game as a form of learning organization. Didactic game contributes to the development of cognitive abilities; obtaining new knowledge, their generalization and consolidation; in the course of the game they assimilate socially developed means and methods of mental activity; in the process of didactic games, many complex phenomena are divided into simple ones and vice versa, single ones are generalized; consequently, analytical and synthetic activities are carried out; some didactic games do not seem to bring anything new to the knowledge of children, but they are of great benefit in that they teach children to apply existing knowledge in new conditions; enrichment of the child's sensory experience, while developing his mental abilities (the ability to compare, enrich, classify objects and phenomena of the world around him, express his judgments, draw conclusions). Didactic game is an indispensable means of overcoming various difficulties in mental activity in individual children.
In the didactic game, the dictionary is replenished and activated, the correct sound pronunciation is formed, coherent speech develops; a number of games are successfully used to develop the phonemic side of the language: for example, a fascinating game action encourages children to repeatedly repeat the same sound combination, such repetition of sounds does not tire children, because they are interested in the game itself, then they play the role of a bird, then the role of a driving car, and the more passionate the child is, the more actively he reproduces the necessary sounds, the more complete the pedagogical effect.
A didactic game helps the social and moral development of a preschool child: in such a game, knowledge of the relationship between children and adults takes place, in it the child shows a sensitive attitude towards camaraderie, learns to be fair, to yield if necessary, to help in trouble, etc.
In the didactic game, artistic education takes place - when performing any action, the child thinks how beautiful, elegant it is, how appropriate it is in this particular situation, monitors the expressiveness of his speech and the speech of those around him, the development of creative imagination occurs with a bright penetrating transmission of the artistic image .
Thus, having considered the theoretical foundations for the development of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age in a didactic game, we came to the following conclusions:
.Cognitive activity is the desire for the most complete knowledge of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. The development of cognitive activity is determined by qualitative changes reflected in energy and content indicators. The energy indicator characterizes the child's interest in activities, perseverance in cognition. A meaningful indicator characterizes the effectiveness of activities in the process of obtaining knowledge, the allocation of various cultural contents in a situation.
.In pedagogical dictionaries, the concept of cognitive activity is interpreted as “a personality trait that manifests itself in its positive attitude to the content and process of learning, to the effective mastery of knowledge and methods of activity in the optimal time, in the mobilization of moral and volitional efforts to achieve educational and cognitive goals.
.Features of the development of cognitive activity in preschool age are that the cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age is characterized by the optimal attitude to the activities performed, the intensity of mastering various ways of positively achieving results, the experience of creative activity, and the focus on its practical use in their daily lives. The basis of the child's cognitive activity in experimentation is the contradiction between the existing knowledge, skills, experience gained in achieving results by trial and error and new cognitive tasks, situations that have arisen in the process of setting the goal of experimentation and achieving it.
.Didactic game as a means of developing the cognitive activity of preschool children contributes to:
Experimental work on the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game
1 Diagnosis of the level of formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age
The experimental part of the work was carried out on the basis of the MDOU "Kindergarten No. 85 of a combined type" in Saransk. The experiment involved children of the older group in the amount of 24 people. They were divided into two groups: control: Tanya B., Lena I., Vova D., Yura S., Sophia L., Andrey V., Arina M., Luda K., Maxim L., Lera S, Seva G and experimental: Olya Sh., Pasha P., Sasha I., Seryozha N., Alina Ch., Yana M., Roma B., Irina B., Katya K., Vanya P., Ira K., Lenya S .
In the course of the ascertaining experiment, primary diagnostics of the level of formation of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age in the experimental and control groups was carried out.
At the second stage of the experiment, didactic games were conducted aimed at developing the cognitive activity of older preschool children. With the control group at the formative stage of the experiment, only the activities provided for by the educational plan were carried out. The children in this group were not included in the formative experiment.
At the control stage of the experiment, a repeated diagnosis of the level of formation of cognitive activity of older preschool children in the experimental and control groups was carried out, and an analysis of the results obtained was carried out.
The purpose of the ascertaining experiment: to determine the level of formation of cognitive activity of older preschoolers in both groups.
An analysis of the literature on the problem of this study revealed the criteria for the development of cognitive activity in children of the studied age category according to the following indicators:
development of curiosity;
Development of independence
development of initiative;
high interest in the process of cognition;
practical adaptation to situations.
Based on the selected criteria, as well as for analytical processing of the research results and obtaining quantitative indicators, three levels of formation of cognitive activity in a preschooler were identified: low, medium and high.
Low level: the child is not inquisitive. does not show initiative and independence in the process of completing tasks, lose interest in them, in case of difficulties they show negative emotions (chagrin, irritation), does not ask cognitive questions; need a step-by-step explanation of the conditions for completing the task, showing how to use one or another ready-made model, the help of an adult, does not show interest in learning.
Intermediate level: the child is inquisitive, there is a large degree of independence in accepting a task and finding a way to complete it. Experiencing difficulties in solving a problem, children do not lose their emotional attitude towards them, but turn to the teacher for help, ask questions to clarify the conditions for its implementation and, having received a hint, complete the task to the end, which indicates the child’s interest in this activity and the desire to look for ways problem solving, but together with an adult.
High level: the child is very inquisitive, seeks to reason independently, shows initiative, independence, interest and desire to solve cognitive problems. In case of difficulties, the child is not distracted, shows perseverance and perseverance in achieving a result that brings him satisfaction, joy and pride in achievements.
To identify the level of formation of cognitive activity, we settled on four tasks, two of which assumed the active productive activity of preschoolers and an effective way of learning - constructing paper figures (origami) and drawing patterns from cubes (like Koos cubes). The other two activities were aimed at the perception and experience of images - listening to a fairy tale and looking at pictures depicting exotic animals and birds.
Tasks were offered in different communicative situations: the subjects listened to a fairy tale and folded origami in pairs, and looked at pictures and folded a pattern of cubes one at a time (in the presence and with the participation of the experimenter).
The diagnostic results are presented in Table 1. (See Appendix 1).
In percentage terms, the diagnostic results can be presented in the form of Table 2.
Table 2 - Results of the ascertaining stage
Criteria and indicators Concluding stage Development of curiosity Low level Average level High level Control group 25% 66.7% 8.3% Experimental group 41.7% 41.7% 16.6% Development of independence Low level Average level High level Control group 33.4% 58.3% 8.3% Experimental group 41 ,7% 41.7% 16.6% Development of initiative Low level Medium level High level Control group 8.3% 50% 41.7% Experimental group 8.3% 58.3% 33.4% High interest in the process of cognition Low level Medium level High level Control group 25% 58 .3% 16.7% Experimental group 33.4% 58.3% 8.3% Practical adaptation to situations Low level Medium level High level Control group 16.7% 66.6% 16.7% Experimental group 25% 66.7% 8.3% The level of formation of cognitive activityLow levelMedium levelHigh levelControl group 25%66.7%8.3%Experimental group33.4%58.3%8.3%
As a result of the work carried out at the ascertaining stage of the experiment, it was found that the indicators of the level of formation of cognitive activity differ in groups in terms of low and medium indicators: 25% of children in the control group and 33.4% of children in the experimental group have a low level of formation of cognitive activity, based on four criteria determined at the beginning of the experiment. These children do not show initiative and independence in the process of performing tasks, lose interest in them when there are difficulties and show negative emotions (chagrin, irritation), do not ask cognitive questions; they need a step-by-step explanation of the conditions for completing the task, showing how to use one or another ready-made model, and the help of an adult.
The results obtained allow us to conclude that most of the subjects have a low and medium level of cognitive activity, which indicates the need for its development.
2 Formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game
In order to form cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age, we conducted a series of didactic games aimed at developing cognitive interest, thinking, attention, visual memory, imagination and speech of children, as well as the formation of such personality traits as attentiveness, observation and concentration, cognitive independence , initiative.
The first group of games is games that form the ability to identify the main, characteristic features of objects and phenomena, to compare, contrast them. They are held according to the type of riddle games (“Guess”, “Shop”, “Where is Petya?”, “Radio”, “Yes - no”, “Looks like - unlike”, “What kind of bird?”, etc.) . In this group of games, one should especially say about games aimed at the ability to compose a coherent, interesting, consistent story about a particular subject, taking into account the totality of its features, the ability to compare, classify, generalize, and this all manifests itself in logical clarity, evidence of speech, which contributes not only to the activation of the vocabulary of children, but expands the child's acquaintance with the world of things, phenomena, their properties, qualities.
The second group - games that bring up the ability to group, generalize objects according to certain characteristics. (“Name three items”, “Needed - not needed”, “Who needs what?”, “And if ...”, “Hunter”, etc.).
The third group is games that require children to be able to distinguish real phenomena from unreal ones, notice alogisms, make correct conclusions, understand humor (“Who will notice and explain fables more?”, “Come up with fables yourself”, “Come up with shifters”, “It happens - not it happens").
The fourth group - games that bring up the ability to control oneself, attention, resourcefulness, quick wit ("Fants", "Where we were, we will not say", "Family", "On the contrary",).
The methodology for conducting games provides for the requirements:
Make games entertaining, avoid dryness, keep in the game what would distinguish it from classes (conversations, stories) and didactic exercises. Amusement should be in the rules that encourage the child to think. In addition, such game elements as collusion, drawing of lots, counting, playing forfeits, competition are widely used. Playing forfeits, which ends most games, is interesting in itself and requires children to be resourceful, self-control, transform (“Turn into a grandfather”, “Become a bee”, “Sit on the floor and stand up without the help of hands”, etc. ).
To create conditions for the mental and motor activity of all playing children. The rules of the game should not be structured so that two play and the rest wait their turn. Everyone should be active: some guess, others guess; some name objects, others count them; some come up with fiction stories, others listen to them and then expose them, etc.
Didactic games can be held both during classes (as a whole lesson or part of it), and during game hours. If the teacher wants to consolidate or clarify certain knowledge gained in the classroom, he conducts a game on the material of these classes.
Didactic game "Moving to a new apartment"
Purpose: to teach children to distinguish between objects that are similar in purpose and similar in appearance, to help remember their names; activate the appropriate vocabulary in the children's speech.
Game material:
Subject pictures (paired): a cup - a glass, a mug - a cup, a butter dish - a sugar bowl, a teapot - a coffee pot, a saucepan - a frying pan, a scarf - a scarf, a hat - a hat, a dress - a sundress, a sweater - a sleeveless jacket, a coat - a jacket, a fur coat - a winter coat , trousers - shorts, socks - stockings, stockings - socks, gloves - mittens, shoes - sandals, slippers - sandals, satchel - briefcase, chandelier - table lamp.
2.Boxes for folding pictures.
Game progress:
6-9 children play. The teacher gives each child 2-3 pairs of pictures, for example: a cup - a glass, a scarf - a scarf, a satchel - a briefcase. He says: “Children, we got a new apartment. We need to collect all the things and pack them for the move. First I will pack the dishes. You will help me. Give me only the thing that I name. Be careful - many things look similar. Do not confuse, for example, a mug with a cup, a teapot with a coffee pot. I will put the collected dishes in a blue box. The teacher names one item from each pair, for example a coffee pot. If the child is mistaken (presents a teapot), the picture remains with him. By the end of the game, the children should not have a single picture left. The winner is the one with the remaining pictures. Then, in order to activate the corresponding dictionary in the speech of the children, the teacher offers one child to take out the collected pictures from the box and say what he got, and the rest to name the object paired with the presented one. For example, the presenter says: “Gloves.” - “Mittens”, - the partner in the game answers and gives him his picture.
Didactic game "Who has what object"
Purpose: 1. Exercise children in comparing two objects that are the same in name. To teach, comparing objects, start with essential features (leading ones); develop observation. 2. Enrich the dictionary of preschoolers at the expense of nouns - the names of parts and parts of objects; adjectives denoting the color and shape of objects; adverbs, prepositions. To achieve the use of words that most accurately characterize the subject, its qualities. Etc.
Game material: Paired pictures depicting objects that differ from each other in several features and details: 2 buttons, different in color, size, shape, number of holes; 2 cups, different in shape and color, with different patterns; 2 fish, different in body shape, length and color of fins and tail; 2 shirts - striped and checkered, with long and short sleeves, one has a pocket at the top, the other has two at the bottom; 2 aprons of different cuts with different embroidery; 2 buckets, different in shape and color; other items: buckles, scarves, shoes, boats, etc.
The course of the game in the lesson
The teacher puts 2-3 pairs of pictures in front of the children and explains: “On each pair of pictures, objects of the same name are drawn: shirts, fish, aprons. But the items are somewhat different from each other. Now we will talk about them. About one subject I will tell, about the other the one whom I will call. We will tell in turn. If I name the color of my object, then you must name only the color; if I tell you what shape my object is, then you must determine the shape of the object. Calls the child and invites him to talk together about shirts, etc. Similar comparisons are made for other items. With repeated exercise, children can compare homogeneous objects on their own. In this case, the teacher monitors the progress of the game, the correctness of comparisons.
The course of the game outside of class
Four children are playing. There are 4 pairs of pictures face down on the table. The teacher invites the children to take one picture from each pair. Then he opens any of the pictures left on the table and talks about what is shown on it. A child with an item of the same name is included in the comparison. Then these 2 pictures are laid out side by side, and the players check whether the signs of the objects were correctly named, whether everything has been said.
Educator. I have a yellow apron.
Child. And mine is blue.
Educator. My apron has one pocket.
Child. And on mine - two pockets, etc.
In the future, one of the children can be appointed to the role of leader.
Didactic game "Gardener and flowers"
Purpose: to consolidate children's knowledge about flowers (wild berries, fruits, etc.)
Game progress:
Five or six players sit on chairs arranged in a circle. This is flowers. They all have a name (you can have the players choose a flower picture; you can’t show it to the host). The leading gardener says: “I haven’t seen a wonderful white flower with a yellow eye that looks like a small sun for so long, I haven’t seen a chamomile.” Chamomile stands up and takes a step forward. Chamomile, bowing to the gardener, says: “Thank you, dear gardener. I'm glad you wanted to take a look at me." Chamomile sits on another chair. The game continues until the gardener has listed all the flowers.
Didactic game "Who will name more actions"
Purpose: to actively use verbs in speech, forming various verb forms.
game material. Pictures: clothes, plane, doll, dog, sun, rain, snow.
Game progress:
Neumeyka comes and brings pictures. The task of children is to pick up words that denote actions related to objects or phenomena depicted in the pictures.
For example:
What can be said about the aircraft? (flies, buzzes, rises)
What can you do with clothes? (wash, iron, sew)
What can you say about rain? (goes, drips, pours, drizzles, knocks on the roof), etc.
Didactic game "Hide and Seek"
Target. the formation of the morphological side of speech. Bring children to the understanding of prepositions and adverbs that have a spatial meaning (in, on, behind, under, near, between, next to, left, right)
Game material: small toys.
Game progress:
The teacher hides the toys made in advance in different places of the group room, and then, having gathered children around him. He informs them: “I was informed that uninvited guests settled in our group. The tracker who was watching them writes that someone hid in the upper right drawer of the desk. Who will go looking? Good. Found? Well done! And someone hid in the corner of the toys, behind the closet (Search). Someone under the doll's bed; someone on the table; that stands to my right"
Thus, the children look for all the uninvited guests, hide them in a box and agree that they will play hide and seek again with their help.
Didactic game "The postman brought a postcard"
Purpose: to teach children to form verb forms in the present tense (draws, dances, runs, jumps, laps, waters, meows, barks, strokes, drums, etc.)
Game material: postcards depicting people and animals performing various actions.
Game progress:
The game is played with a small subgroup.
Someone knocks on the door.
Educator: Guys, the postman brought us postcards. Now we will consider them together. Who is on this postcard? That's right, Mishka. What is he doing? Yes, drumming. This postcard is addressed to Olya. Olya, remember your postcard. This postcard is addressed to Pasha. Who is pictured here? What does he do? And you, Sasha, remember your postcard.
Thus, 4-5 pieces are considered. And those to whom they are addressed must correctly name the actions of the character and remember the image.
Educator: Now I will check if you remember your postcards? Snowmen are dancing. Whose postcard is this? Etc.
Didactic game "Composition of geometric shapes"
Purpose: to exercise in drawing up geometric figures on the plane of the table, analyzing and examining them in a visually tangible way.
Game material: counting sticks (15-20 pieces), 2 thick threads (length 25-30cm)
Make a small square and triangle
Make small and large squares
Make a rectangle, the top and bottom sides of which will be equal to 3 sticks, and the left and right - 2.
Make shapes from threads in sequence: a circle and an oval, triangles. Rectangles and quadrilaterals.
Didactic game "Chain of examples"
Purpose: to exercise the ability to perform arithmetic operations.
Game progress:
An adult throws a ball to a child and calls a simple arithmetic, for example 3 + 2. The child catches the ball, gives an answer and throws the ball back, etc.
Didactic game "Only one property"
Purpose: to consolidate knowledge of the properties of geometric shapes, to develop the ability to quickly select the desired figure, to characterize it.
Game progress:
Two players have a full set of geometric shapes. One puts any piece on the table. The second player must put on the table a piece that differs from it in only one sign. So, if the first one puts a large yellow triangle, then the second one puts, for example, a yellow large square or a blue large triangle. The game is built like a domino.
Didactic game "Find and name"
Purpose: to consolidate the ability to quickly find a geometric figure of a certain size and color.
Game progress:
On the table in front of the child, 10-12 geometric shapes of different colors and sizes are laid out in disorder. The facilitator asks to show various geometric shapes, for example: a large circle, a small blue square, etc.
Didactic game "Fold the square"
Purpose: development of color perception, assimilation of the ratio of the whole and the part; the formation of logical thinking and the ability to break a complex task into several simple ones.
For the game you need to prepare 36 multi-colored squares of size 80 ×80 mm. Shades of colors should be noticeably different from each other. Then cut the squares. Having cut the square, you need to write its number on each part (on the back).
Tasks for the game:
.Sort the squares by color.
2.By numbers.
.Fold the pieces into a whole square.
.Come up with new squares.
Didactic game "Where does it ripen?"
Purpose: to learn to use knowledge about plants, to compare the fruits of a tree with its leaves.
Game progress:
Two branches are laid out on the flannelograph: on one - the fruits and leaves of one plant (apple tree), on the other - the fruits and leaves of different plants. (for example, gooseberry leaves, and pear fruits) The teacher asks the question: “Which fruits will ripen and which will not?” children correct the mistakes made in drawing up the drawing.
Didactic game "Flower shop"
Purpose: to consolidate the ability to distinguish colors, name them quickly, find the right flower among others. Teach children to group plants by color, make beautiful bouquets.
Game progress:
Children come to the store, where a large selection of flowers is presented.
Option 1.
On the table is a tray with multi-colored petals of various shapes. Children choose the petals they like, name their color and find a flower that matches the selected petals both in color and in shape.
Option 2.
Children are divided into sellers and buyers. The buyer must describe the flower he has chosen in such a way that the seller immediately guesses which flower he is talking about.
Option 3.
From flowers, children independently make three bouquets: spring, summer, autumn. You can use poems about flowers.
Didactic game "Where the fish hid"
Purpose: to develop the ability of children to analyze, fix the names of plants, expand vocabulary.
Game material: blue cloth or paper (pond), several types of plants, shell, stick, snag.
Game progress:
Children are shown a small fish (toy), which "wanted to play hide and seek with them." The teacher asks the children to close their eyes and at this time hides the fish behind a plant or any other object. Children open their eyes.
"How to find a fish?" - asks the teacher. - Now I'll tell you where she hid. The teacher tells what the object behind which “hid the fish is like. Children guess.
Didactic game "Magic Screens"
Purpose: development in children of the ability to arrange objects by property, understand the conventions of designations, analyze, compare objects.
Game material: "Screen" with three "windows slots" into which ribbons with legends of properties are inserted. Ribbons - strips depicting objects with varying degrees of manifestation of properties (for example, an apple is large, medium and small).
Game progress:
The teacher or one of the children inserts the image of the object in the first "window". Offers to pick up a "family" - to build an ordered row.
For example: large circle, then medium, small; dark spot - light, very light, etc.
At the beginning of the development of the game, the content is specially designed: a property is selected, pictures with a vivid manifestation of this property are selected. In the future, you can use images with several properties. For example, in the first "window" there is a red apple, in the second and third "windows" - apples of different shape, color, size. Children discuss how to build a row, which property to choose.
Didactic game "Similar - not similar"
Purpose: to develop in children the ability to abstract, generalize, highlight objects that are similar in some properties and different in others, compare, compare objects or images.
Game material: game sheet (screen) with three "windows-slots" into which tapes with symbols of properties are inserted; ribbon strips with the designation of the properties of objects. Strips with the image of objects are inserted into the first and third "windows", a strip with the designation of properties is inserted into the second.
Game progress:
Option 1. The child is asked to set the "screen" so that the first and third windows contain objects that have the property indicated in the second window. At the initial stage of mastering the game, the property is set by adults, then the children can independently set the feature they like. For example, the first window is an apple, the second window is a circle, the third window is a ball.
Option 2. One child sets the first window, the second one selects and sets the property that this object has, the third one must select an object that matches the first and second windows. For each correct choice, children receive a token. After the first round, the children change places.
Option 3. Used in the final stages of development. You can play with a large group of children. The child guesses a “riddle” - he builds images in the first and third windows that have a common property, while the second window is hidden. The rest of the children guess how the objects depicted are similar. A child who correctly named a common property gets the right to open a second window or make a new riddle.
Didactic game "Letters around me"
Purpose: to consolidate knowledge of letters; teach to concentrate; expand vocabulary; help develop observation skills.
Game progress:
Ask the child to look around the room and name all the objects that surround him, but only in alphabetical order.
For example: A - watermelon, B - bank, C - hanger, D - curtains, etc.
Didactic game "Pictures"
Goal: consolidating knowledge of letters, expanding vocabulary; development of visual memory; acquaintance with artists and paintings.
Game progress:
Take a painting by an artist you like. Read the title of the picture and the name of the author to the child. Ask to find in the picture all the objects with a certain letter. Let's say this is a picture of I. E. Repin "They did not wait." Let the child find all the items with the letter P (gender, portrait, coat, apron, etc.)
Ask him to memorize all the words beginning with that letter. Close the picture and invite the child to remember all these items.
Didactic game "All from" O "
Purpose: consolidation of knowledge about letters; development of imagination, figurative thinking, fine motor skills of the hand.
Game progress:
At the signal of the facilitator, the children begin to draw beautiful letters O (large and small). After the host says “Stop!”, the players stop drawing, carefully look at their drawing, try to guess what or who it all looks like, finish drawing and give a name to their work.
Didactic game "Letters in a cage"
Purpose: to consolidate children's knowledge of letters; development of focus and concentration.
G IF X To AT
m yes b yo n
R ca Yu h With
s E I b
T zhsch W At
in lo P th D
Game progress:
The adult offers the child a table and explains that the letters in it are not in order. The child must find all the letters in the table from A to Z, saying them out loud.
Goal: development of auditory memory, communication skills
Game progress:
The driver stands in a circle blindfolded. The children move in a circle and sing: “Here we built a circle, we will suddenly turn around, and how do we say:“ lope, lope, lope! Guess whose voice?
The words "Jump, jump, jump!" says one of the players, appointed leader. The driver must guess who said the words. If he guesses correctly, he becomes in a general circle, and in the center of the circle becomes the one whose voice was guessed. If not, keep driving.
Didactic game "Only funny words"
Purpose: expansion of vocabulary, familiarization with the outside world, development of observation and concentration.
Game progress:
It's best to play in a circle. The facilitator decides the topic. It is necessary to name in turn, for example, only funny words. The first player says: "Clown". Second: Joy. Third: "Balloon", etc., until the words run out.
You can change the subject and name only green words, only round words, prickly words, etc.
Games of the third group are rare in the practice of kindergartens, although their pedagogical value is great. Before starting the game “in fables”, the teacher finds out if the children understand this word. Clarifies whether they met fables in fairy tales, in funny stories. Then he invites the children to play the game "Who will notice the fables more?".
Children listen to fairy tales. The one who notices the fable puts aside a chip (stick, leaf). When the fairy tale is read, the teacher offers to list the noticed fables to the one who has fewer chips set aside. The rest listen, then complete his answer. Listening to a fairy tale, the children “expose,” as K. I. Chukovsky said, the fables in it, explain the illogicality in judgments, the inconsistency in the actions of the characters.
Such a game requires a lot of mental stress: children must simultaneously listen carefully, compare the real with the fictitious, immediately react, putting the chip aside, memorize alogisms and then talk about them.
After the children have an interest in games of this content, the teacher can come up with a story himself, including several fables in it. This may be a story about the life of children in kindergarten, an episode from the life of a teacher, a story about nature, etc. The teacher encourages those children who have noticed fewer fables to answer first of all. You can invite the children to come up with a story with fables. One of the players tells, the rest listen and notice the fables. In these games, a great activity of all children is manifested: both those who invent, and those who notice and explain fables. Therefore, such games are lively, interesting, capture all the playing children.
The games of the fourth group contribute to the formation of such character traits of the child as the ability to control oneself, resourcefulness, attention, speed of reaction to the word. One of the children's favorites is the Fanta game.
Why is she interesting? The child-leader must be resourceful in the selection of questions in order to make the partner make a mistake and say the forbidden word, make him laugh. Throughout the game, participants need to remember forbidden words, replace them with others in time, and not laugh if a funny combination of words comes out. It is fascinating, full of different inventions and discoveries of the children themselves. For the development of attention, such games as "Family", "Broken phone", "Echo" were used. Each player receives a conditional name - the name of a flower, an object, etc. The teacher includes them at the bottom in his story. The child, whose name is called by the teacher, must respond to the signal: stand up or nod his head. A rule was also introduced: whoever does not respond in time, stands behind a chair and waits for his name to appear again in the story. The teacher tries to quickly include an inattentive player in the story so that he quickly sits down.
And in this series of games complications should be provided. At first, the story is told slowly, with a short pause. After naming each conditional name. Further, the pace of the story accelerates, and therefore, more concentrated and intense attention is required from children.
When conducting games of the fourth group, it is important to approach children differently: slower, shy children are initially given mild requirements. And at the same time, such children should be more often involved in games in order to develop their speed of reaction to the word, to instill self-confidence.
A variety of verbal didactic games systematically conducted with children are an effective method for the development of thinking, attention, memory, imagination, speech in children of older preschool age, and, in particular, the formation and activation of a dictionary, as well as the development of phonemic hearing. They develop cognitive interests in children, as well as an interest in mental work.
3 Analysis of the effectiveness of the work done on the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game
After the completion of the formative experiment, a control examination of the children of the experimental and control groups was carried out.
The purpose of the control experiment: to identify the results of experimental work on the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in didactic games, to compare the results of the experimental group with the results of the control group.
The methodology and organization of the control experiment corresponded to the ascertaining stage of the experiment.
The data obtained showed that the level of indicators of cognitive activity in children of the experimental and control groups after the formative experiment became different. The level of development of indicators in the children of the experimental group became significantly higher than in the children of the control group, with whom special events were not carried out using didactic games.
The results of the control experiment are recorded in tables 3 (See Appendix 2) and 4, diagrams 1 and 2.
Table 4 - Results of the control experiment
Criteria and indicators Control stage Development of curiosity Low level Average level High level Control group 25% 66.7% 8.3% Experimental group 33.4% 41.6% 25% Development of independence Low level Average level High level Control group 25% 58.3% 16.7% Experimental group 33.4% 50 % 16.6% Development of initiative Low level Medium level High level Control group 8.3% 50% 41.7% Experimental group 8.3% 58.3% 33.4% High interest in the process of cognition Low level Medium level High level Control group 25% 58.3% 16.7 % Experimental group 33.4% 41.6% 25% Practical adaptation to situations Low level Medium level High level level Control group 25% 66.7% 8.3% Experimental group 25% 58.3% 16.7%
Diagram 1.
Comparison of the levels of formation of cognitive activity in the control group before training and after training
Diagram 2.
Comparison of the levels of formation of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age in the experimental group before and after training
The obtained comparative diagrams indicate that there is a positive trend in the experimental group: there was a change in indicators - the low level decreased from 33.4% to 25%, and the high level increased from 8.3% to 16.7%.
The conducted experiment allows us to conclude that cognitive activity in children of older preschool age can be really and significantly increased if didactic games are purposefully and comprehensively used in the process of teaching preschool children.
Conclusion
Concretization of the essence of cognitive activity as a complex personal formation that develops in vivo, which determines the qualitative characteristics of cognitive activity, disclosure of its structure, identification of a system of criteria that fix the state of the components of cognitive activity, allows you to effectively and expediently plan the content of cognitive activity in a preschool institution.
An analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game allows us to draw the following conclusions:
Cognitive activity is the desire for the most complete knowledge of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. The development of cognitive activity is determined by qualitative changes reflected in energy and content indicators. The energy indicator characterizes the child's interest in activities, perseverance in cognition. A meaningful indicator characterizes the effectiveness of activities in the process of obtaining knowledge, the allocation of various cultural contents in a situation.
Features of the development of cognitive activity in preschool age are that the cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age is characterized by the optimal attitude to the activities performed, the intensity of mastering various ways of positively achieving results, the experience of creative activity, and the focus on its practical use in their daily lives. The basis of the child's cognitive activity in experimentation is the contradiction between the existing knowledge, skills, experience gained in achieving results by trial and error and new cognitive tasks, situations that have arisen in the process of setting the goal of experimentation and achieving it.
Didactic game as a means of developing the cognitive activity of preschool children contributes to:
development of cognitive abilities; obtaining new knowledge, their generalization and consolidation; in the course of the game they assimilate socially developed means and methods of mental activity; in the process of didactic games, many complex phenomena are divided into simple ones and vice versa, single ones are generalized; consequently, analytical and synthetic activities are carried out; some didactic games do not seem to bring anything new to the knowledge of children, but they are of great benefit in that they teach children to apply existing knowledge in new conditions;
enrichment of the child's sensory experience, while developing his mental abilities (the ability to compare, enrich, classify objects and phenomena of the world around him, express his judgments, draw conclusions). Didactic play is an indispensable means of overcoming various difficulties in mental activity in individual children;
the development of children's speech: the dictionary is replenished and activated, the correct sound pronunciation is formed, coherent speech develops; a number of games are successfully used to develop the phonemic side of the language: for example, a fascinating game action encourages children to repeatedly repeat the same sound combination, such repetition of sounds does not tire children, because they are interested in the game itself, then they play the role of a bird, then the role of a driving car, and the more passionate the child is, the more actively he reproduces the necessary sounds, the more complete the pedagogical effect.
So, an important means of developing the cognitive activity of preschool children is a didactic game. To test this assumption, we conducted an experiment consisting of three stages.
At the ascertaining stage, we identified criteria and indicators and determined the level of formation of cognitive activity of preschool children. In the course of the ascertaining experiment, primary diagnostics of the level of formation of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age in the experimental and control groups was carried out.
The results of the ascertaining experiment are as follows: indicators of the level of formation of cognitive activity differ in groups in terms of low and medium indicators: 25% of children in the control group and 33.4% of children in the experimental group have a low level of formation of cognitive activity, based on four criteria defined at the beginning of the experiment. These children do not show initiative and independence in the process of performing tasks, lose interest in them when there are difficulties and show negative emotions (chagrin, irritation), do not ask cognitive questions; they need a step-by-step explanation of the conditions for completing the task, showing how to use one or another ready-made model, and the help of an adult.
7% of the children in the control group and 58.3% of the children in the experimental group showed an average level. These children, experiencing difficulties in solving the task, the children do not lose their emotional attitude towards them, but turn to the teacher for help, ask questions to clarify the conditions for its implementation and, having received a hint, complete the task to the end, which indicates the child's interest in this activity and about desire to look for ways to solve the problem, but together with an adult.
Children with a high level of cognitive activity in the control and experimental groups, 8.3% each. In case of difficulties, these children are not distracted, they showed perseverance and perseverance in achieving a result that brings them satisfaction, joy and pride in their achievements.
In order to form cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age, we conducted a series of didactic games aimed at developing thinking, attention, visual memory, imagination and speech of children, as well as the formation of such traits as attentiveness, observation and concentration. With the control group at the formative stage of the experiment, only the activities provided for by the educational plan were carried out. The children in this group were not included in the formative experiment.
At the control stage of the experiment, a repeated diagnosis of the level of formation of cognitive activity of older preschool children in the experimental and control groups was carried out, and an analysis of the results obtained was carried out. The results of the control experiment: there is a positive trend in the experimental group: there was a change in indicators - the low level decreased from 33.4% to 25%, and the high level increased from 8.3% to 16.7%.
There were no changes in the control group.
Comparison of the results of the level of development of cognitive activity according to all the criteria and indicators we have identified within each group of children, before the formative experiment and after the formative experiment, allows us to draw the following conclusions:
In the control group, where special work was not carried out, there were no changes in the “Development of curiosity” indicator.
In the experimental group (where, along with the activities carried out according to the plan of educators, work was carried out aimed at the development of cognitive activity), the following changes occurred in the category of development of curiosity: the low level of development of cognitive activity from 41.7% (5 children) decreased to 33.4 % (4 children), a high level of development of cognitive activity increased from 16.6% (2 children) to 25% (3 children), the number of children with an average level of development of a meaningful indicator of cognitive activity remained unchanged - 41.6% (5 children) ,
In the control group, there were no significant changes in the category of development of independence: the number of children with a low level decreased from 33.4% (4 children) to 25% (3 children), the number of children with an average level of development of a meaningful indicator of cognitive activity remained unchanged - 58, 3% (7 children), the number of children with a high level of development of the content indicator increased from 8.3% (1 child) to 16.6% (92 children).
In the experimental group, in the category of development of independence, the following changes occurred: the low level of development of cognitive activity decreased from 41.7% (5 children) to 33.4% (4 children), the average level increased from 41.7% (5 children) to 50 % (6 children), while the high level of development of cognitive activity remained unchanged - 16.6% (2 children).
In the category of development of initiative in the control group, there were no changes, in the experimental group in the same category the following changes occurred: the low level decreased from 8.3% (1 child) to 0, the average level decreased from 58.3% (7 children) to 50% (6 children), and the high level increased from 33.4% (4 children) to 50% (1 child).
In the control group, there were no changes in the category of development of interest in the process of cognition.
In the experimental group, in the category of developing interest in the process of cognition, the following changes occurred: the average level changed from 58.3% (7 children) to 41.6% (5 children), the high level of development of cognitive activity increased from 8.3% (1 child ) to 25% (3 children), the number of children with a low level of development remained unchanged - 33.4% (4 children).
In the control group, there were no changes in the category “Practical adaptation to situations”.
In the experimental group in the same category, the following changes occurred: the low level of development of cognitive activity from 25% of children (3 children) decreased to 8.3% (1 child), the average level increased from 66.7% (8 children) to 83, 4 (9 children), while the high level remained unchanged - 8.3% (1 child).
Our data allow us to draw the following conclusions:
After the formative experiment, the level of development of cognitive activity of children in the experimental and control groups began to differ significantly. In the children of the experimental group, the level of cognitive activity increased significantly, while in the children of the control group they remained unchanged.
The conducted experiment allows us to conclude that cognitive activity in children of older preschool age can be really and significantly increased if didactic games are purposefully and comprehensively used in the process of teaching preschoolers.
Thus, the tasks set at the beginning of the work were solved, the goal of the study was achieved, the hypothesis was confirmed.
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Applications
Appendix 1
Table 1 - Indicators of the level of formation of cognitive activity at the ascertaining stage of the experiment
Name of the child Criteria for the formation of cognitive activity Level of formation of cognitive activity Development of curiosity Development of independence Development of initiative High interest in the process of cognition Practical adaptation to situations Control group 1. Tanya B.WWWW2. Lena I.SSSSVS3. Vova D.SSSSSS4. Yura S.NNSSSS5. Sofia L.SSSSVS6. Andrey V.NNNNNN7. Arina M.SSSSVS8. Misha V.NNNSCH9. Luda K.SSSSSS10. Maxim P.SSSSVS11. Ira K.SSVSVS12. Lenya S.SNNNSNexperimental group1. Olya Sh.NNNNSN2. Pasha P.SSSSVS3. Sasha I.SSSSSS4. Serezha N.NNSNSN5. Alina Ch.NSSSSS6. Yana M.VVVVVV7. Roma B.SVSSVS8. Irina B.SSNSSS9. Katya K.NNNSCH10. Vanya P.NNNNNN11. Lera S.VSSSVS12. Seva G.SNSSSS
Appendix 2
Table 3 - Indicators of the level of formation of cognitive activity at the control stage of the experiment
Name of the child Criteria for the formation of cognitive activity Level of formation of cognitive activity Development of curiosity Development of independence Development of initiative High interest in the process of cognition Practical adaptation to situations Control group 1. Tanya B.WWWW2. Lena I.SSVVS3. Vova D.SVSSSS4. Yura S.NNSSSS5. Sofia L.SSSSVS6. Andrey V.NSNNNN7. Arina M.SSSSVS8. Misha V.NNNSCH9. Luda K.SSSSSS10. Maxim P.SSSSVS11. Ira K.SSVSVS12. Lenya S.SNNNSNexperimental group1. Olya Sh.NNNSSN2. Pasha P.SSSSVS3. Sasha I.SSVSVS4. Serezha N.NNSSSS5. Alina Ch.SSSSVS6. Yana M.VVVVVV7. Roma B.VVVSSV8. Irina B.SSNSSS9. Katya K.NNNSCH10. Vanya P.NSNNSN11. Lera S.VSSSVS12. Seva G.SNSSSS
Tags: Formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age in a didactic game Diploma in Pedagogy
Introduction
Conclusion
Bibliographic list
Introduction
Modern children live and develop in the era of informatization. In a rapidly changing life, a person is required not only to possess knowledge, but, first of all, the ability to obtain this knowledge himself and operate with it, to think independently and creatively. We want to see our pupils as inquisitive, sociable, able to navigate the environment, solve emerging problems, independent, creative individuals.
Children's experimentation has a huge developmental potential. Experimentation is the most successful way to familiarize children with the world of living and inanimate nature around them. In the system of various knowledge about the environment, knowledge about the phenomena of inanimate nature occupies a special place. In everyday life, the child inevitably encounters new, unfamiliar objects and phenomena of inanimate nature, and he has a desire to learn this new, to understand the incomprehensible.
"Child Development Center Kindergarten No. 22 "Rodnichok" (SE Poikovsky Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug) implements a competency-based approach in a kindergarten. In the 2009-2010 academic year, we are working on the development of cognitive competence in children. By the senior preschool age, the possibilities of initiative transformative activity are noticeably increasing child.This age period is important for the development of a cognitive need, which is reflected in the form of search, research activities aimed at "discovering" a new one, which develops productive forms of thinking.The task of an adult is not to suppress the child with the burden of his knowledge, but to create conditions for independent finding answers to their questions "why" and "how", which contributes to the development of children's cognitive competence.
Taking into account the relevance of the importance that search activity has in the development of children's cognitive activity, their intellectual abilities, the research topic was chosen.
Object of study: the educational process in the preschool educational institution.
Subject of study: the possibility of using the experimental activities of children as a means of developing cognitive activity.
The purpose of the study: analysis of the formation of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age through experimentation with objects of inanimate nature
· To study and analyze the literature on the research topic;
· To characterize experimentation as a means of cognition of the surrounding world;
· To diagnose the level of formation of cognitive interest in children of senior preschool age when getting acquainted with inanimate nature;
· Build a system of work for children of senior preschool age using experiments with objects of inanimate nature.
The structure of the study: the course work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a bibliographic list of 22 sources.
1. Theoretical foundations for the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age
1.1 Analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature
The problem of cognitive interest was widely studied in psychology by B.G. Ananiev, M.F. Belyaev, L.I. Bozhovich, L.A. Gordon, S.L. Rubinshtein, V.N. Myasishchev and in the pedagogical literature of G.I. Shchukin, N.G. Morozova.
G.I. Shchukina believes that in reality the interest is before us:
And as a selective focus of human mental processes on objects and phenomena of the surrounding world;
And as a tendency, aspiration, the need of a person to engage in a given area of phenomena, a given activity that brings satisfaction;
And as a powerful motivator of personality activity;
And, finally, as a special selective attitude to the surrounding world, to its objects, phenomena, processes. N.G. Morozov characterizes interest in at least three obligatory points:
1) positive emotion in relation to the activity;
2) the presence of the cognitive side of this emotion, i.e. by what we call the joy of knowledge and knowledge;
3) the presence of a direct motive coming from the activity itself, i.e. activity in itself attracts and encourages him to engage, regardless of other motives.
Interest is formed and developed in activity, and it is influenced not by individual components of activity, but by its entire objective-subjective essence (character, process, result).
Interest is an "alloy" of many mental processes that form a special tone of activity, special states of the personality (joy from the learning process, the desire to delve into the knowledge of the subject of interest, into cognitive activity, experiencing failures and strong-willed aspirations to overcome them).
The most important area of the general phenomenon of interest is cognitive interest. Its subject is the most significant property of a person: to cognize the world around us not only for the purpose of biological and social orientation in reality, but in the most essential relation of a person to the world - in an effort to penetrate into its diversity, to reflect in the mind the essential aspects, causal relationships, patterns. , inconsistency.
Cognitive interest, being included in cognitive activity, is closely associated with the formation of diverse personal relationships: a selective attitude to a particular field of science, cognitive activity, participation in them, communication with partners in cognition. It is on this basis - knowledge of the objective world and attitudes towards it, scientific truths - that the world outlook, worldview, attitude, an active, biased character, which is promoted by cognitive interest, is formed.
Moreover, cognitive interest, activating all the mental processes of a person, at a high level of its development encourages a person to constantly search for the transformation of reality through activity (changes, complication of its goals, highlighting relevant and significant aspects in the subject environment for their implementation, finding other necessary ways, bringing creativity to them).
A feature of cognitive interest is its ability to enrich and activate the process of not only cognitive, but also any human activity, since there is a cognitive principle in each of them. In labor, a person, using objects, materials, tools, methods, needs to know their properties, to study the scientific foundations of modern production, to comprehend rationalization processes, to know the technology of a particular production. Any kind of human activity contains a cognitive principle, search creative processes that contribute to the transformation of reality. A person inspired by cognitive interest performs any activity with great predilection, more effectively.
Cognitive interest is the most important formation of a person, which develops in the process of human life, is formed in the social conditions of his existence and is in no way immanently inherent in a person from birth.
The value of cognitive interest in the life of specific individuals is difficult to overestimate. Cognitive interest contributes to the penetration of the individual into essential connections, relationships, patterns of cognition.
Cognitive interest is an integral education of a personality. As a general phenomenon of interest, it has a very complex structure, which is made up of both individual mental processes (intellectual, emotional, regulatory) and objective and subjective connections of a person with the world, expressed in relationships.
Cognitive interest is expressed in its development by various states. Conventionally, successive stages of its development are distinguished: curiosity, inquisitiveness, cognitive interest, theoretical interest. And although these stages are distinguished purely conditionally, their most characteristic features are generally recognized.
Curiosity is an elementary stage of a selective attitude, which is caused by purely external, often unexpected circumstances that attract a person's attention. For a person, this elementary orientation associated with the novelty of the situation may not be of particular significance.
At the stage of curiosity, the child is content only with the orientation associated with the amusement of this or that object, this or that situation. This stage does not yet reveal the true desire for knowledge. And, nevertheless, entertaining as a factor in revealing cognitive interest can serve as its initial impetus.
Curiosity is a valuable state of the individual. It is characterized by the desire of a person to penetrate beyond what he saw. At this stage of interest, rather strong expressions of emotions of surprise, joy of knowledge, satisfaction with activity are found. It is in the emergence of riddles and their deciphering that the essence of curiosity lies, as an active vision of the world, which develops not only in the classroom, but also in work, when a person is detached from simple performance and passive memorization. Curiosity, becoming a stable character trait, has a significant value in the development of personality. Curious people are not indifferent to the world, they are always in search. The problem of curiosity has been developed in Russian psychology for a long time, although it is still far from its final solution. A significant contribution to understanding the nature of curiosity was made by S.L. Rubinshtein, A.M. Matyushkin, V.A. Krutetsky, V.S. Yurkevich, D.E.Berlain, G.I.Shchukina, N.I.Reinvald, A.I.Krupnov and others.
Morozova G.N. believes that curiosity is close to interest, but it is "diffuse, not focused on a particular subject or activity."
Schukina G.I. considers curiosity as a stage in the development of interest, reflecting the state of the selective attitude of the child to the subject of knowledge and the degree of its influence on the personality.
Theoretical interest is associated both with the desire for knowledge of complex theoretical issues and problems of a particular science, and with their use as a tool of knowledge. This stage of man's active influence on the world, on its reorganization, which is directly related to the worldview of man, with his convictions in the power and possibilities of science. This stage characterizes not only the cognitive principle in the structure of the personality, but also the person as an actor, subject, personality.
In a real process, all these stages of cognitive interest are the most complex combinations and relationships. In cognitive interest, both relapses are found in connection with a change in the subject area, and coexistence in a single act of cognition, when curiosity turns into curiosity.
Interest in knowing the real world is one of the most fundamental and significant in child development.
The cognitive activity of a child of senior preschool age is characterized by the optimal attitude to the activities performed, the intensity of mastering various ways of positively achieving results, the experience of creative activity, and the focus on its practical use in their daily lives. The basis of the child's cognitive activity in experimentation is the contradiction between the existing knowledge, skills, experience gained in achieving results by trial and error and new cognitive tasks, situations that have arisen in the process of setting the goal of experimentation and achieving it. The source of cognitive activity is the overcoming of this contradiction between the acquired experience and the need to transform, interpret it in their practical activities, which allows the child to show independence and creative attitude when performing the task. The management of the process of development of non-standard thinking of children by the educator is realized through the use of various methods and techniques for activating the intellectual sphere of the child.
In older preschool age, cognitive development is a complex complex phenomenon, including the development of cognitive processes (perception, thinking, memory, attention, imagination), which are different forms of orientation of the child in the world around him, in himself and regulate his activity. It is known that by the senior preschool age, the possibilities of the initiative transforming activity of the child are noticeably increasing. This age period is important for the development of the child's cognitive needs, which finds expression in the form of search, research activity aimed at discovering something new. Therefore, the predominant questions are: "Why?", "Why?", "How?". Often, children not only ask, but try to find the answer themselves, use their little experience to explain the incomprehensible, and sometimes even conduct an "experiment".
A characteristic feature of this age is cognitive interests, expressed in careful examination, independent search for information of interest and the desire to find out from an adult where, what and how it grows, lives. An older preschooler is interested in the phenomena of animate and inanimate nature, shows initiative, which is found in observation, in an effort to find out, approach, touch.
The result of cognitive activity, regardless of the form of cognition in which it is realized, is knowledge. Children at this age are already able to systematize and group objects of animate and inanimate nature, both according to external signs and according to signs of the environment. Changes in objects, the transition of matter from one state to another (snow and ice into water; water into ice, etc.), such natural phenomena as snowfall, blizzard, thunderstorm, hail, hoarfrost, fog, etc. are of particular interest to children of this age. Children gradually begin to understand that the state, development and changes in animate and inanimate nature largely depend on the attitude of a person towards them.
The child's questions reveal an inquisitive mind, observation, confidence in an adult as a source of interesting new information (knowledge), explanations. The older preschooler “verifies” his knowledge of the environment, his attitude towards the adult, which for him is the true measure of all things.
Psychologists have experimentally investigated that the level of development of the cognitive sphere determines the nature of interaction with natural objects and attitudes towards them. That is, the higher the level of knowledge of children about nature, the more they show a cognitive interest in it, focusing on the state and well-being of the object itself, and not on its evaluation by adults. Psychologists emphasize that the type of activity in which knowledge is acquired is decisive for the development of the child. Cognitive activity is understood by us not only as a process of mastering knowledge, skills and abilities, but mainly as a search for knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge independently or under the tactful guidance of an adult, carried out in the process of humanistic interaction, cooperation, co-creation.
Therefore, it is important for an adult in the learning process, supporting cognitive activity, to create conditions for children to independently search for information. After all, knowledge is formed as a result of the interaction of the subject (child) with this or that information. It is the appropriation of information through its change, addition, independent application in various situations that generates knowledge.
1.2 Experimentation as a means of understanding the world around
At present, we are witnessing how another effective method of cognizing the patterns and phenomena of the surrounding world is being formed in the system of preschool education - the method of experimentation.
Experimentation is one of the types of cognitive activity of children and adults. Since the patterns of conducting experiments by adults and children do not coincide in many respects, the phrase "children's experimentation" is used in relation to preschool institutions.
The development of the theoretical foundations of the method of children's experimentation in preschool institutions is carried out by a creative team of specialists under the guidance of Professor, Academician of the Academy of Creative Pedagogy and the Russian Academy of Education N.N. Poddyakova. Their long-term studies of this activity gave grounds for the formulation of the following main provisions.
1. Children's experimentation is a special form of search activity, in which the processes of goal formation, the processes of the emergence and development of new personality motives that underlie the self-motion, self-development of preschoolers are most clearly expressed.
2. In children's experimentation, children's own activity is most powerfully manifested, aimed at obtaining new information, new knowledge (cognitive form of experimentation), to obtain products of children's creativity - new buildings, drawings of fairy tales, etc. (a productive form of experimentation).
3. Children's experimentation is the core of any process of children's creativity.
4. In children's experimentation, the mental processes of differentiation and integration interact most organically, with the general dominance of integration processes.
5. The activity of experimentation, taken in all its fullness and universality, is the universal mode of functioning of the psyche.
The main advantage of using the experimentation method in kindergarten is that during the experiment:
Children get real ideas about the various aspects of the object being studied, about its relationship with other objects and with the environment.
There is an enrichment of the child's memory, his thought processes are activated, since the need constantly arises to perform operations of analysis and synthesis, comparison and classification, generalization and extrapolation.
The child's speech develops, as he needs to give a report on what he saw, to formulate the discovered patterns and conclusions.
There is an accumulation of a fund of mental techniques and operations that are considered as mental skills.
Children's experimentation is also important for the formation of independence, goal-setting, the ability to transform any objects and phenomena in order to achieve a certain result.
In the process of experimental activity, the emotional sphere of the child, creative abilities develop, work skills are formed, health is strengthened by increasing the general level of physical activity.
Children love to experiment. This is explained by the fact that visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking is inherent in them, and experimentation, like no other method, corresponds to these age characteristics. At preschool age, it is the leading, and in the first three years - almost the only way to know the world. Experimentation has its roots in the manipulation of objects.
When forming the foundations of natural science and ecological concepts, experimentation can be considered as a method close to ideal. Knowledge that is not drawn from books, but obtained independently, is always conscious and more durable. Such classics of pedagogy as Y.A. Komensky, I.G. Pestalozzi, J.-J. Rousseau, K.D. Ushinsky and many others advocated the use of this teaching method.
Summarizing his own rich factual material, N.N. Poddyakov formulated the hypothesis that in childhood the leading activity is not play, as is commonly believed, but experimentation. To substantiate this conclusion, they provide evidence.
1. Playing activity requires stimulation and a certain organization on the part of adults; the game must be taught. In the activity of experimentation, the child independently acts in various ways on the objects and phenomena surrounding him (including other people) in order to better understand them. This activity is not assigned to an adult child, but is built by the children themselves.
2. In experimentation, the moment of self-development is quite clearly represented: the transformations of the object performed by the child reveal to him new aspects and properties of the object, and new knowledge about the object, in turn, allows you to produce new, more complex and perfect transformations.
3. Some children do not like to play; they prefer to do something; but their mental development proceeds normally. When deprived of the opportunity to get acquainted with the outside world through experimentation, the mental development of the child is inhibited.
4. Finally, the fundamental evidence is the fact that the activity of experimentation permeates all spheres of children's life, including play. The latter arises much later than the activity of experimentation.
Thus, one cannot deny the validity of the assertion that experiments form the basis of all knowledge, that without them any concepts turn into dry abstractions. In preschool education, experimentation is the teaching method that allows the child to model in his creation a picture of the world based on his own observations, experiences, establishing interdependencies, patterns, etc.
The original form of experimentation, from which all others have developed, is the only form of experimentation available to the child - the manipulation of objects, which occurs at an early age. In the process of manipulating objects, both a natural history and a social experiment take place. In the next two or three years, the manipulation of objects and people becomes more difficult. The child increasingly performs exploratory actions, assimilating information about the objective properties of objects and people with whom he encounters. At this time, the formation of separate fragments of experimental activity takes place, which are not yet interconnected into some kind of system.
After three years, their integration gradually begins. The child passes into the next period - curiosity, which, subject to the correct upbringing of the child, passes into the period of curiosity (after 5 years). It was during this period that experimental activity acquires typical features, now experimentation becomes an independent activity. A child of senior preschool age acquires the ability to experiment, i.e. he acquires the following range of skills in this activity: to see and highlight a problem, to accept and set a goal, to solve problems, to analyze an object or phenomenon, to highlight essential features and connections, to compare various facts, to put forward hypotheses and assumptions, to select means and materials for independent activity, to carry out experiment, draw conclusions, fix the stages of actions and results graphically.
The acquisition of these skills requires a systematic, purposeful work of the teacher aimed at developing children's experimenting activities.
Experiments are classified according to different principles.
By the nature of the objects used in the experiment: experiments: with plants; with animals; with objects of inanimate nature; the object of which is man.
At the place of the experiments: in the group room; Location on; in the forest, etc.
By the number of children: individual, group, collective.
Because of their conduct: random, planned, set in response to a child's question.
By the nature of inclusion in the pedagogical process: episodic (conducted from case to case), systematic.
By duration: short-term (5-15 minutes), long-term (over 15 minutes).
By the number of observations of the same object: single, multiple, or cyclic.
By place in the cycle: primary, repeated, final and final.
By the nature of mental operations: ascertaining (allowing you to see some one state of an object or one phenomenon without connection with other objects and phenomena), comparative (allowing you to see the dynamics of the process or note changes in the state of the object), generalizing (experiments in which general patterns are traced process studied earlier in separate stages).
By the nature of the cognitive activity of children: illustrative (children know everything, and the experiment only confirms familiar facts), search (children do not know in advance what the result will be), solving experimental problems.
According to the method of application in the audience: demonstration, frontal.
Each type of experimentation has its own methodology, its pros and cons.
In everyday life, children often experiment with various substances themselves, trying to learn something new. They take apart toys, watch objects falling into the water (sinking - not sinking), trying metal objects with their tongues in severe frost, etc. But the danger of such "amateur activity" lies in the fact that the preschooler is not yet familiar with the laws of mixing substances, elementary safety rules. The experiment, specially organized by the teacher, is safe for the child and at the same time acquaints him with the various properties of the surrounding objects, with the laws of the life of nature and the need to take them into account in his own life. Initially, children learn to experiment in specially organized activities under the guidance of a teacher, then the necessary materials and equipment for the experiment are brought into the spatial and object environment of the group for independent reproduction by the child, if it is safe for his health. In this regard, in a preschool educational institution, an experiment must meet the following conditions: the maximum simplicity of the design of devices and the rules for handling them, the reliability of the operation of devices and the unambiguity of the results obtained, showing only the essential aspects of a phenomenon or process, a clear visibility of the phenomenon under study, the possibility of the child participating in repeated showing the experiment.
Chapter 1 Conclusions
So, the most common and important tasks of the cognitive development of the child are not just enriching his ideas about the environment, but the development of cognitive initiative (curiosity) and the development of cultural forms of streamlining experience (based on ideas about the world), as prerequisites for the formation of a person's readiness for continuous education. In the process of development of preschool children, cognitive interest plays a multi-valued role: both as a means of a lively, exciting learning for the child, and as a strong motive for the intellectual and long-term course of cognitive activity, and as a prerequisite for the formation of a person's readiness for lifelong education.
We can conclude the following features of children's experimentation:
Experimentation is understood as a special way of spiritual and practical development of reality, aimed at creating such conditions in which objects most clearly reveal their essence;
Experimentation contributes to the formation of a holistic picture of the world of a preschool child;
Experimental work arouses a child's interest in the study of nature, develops mental operations, stimulates the cognitive activity and curiosity of the child, activates the perception of educational material on familiarization with natural phenomena, with the basics of mathematical knowledge, with the ethical rules of life in society, etc.;
Children's experimentation consists of stages successively replacing each other and has its own age-related features of development.
2. Experimental work on the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age
2.1 Diagnosis of the level of formation of cognitive interest in children of senior preschool age when getting acquainted with inanimate nature
In the process of experimentation, the preschooler gets the opportunity to satisfy his inherent curiosity, to feel like a scientist, researcher, discoverer. Conducted experiments with various materials and objects (water, snow, sand, glass, air, etc.) provide the child with the opportunity to find answers to the questions "how?" and why?". Getting acquainted with the available phenomena of inanimate nature, preschoolers learn to independently consider various phenomena and make simple transformations with them. The ability to pay attention not only to visible and felt connections and relationships, but also to reasons hidden from direct perception will become the basis for the formation of full-fledged physical knowledge in children during further schooling. It is important that the child begins to approach the understanding of phenomena from the correct, scientific positions. In this case, albeit incomplete, but reliable ideas about the phenomena and the principles of their course will be formed. The process of cognition is a creative process and the task of the educator is to maintain and develop in the child an interest in research, discoveries, create the necessary conditions for this, help him in trying to establish the simplest patterns, pay attention to the objective causes, connections and relationships of the phenomena of the world around.
The purpose of our study is to establish the effectiveness of using children's experimentation as a method of forming cognitive interest when getting acquainted with inanimate nature.
The study involved 20 people (10 boys and 10 girls) aged 5-6 years and the teacher of the older group. The study was conducted from January 10 to February 26, 2010.
We have identified indicators and selected diagnostic methods. (Table #1)
The selection of diagnostic methods was preceded by a clear definition of goals and objectives to be solved in the process of experimentation. We have identified the structural components of the activity of experimentation and those characteristics that are defined as "a set of activity skills".
In the process of children's experimentation, children learn:
See and highlight the problem; accept and set a goal; solve problems: analyze an object or phenomenon, highlight essential features and connections, compare various facts, put forward hypotheses, assumptions, select means and materials for independent activity, carry out an experiment; draw conclusions; record steps and results graphically. Any activity depends on the attitude of the subject to it. Thus, it is important to be able to assess the attitude of children to the activity of experimentation. Attitude we evaluate: preference for the type of activity and the degree of interest, active participation in the discussion and the process of activity.
What becomes important is not so much the result as the process of the child's work in the course of experimentation; accordingly, what is evaluated is not what result the child has achieved, but how he thinks, reasons. In this case, we highlight such indicators as goal setting, activity planning and the process of its implementation. Of course, one of the indicators is also reflective skills, i.e. the ability of children to formulate conclusions, to argue their judgments. Consequently, the indicators of the formation of the activity of experimentation need to be investigated both at the external and at the internal levels - that is, qualitative changes in the structure of the personality and their manifestations. In the interaction of man with the environment.
Table 1
| Indicators | Diagnostic methods |
| Attitude of children to experimental activities | Methodology "Little Explorer"; individual map of indicators of attitude to experimental activity. |
| Levels of formation by experimental activity | Observations of the educator, an individual map of indicators of children's mastery of experimental activities (according to Ivanova A.I.). |
| The level of development of curiosity, cognitive activity | Questionnaire for the educator "Study of cognitive initiative" |
| The level of ecological knowledge of objects and objects of inanimate nature | Diagnosis based on indicators of the level of mastery of children in the program |
The developed methodology "Little Explorer" involves the choice of pictures, with a schematic representation of the corner of experimentation with different materials and objects and other schematic images of various zones of the developing environment (reading books, creative activity corner, gaming). The teacher invites the children to make one choice out of four: "A little researcher has come to you. What would you advise him to do?" The answers are recorded in the protocol with the numbers 1, 2, 3.4. The first choice is worth 4 points, the second - 3 points, the third - 2 points, the fourth - 1 point. (Table #2)
Table 2 Data on the method "Little explorer"
| Surname, name of the child | Quality processing | ||
| 1. | Dasha S. | 3 | Reading books |
| 2. | Artem P. | 1 | play corner |
| 3. | Richat M. | 4 | Experimentation |
| 4. | Stas S. | 3 | Reading books |
| 5. | Cyril M. | 3 | Reading books |
| 6. | Olga K. | 1 | Game |
| 7. | Vasya G. | 1 | Game |
| 8. | Nastya M. | 2 | Creative activity |
| 9. | Olga S. | 2 | Creative activity |
| 10. | Angelina M. | 4 | Experimentation |
| 11. | Lera K. | 1 | play corner |
| 12. | Elina Sh. | 1 | play corner |
| 13. | Maxim K. | 2 | Creative activity |
| 14. | Vova Z. | 1 | Game |
| 15. | Rufina B. | 2 | Creative activity |
| 16. | Nastya E. | 1 | play corner |
| 17. | Vika K. | 4 | Experimentation |
| 18. | Dima K. | 2 | Creative activity |
| 19. | Artem S. | 1 | play corner |
| 20. | Zhenya R. | 3 | Reading books |
The results of the study of the type of activity preferred by children showed that the preferences of children at the beginning of the experiment in the group were distributed as follows:
1st place - game corner (40%)
2nd place - creative activity corner (25%)
3rd place - reading books (20%)
4th place - experimentation (15%)
Those. experimentation took the last place,
In order to identify in children of senior preschool age the formation of the activity of experimentation and attitudes towards experimental activity, we have developed indicators of the level of children's mastery of experimental activity. The summary data on the age-related dynamics of the formation of skills at all stages of experimentation was taken as a basis (Ivanova A.I.) (Table No. 3)
Table 3 Indicators of the level of children's mastery of experimental activities
| Levels | Attitude towards experimental activity | Planning | Implementation | Reflection | ||
| Tall | Cognitive attitude is stable. The child shows initiative and creativity in problem solving. | He sees the problem on his own. Actively speculates. Puts forward hypotheses, assumptions, widely using argumentation and evidence. | Independently plans future activities. Consciously chooses objects and materials for independent activity in accordance with their qualities, properties, purposes. | Acting in a planned manner. Remembers the purpose of the work throughout the activity. In a dialogue with an adult explains the course of activities. Brings things to an end. | Formulates the result in speech or not, notices the incomplete correspondence of the result to the hypothesis. Able to establish a variety of temporary, sequential causal relationships. Draws conclusions. | |
| Middle | In most cases, the child shows an active cognitive interest | He sees the problem sometimes on his own, sometimes with a little help from an adult. The child makes assumptions, builds a hypothesis on his own or with a little help from others (peers or an adult) | Takes an active part in planning activities together with an adult. | Independently prepares material for experimentation, based on their qualities and properties. Shows perseverance in achieving results, remembering the purpose of the work. | Can formulate conclusions independently or on leading questions. Argues his judgments and uses evidence with the help of an adult. | |
| Short | Cognitive interest is unstable, weakly expressed. | Doesn't always understand the problem. Inactive in putting forward ideas to solve the problem. Has difficulty understanding the hypotheses put forward by other children. | The desire for independence is not expressed. Makes mistakes when choosing materials for independent activity due to insufficient awareness of their qualities and properties. | Forgetting about the goal, being carried away by the process. Tends to monotonous, primitive actions, manipulating objects. Makes mistakes in establishing connections and succession of guests (which is first, which is later). | It is difficult to draw a conclusion even with the help of others. Reasoning is formal, pseudological, the child is guided by the external, insignificant features of the material with which he acts without delving into its true content. | |
On the basis of individual survey cards and the teacher's observation of the degree of mastery of experimental activities, it was shown that children have a low level of mastery of experimental activities. The cognitive interest of children is unstable, they do not always understand the problem. When choosing materials for independent activity, mistakes are made due to insufficient awareness of their qualities and properties. Often children forget about the goal, being carried away by the process, they gravitate towards primitive actions. Difficult to draw a conclusion. The reasoning is formal, the child is guided by the external, insignificant features of the material with which he acts, without delving into its true content. To assess the study of the level of development of curiosity, cognitive activity, a survey of educators was conducted, who, based on observations of the behavior of children in a natural environment and conversations with the parents of children, chose answers to the questions of the questionnaire (Table 4). The basis was the questionnaire "Study of cognitive interests" (V.S. Yurkevich)
Table 4 Questionnaire "Study of cognitive interests"
| No. p / p | Questions | Possible answers |
score | |
| 1 | How often does a child spend a long time in the corner of cognitive development, experimentation? |
b) sometimes c) very rarely |
||
| 2 | What does a child prefer when asked a quick wits question? |
a) speaks independently b) when c) get a ready answer from others |
||
| 3 | How emotionally does the child relate to an interesting activity for him related to mental work? | a) very emotional b) when c) emotions are not clearly expressed (compared to other situations) |
||
| 4 | Do you often ask questions: why? why? as? |
b) sometimes c) very rarely |
||
| 5 | Shows interest in symbolic "languages": tries to independently "read" schemes, maps, drawings and do something according to them (sculpt, design); |
b) sometimes c) very rarely |
||
| 6 | Shows interest in educational literature |
b) sometimes c) very rarely |
||
30-22 points - the need is strongly expressed;
21-18 points - the need is expressed moderately;
17 points or less - the need is poorly expressed.
The data obtained are reflected in table 5 "The study of cognitive interests"
Table 5 Study of cognitive interests
| Quantitative processing (points) | Quality processing | |
| 1. | 18 | |
| 2. | 15 | The need is weak |
| 3. | 22 | The need is strongly expressed |
| 4. | 19 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 5. | 16 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 6. | 21 | The need is weak |
| 7. | 18 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 8. | 25 | The need is strongly expressed |
| 9. | 21 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 10. | 19 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 11. | 21 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 12. | 20 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 13. | 20 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 14 | 19 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 15. | 21 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 16. | 18 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 17. | 20 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 18 | 19 | The need is expressed moderately |
| 19. | 15 | The need is weak |
| 20. | 21 | The need is expressed moderately |
From the above results, we see that:
10% of children - the cognitive need is strongly expressed.
75% of children - cognitive need is expressed moderately.
15% of children - cognitive need is poorly expressed.
To determine the level of knowledge about inanimate nature, we have compiled the following questions:
Describe the quality, property and purpose of objects: from wood; from glass; from paper; from rubber; from metal; from plastic.
What do you know about air? About water? About sand? Clay?
On the basis of individual survey cards, we deduced the general level of knowledge of each child. As a result, we got:
High level - 10%
Average level - 45%
Low level - 45%
Based on the results of the identified level of ecological knowledge about inanimate nature, it was established that there is no knowledge about the properties of air, clay, glass, etc., and they are partially aware of their purpose. Children poorly isolate the essential features of objects, make mistakes when grouping objects.
Thus, according to the results of the ascertaining experiment, we found that children do not show interest in experimentation, preferring other types of activity; children showed little interest in search activities, a number of skills and necessary components for experimentation are missing (the ability to set a goal, choose the necessary material, plan their actions with the material with a focus on results); cognitive interest is not expressed enough; children know little about the properties and qualities of inanimate materials. The diagnostic data indicate the need for targeted systematic work to develop cognitive interest in preschool children. Therefore, we have developed classes using experiments with inanimate nature for children of senior preschool age.
2.2 A set of classes using experiments with inanimate objects for children of senior preschool age
In order to develop children's experimentation in the group, an experimentation corner was re-equipped for independent free activities and individual lessons.
We have selected a series of experiments with objects of inanimate nature, which we used in our work with children of senior preschool age.
We enriched the children's experience, the children were learning the properties and qualities of various materials in practice, the children actively participated in the study and transformation of various problem situations, got acquainted with the ways of fixing the results obtained.
During joint experimentation, the children and I set a goal, together with them we determined the stages of work, and drew conclusions. In the course of the activity, children were taught to single out a sequence of actions, reflect them in speech when answering questions like: What did we do? What did we get? Why? We recorded the children's assumptions, helped them to schematically reflect the course and results of the experiment. The assumptions and results of the experiment were compared, conclusions were drawn on leading questions: What were you thinking? What happened? Why? We taught children to find similarities and differences between objects. At the end of a series of experiments, we discussed with the children which of them had learned something new, sketched a scheme of the general experiment. In the process of experimentation, the children were convinced of the need to accept and set a goal, analyze an object or phenomenon, identify essential features and aspects, compare various facts, make assumptions and come to a conclusion, record the stages of actions and results graphically.
Children actively participated in the proposed experiments, willingly acted independently with objects, revealing their features. They showed a desire to experiment at home: to explore various household items, their effect, which was found out in conversations with parents and children. Some children, together with their parents, sketched the course and results of experiments carried out at home in their notebooks. Then we discussed their work with all the children.
1 block of classes: experimenting with sand.
Purpose: to introduce children to the properties of sand, to develop the ability to concentrate; systematically and consistently consider objects, the ability to notice subtle components; to develop the observation of children, the ability to compare, analyze, generalize, establish cause-and-effect relationships and draw conclusions. Familiarize yourself with the safety rules when conducting experiments.
Experiment 1. "Sand Cone"
Take a handful of sand and release it in a trickle so that it falls in one place. Gradually, a cone is formed at the point of fall, growing in height and occupying an increasing area at the base. If you pour sand for a long time, on the surface of the cone, in one place, then in another, there are slips, movements of sand, similar to a current. The children conclude: the sand is loose and can move (Remember with the children about the desert, that it is there that the sands can move, to look like the waves of the sea).
Experiment 2. "Properties of wet sand"
Wet sand cannot be poured in a stream from the palm of your hand, but it can take any desired shape until it dries. We find out with the children why figures can be made from wet sand: when the sand gets wet, the air between the edges of each grain of sand disappears, the wet edges stick together and hold each other. If, however, cement is added to wet sand, then even after drying, the sand will not lose its shape and become hard, like a stone. This is how sand works to build houses.
Experiment 3. "Where is the water?"
Invite the children to find out the properties of sand and clay by touching them (loose, dry). Children pour cups at the same time with the same amount of water (oxen pour exactly as much as to completely go into the sand). Find out what happened in the containers with sand and clay (All the water went into the sand, but stands on the surface of the clay); why (for clay particles are closer to each other, they do not let water through); where there are more puddles after rain (on asphalt, on clay soil, because they do not let water in; on the ground, there are no puddles in the sandbox); why are the paths in the garden sprinkled with sand (to absorb water.
2 block of classes: experimenting with air.
Target. To develop the cognitive activity of children, initiative; develop the ability to establish causal relationships based on an elementary experiment and draw conclusions; to clarify the concepts of children that air is not "invisible", but a real-life gas; expand children's ideas about the importance of air in human life, improve children's experience in observing safety rules when conducting experiments.
Experiment 1. "Search for air"
Invite the children to prove with the help of objects that there is air around us. Children choose any objects, show the experience on their own, explain the ongoing processes based on the result of their actions (for example: blowing into a tube, the end of which is lowered into the water; blowing up a balloon, etc.).
Experiment 2. "Live snake"
Light a candle and blow quietly on it, ask the children why the flame is deflected (air flow affects). Offer to consider a snake (a circle cut in a spiral and hung on a thread), its spiral design and demonstrate to the children the rotation of the snake over the candle (the air above the candle is warmer, the snake rotates above it, but does not go down, but does not go down, because its lifts warm air). Children find out that the air makes the snake rotate, and with the help of heating devices, they perform the experiment on their own.
Experiment 3
Invite the children to inflate the balloon and let it go, pay attention to the trajectory and duration of its flight. Children conclude that in order for the balloon to fly longer, it is necessary to inflate it more, because. air escaping from the balloon causes it to move in the opposite direction. Tell the children that the same principle is used in jet engines.
Chapter 2 Conclusions
Thus, the work showed that when using the purposeful systematic application of experiments in the learning process, it allows the child to model in his mind a picture of the world based on his own observations, answers, establishing interdependencies, patterns, etc. At the same time, the transformations that he makes with objects , are creative in nature - arouse interest in research, develop mental operations, stimulate cognitive activity, curiosity. And what is important: specially organized experimentation is safe.
The results of the work performed showed that the use of experimentation had an impact on:
Increasing the level of development of curiosity; research skills of children (to see and define a problem, to accept and set a goal, to solve problems, to analyze an object or phenomenon, to highlight essential features and connections, to compare various facts, to put forward various hypotheses, to select means and materials for independent activity, to carry out an experiment, to make certain conclusions and conclusions);
Speech development (enriching the vocabulary of children with various terms, consolidating the ability to grammatically correctly build their answers to questions, the ability to ask questions, follow the logic of their statement, the ability to build evidence-based speech);
Personal characteristics (the emergence of initiative, independence, the ability to cooperate with others, the need to defend one's point of view, coordinate it with others, etc.);
Knowledge of children about inanimate nature.
Conclusion
In this work, we studied the psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of the formation of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age, figured out the essence and structure of cognitive interest and found out that, in the process of development of preschool children, cognitive interest plays a multi-valued role: and as a means of living, captivating the child's education, and as a strong motive for the intellectual and long-term course of cognitive activity, and as a prerequisite for the formation of a person's readiness for continuous education.
We carried out experimental work on the formation of cognitive activity in preschool children in the process of mastering experimental activities and found out that children's cognitive interest is unstable, they do not always understand the problem, they know little about the properties and qualities of objects and objects of inanimate nature. This testified to the need for targeted pedagogical work to develop cognitive interest in preschool children.
On the basis of the work carried out, we were able to make sure that children's experimentation is a special form of search activity, in which the processes of goal formation, the processes of the emergence and development of new personality motives that underlie self-motion, self-development of preschoolers are most clearly expressed.
Using the method - children's experimentation in pedagogical practice is effective and necessary for the development of research activities in preschoolers, cognitive activity, increasing the amount of knowledge, skills and abilities.
In children's experimentation, children's own activity is most powerfully manifested, aimed at obtaining new information, new knowledge (cognitive form of experimentation), to obtain products of children's creativity - new buildings, drawings, fairy tales, etc. (a productive form of experimentation).
It acts as a teaching method if it is used to transfer new knowledge to children, it can be considered as a form of organization of the pedagogical process, if the latter is based on the method of experimentation, and, finally, experimentation is one of the types of cognitive activity of children and adults.
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Before proceeding to the analysis of the concept of "cognitive activity", it is necessary to analyze the term "activity".
The above terms are widely described in the scientific literature. Despite the widespread use of the term “activity” in psychological and pedagogical theory and practice, this concept turns out to be very complex and ambiguous in the interpretation of many researchers. Some identify activity with activity, others consider activity the result of activity, others argue that activity is a broader concept than activity.
According to A.N. Leontiev, activity is a concept that indicates the ability of living beings to produce spontaneous movements and change under the influence of external and internal stimuli - stimuli.
N.N. Poddyakov distinguishes two types of children's activity: the child's own activity and the activity of the child stimulated by an adult. The child's own activity is a specific and at the same time universal form of activity, characterized by the variety of its manifestations in all areas of the child's psyche: cognitive, emotional, volitional, personal.
N.N. Poddyakov notes the phase nature of the child's own activity: in everyday life and in kindergarten classes, the preschooler's own activity is replaced by his joint activity with an adult; then the child again acts as the subject of his own activity, and so on. .
It follows from this that the activity is entirely initiated by the object itself - the child, dictated by his internal state. A preschooler in the process of activity acts as a self-sufficient person, free from external influences. He himself sets goals, determines the ways, methods and means of achieving them, thereby satisfying his interests, needs and will. Children's creativity is based on this type of activity, however, according to N.N. Poddyakova, it is conditioned by interaction with adults. At the same time, the scientist notes, the kid learns the content of the activity determined by the teachers in such a way that, based on the experience of previous actions, it is transformed into his achievement, significantly changing the form.
The activity of the child, stimulated by an adult, is characterized by the fact that an adult organizes the activities of a preschooler, shows and tells how to do it. In the process of such reality, the child receives the results that were previously determined by the adult. The action itself (or concept) is formed in accordance with predetermined parameters. This whole process takes place without trial and error, without painful searches and dramas.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that these two types of activity never appear in their pure form, since they are very closely intertwined in the mind of the child. In any case, preschool children's own activity is associated with activities directed from an adult, and the skills, abilities and knowledge received from adults are accepted by the child, becoming his experience, and he operates with them as if they were his own.
Having studied the options for the definition of "activity", it is advisable to consider the term "cognitive activity".
Today, the concept of "cognitive activity" is widely used in various areas of psychological and pedagogical research: the problems of selecting the content of education, the formation of general educational skills, optimizing the cognitive activity of pupils, the relationship of children with peers and adults; the role of the teacher and personal factors in the development of children's cognitive activity.
However, there is no consensus among the authors about the meaning of the concept of "cognitive activity", which is interpreted in different ways: as a type or quality of mental activity, as a child's natural desire for knowledge, as a state of readiness for cognitive activity, as a property or quality of personality.
Despite the considerable attention paid to the problem by researchers, today there is no generally accepted understanding of the structure of cognitive activity, there is no single, convenient system for identifying indicators, criteria for cognitive activity.
An analysis of the literature has shown that the most substantiated is the allocation by the authors of the following components of the structure of cognitive activity: emotional, volitional, motivational, content-procedural, and the component of social orientation.
Given the difficulty of fixing such a complex phenomenon as cognitive activity, and foreseeing the possibility of uneven development of its individual components, we chose the approach of element-by-element study. In each structural component, we have designated empirical elements that can be observed, fixed and theoretically analyzed. Each external sign of an element of the structure of cognitive activity can be reflected in certain criteria that characterize the level of manifestation of this element.
The system of external signs allows fixing the qualitative state of the components of cognitive activity, and the selected levels of manifestation of these signs reflect the degree of formation of the components from a quantitative standpoint.
Given that the development of the emotional, volitional and motivational components is largely due to the flow of internal mental processes, we attribute these components to the internal sphere of cognitive activity, and the content-operational and social orientation component to the external sphere.
The selected components of cognitive activity can be at different levels of development, but at the same time they, as parts of the system, are in complex relationships of mutual influence and interdependence.
So, for example, a positive emotional attitude to cognitive activity stimulates the development of the content-process component and vice versa, a significant amount of knowledge of skills and abilities creates a positive attitude towards learning activities.
All levels of cognitive activity identified by researchers can be classified according to the following criteria.
In relation to activity:
- 1. Potential activity, which characterizes the personality in terms of readiness, desire for activity.
- 2. Realized activity characterizes the personality through the quality of the activity performed in this particular case. Main indicators: vigor, intensity, effectiveness, independence, creativity, willpower.
By duration and stability:
- 1. Situational activity, which is episodic.
- 2. Integral activity, which determines the general dominant attitude towards activity.
By the nature of the activity:
- 1. Reproductive-imitative. It is characterized by the desire to remember and reproduce ready-made knowledge, to master the way of their application according to the model.
- 2. Search and execution. It is characterized by the desire to identify the meaning of phenomena and processes, to determine the connections between them, to master the ways of applying knowledge in changed conditions. The means to accomplish the task are found independently.
- 3. Creative. It is carried out by searching, taking initiative in setting goals and objectives, developing an independent optimal program of action, transferring knowledge to new conditions.
These levels of formation of cognitive activity are distinguished from the standpoint of a qualitative measurement, from the point of view of a quantitative measurement, three levels are usually distinguished: high, medium and low.
The degree of success in the formation of cognitive activity depends on the influence of a system of external and internal factors. We refer to internal factors biological factors, as well as mental properties of a person (abilities, character, temperament and orientation), to external ones - social and pedagogical ones.
Activity is the most general category in studies of the nature of the psyche, mental development, cognitive and creative abilities of the individual. Activity is the subject of study of various sciences, natural and social. Each science investigates its specific patterns of generation, development, dynamics of activity. In the system of cognitive processes, activity most clearly appears at three significantly different levels, which differ in the specific features of self-regulation.
In productive cognitive activity, these levels are expressed 1) as the activity of attention, caused by the novelty of the stimulus and unfolding into a system of orienting-exploratory activity; 2) as an exploratory cognitive activity evoked in a problem situation in the conditions of education, in communication, professional activity; 3) as a personal activity, expressed in the form of "intellectual initiative", "supra-situational activity", "self-realization" of the individual. Adaptive forms of activity and the processes corresponding to them are caused by numerous needs and those types of motivation that have received a common characteristic of achievement (success) motives. Modern strategic goals of education focus on the formation of a creative, independent personality, its development as an active subject of its own life and activity. In this regard, pedagogy is actively discussing the problem of the transition from the reproductive model of education, which ensures the reproduction of "ready-made knowledge", to a productive model focused on enhancing the cognitive activity of students.
In this direction, research is being carried out on various aspects of the process of forming the cognitive activity of children. Scientists define the essence of the concept of "cognitive activity", however, in modern science there is still no unambiguous interpretation of it, which requires additional research to clarify. Single studies are devoted to the study of the factors and conditions for the development of cognitive activity in preschool children. At the same time, scientists and teachers point out that there is a decrease in cognitive activity in children of older preschool age. A survey of elementary school teachers conducted by us in the course of the study showed that the majority of children with low cognitive activity enter the first grade, as a result of which they study worse at school, rarely ask cognitive questions, and do not show a desire to acquire new knowledge and independence.
Scientists argue that one of the significant factors in the development of cognitive activity is the choice of such means that allow the child to effectively master the cultural and historical experience. According to the concept of L.S. Vygotsky, the child in the process of his development appropriates the sociocultural experience of mankind, presented in the form of various signs, symbols, models, etc.
Methodical methods of activating educational activity:
- 1) self-analysis tasks;
- 2) tasks of a creative nature;
- 3) tasks aimed at increasing the level of knowledge;
- 4) assignments of problematic content;
- 5) tasks of a gaming and competitive nature;
- 6) tasks aimed at varying the content and methods of implementation.
Cognitive activity develops from the need for new experiences, which is inherent in every person from birth. At preschool age, on the basis of this need, in the process of developing orienting and research activities, the child develops a desire to learn and discover as much as possible new things.
It is believed that cognitive activity is one of the important qualities that characterize the mental development of a preschooler. Cognitive activity, formed during preschool childhood, is an important driving force in the cognitive development of the child.
We define cognitive activity as the desire for the most complete knowledge of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.
The development of cognitive activity is determined by qualitative changes reflected in energy and content indicators. The energy indicator characterizes the child's interest in activities, perseverance in cognition. A meaningful indicator characterizes the effectiveness of activities in the process of obtaining knowledge, the allocation of various cultural contents in a situation.
As factors influencing the formation of a child's cognitive activity, the authors who studied this problem singled out communication, the need for new experiences, and the general level of activity development. The study of this issue forces us to pay attention to the situation in which the development of the child takes place, and the social norms within which this development takes place. Therefore, it seems to us especially relevant to study the development of cognitive activity within the framework that society defines.
Description and study of the situation as one of the factors that determine human behavior is one of the promising areas in psychology today. Obviously, the study of personality without taking into account situational factors is impossible.
In psychological and pedagogical science there is no unity in understanding the phenomenon of human cognitive activity. To denote the essence of this phenomenon, there are many concepts: “valuable personal education” (G.I. Shchukina), “active state” (T.I. Shamova), “human desire for knowledge” (T.I. Zubkova).
An analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature made it possible to consider this concept from the perspective of different authors (Table 1).
Table 1 Definitions of cognitive activity
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Definitions of cognitive activity |
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Valuable personal education expressing a person's attitude to activity |
G.I. Schukin |
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At the heart of the development of cognitive activity lies the child's overcoming of the contradictions between the ever-growing cognitive needs and the opportunities for their satisfaction that he has at the moment. |
V.S. Ilyin |
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An active state that manifests itself in the child's attitude to the subject and process of this activity |
T.I. Shamova |
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The natural human desire for knowledge, characteristics of activity, its intensity and integral personal education |
T.I. Zubkov |
Based on the above definitions, we can conclude that the cognitive activity of older preschool children should be understood as personal education, an active state that expresses the intellectual and emotional response of the child to the process of cognition: the desire to acquire knowledge, mental stress, the manifestation of efforts associated with volitional influence, in the process of obtaining knowledge, the readiness and desire of the child for the learning process, the performance of individual and general tasks, interest in the activities of adults and other children.
There are sensitive periods in the development of human cognitive activity. They fall mainly on preschool childhood. According to many researchers, the age of older preschoolers is a favorable period for the formation of cognitive activity (L.S. Vygotsky, A.V. Zaporozhets, E.A. Kossakovskaya, A.N. Leontiev). Cognitive activity in children of older preschool age is manifested in the process of mastering speech and is expressed in word creation and in children's questions of various types.
In accordance with the data of numerous psychological and pedagogical studies, a child of senior preschool age can not only learn the visual properties of phenomena and objects, but is also able to understand the general connections that underlie many laws of natural phenomena, aspects of social life.
Taking into account the peculiarities of the development of children of senior preschool age, T.I. Shamova believes that cognitive activity is an active state that manifests itself in the child's attitude to the subject and process of this activity. The physiological basis of cognitive activity is the inconsistency between the current situation and past experience. Of particular importance at the stage of including the child in active cognitive activity is the orienting-exploratory reflex, which is the reaction of the body to unusual changes in the external environment. The exploratory reflex brings the cerebral cortex into an active state.
The excitation of the research reflex is a necessary condition for cognitive activity.
Taking into account the peculiarities of the development of cognitive activity of preschool children, T.I. Shamova identifies three levels of manifestation of cognitive activity (Table 2).
Table 2 Levels of manifestation of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age
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Levels of manifestation of cognitive activity |
Characteristic |
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reproducing activity |
The desire of the child to understand, remember, reproduce knowledge, master the method of its application according to the model. This level is characterized by the instability of the child's volitional efforts, lack of interest in deepening knowledge, and the absence of the question: "Why?" |
|
Interpreting Activity |
The desire of the child to identify the meaning of the content being studied, the desire to know the connections between phenomena and processes, to master the ways of applying knowledge in changed conditions |
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creative activity |
The desire of the child not only to penetrate deeply into the essence of phenomena and their relationships, but also to find a new way for this. A characteristic feature of this level of activity is the manifestation of high volitional qualities of the child, perseverance and perseverance in achieving the goal, broad and persistent cognitive interests. |
Thus, the basis of the cognitive activity of older preschool children is the desire to understand, remember, reproduce knowledge, study the relationship between phenomena and processes, as well as the laws of their functioning. Of the entire set of concepts outlined in the psychological, pedagogical and methodological literature, the most specific components were identified in the course of the study, reflecting directly the process of development of cognitive activity in children of older preschool age. They can be identified by the following indicators (Table 3).
Table 3 Components of cognitive activity of older preschool children
Summing up the above, it should be noted that the cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age is an activity that occurs in the process of cognition. A feature of the development of cognitive activity of children of senior preschool age is the manifestation of elements of creativity, interested acceptance of information, the desire to clarify, deepen one's knowledge, an independent search for answers to questions of interest, the ability to learn the way of cognition and apply it in other situations.
Of particular importance at the stage of including the child in active cognitive activity is the orienting-exploratory reflex, which is the reaction of the body to unusual changes in the external environment. Excitation of the research reflex is a necessary condition for cognitive activity. Therefore, it is so important to experiment with children of older preschool age.
