In the human psyche there are a huge number of very important processes. But one of the highest priority is thinking. What is it, what kinds of species happens, and how does its development take place? Let's try to figure this out.
What is thinking?
In everyday life, by this term we mean verbal reasoning. From the point of view of psychology, thinking has a broader meaning. It is understood as any mental process that allows a person to solve a particular problem. In this case, people perceive things without any analyzers (olfactory, auditory, tactile, visual, pain, etc.), based on speech signals alone.
A bit of history
Thinking, being a type of mental activity, has interested people since ancient times. The philosophers of the ancient world tried to study it. They sought to give him an accurate explanation. So, Plato thought equated intuition. And Aristotle even created a whole science - logic. The cognitive process was divided by him into parts, among which are the concept, judgment and inference. And today, representatives of different sciences are trying to study the specifics of thinking. However, despite all the ideas and conclusions expressed as a result of numerous experiments, it has not yet been possible to come to a single clear definition of this process.
Types of thinking in young children
This process is considered by science as psychology. At the same time, three main forms of thinking that preschool children possess are identified in the discipline. This is visual-effective and visual-figurative, as well as spatio-temporal, or temporal.
The development of thinking in children is conditionally divided into certain stages. Moreover, each of them kids go through the process of cognition of the world. Consider the development of each of the forms of thinking in more detail.
Visually effective view
The development of this type of thinking in young children is due to their direct perception of the world around them. This is the time when the baby begins its interaction with various objects. Of all the processes that develop in the psyche, the main role is given to perception. All the experiences of the little man focus on those phenomena and things that surround him.
Thought processes in this case are externally oriented actions, which, in turn, are clearly effective.
The development of thinking in a vividly effective form allows children to discover the vast connections between a person and objects in his environment. During this period, the child gains the necessary experience. He begins to regularly and persistently reproduce elementary actions, the purpose of which is the expected result. The experience gained will later become the basis of more complex mental processes.
This stage of development of thinking in children, which has a clearly effective form, is unconscious. It is only included in the process of movements performed by the baby.
The development of visual thinking
In a child, in the process of orienting and visual actions performed by him during manipulations with various objects, a certain image is formed. At the early stage of the development of thinking of a visually effective form, the main sign of a thing for a baby is its size, shape. Color does not yet have its fundamental significance.
A special role in the development of thinking at this stage will be played by various movements aimed at the development of effective and visual mental processes. Gradually, the baby learns to correlate the sizes of two or more objects, their shape, as well as their location. He strung rings on a pyramid, put cubes on each other, etc. Take into account the various characteristics of objects and select them in shape and size, it will be much later.
No tasks for the development of thinking of this type should be given to the baby, since its formation occurs, as a rule, on its own. An adult only needs to interest the little man in a toy and make him want to interact with it.
Features related to the development of thinking of this type are especially pronounced, for example, when playing with a nesting doll. The kid, trying to get the necessary result, will apply two halves that are not at all suitable for each other by force. And only after he is convinced that all his actions do not lead to the desired result, he will begin to sort through the details until he comes across the right one. In order to speed up the process of development of thinking in children, manufacturers develop toys in such a way that they themselves “tell” the baby which of the elements is best suited.
After mastering the external orientation actions, the child acquires the skill in the ratio of various characteristics of objects. From this moment, the foundation of visual perception will begin, when the baby will compare one toy with others.
The next stage in the development of visual-effective thinking begins after children reach 2 years of age. Kids begin to pick up things visually, based on the existing sample. An adult during this game invites the child to give him exactly the same item. To this, the little student must react and choose the most suitable among all the toys.
A little later, as this type of thinking develops, children are able to acquire permanent patterns. They will continue to compare all objects with them.
The development of visual thinking
This type of mental process begins to form in babies, whose age approaches three years. By this time, children are making complex manipulations using a clearly effective form.
For the development of this type of thinking, as, however, and any other, the baby will need developing toys. This will greatly speed up the process. The most suitable for this are compound toys, when using which the baby needs to correlate the available parts by color and size.
The child begins the first reproductive actions by the end of the first year of his life. He takes his toys out of the box and then scatters. And even after the adult has put things in order in the room, the baby will get them again. A little later, the child begins to collect small-sized toys in his existing container. It is important for an adult to support such an undertaking, and to speed up the process of forming a visual-figurative thinking, show for yourself how all things can be put in a box or in another container. The child in this case will enjoy not the result, but the action itself.
A toy such as a pyramid is very useful for children. It is important for parents to teach their baby to wear and remove her rings correctly. How to develop thinking with the help of such a toy? An adult should install a rod in front of the child and show him how to string, and then remove the rings. At the initial stage, the parent can even take the baby’s handle and, putting a pyramid detail in it, string everything together with it. After performing such an exercise several times in a row, the child can be allowed to do this on his own.
For older kids, the actions with such a toy can be somewhat diversified. They are invited to lay out the track from the ringlets, arranging the details from larger to smaller.
Games for the development of imaginative thinking with preschool children are recommended to be carried out using two pyramids. In this case, the baby is shown, for example, a green ring, and is asked to find a part of the same color on the second toy.
The development of thinking in preschool at the initial stages occurs with the inextricable connection of speech and action. But some time passes, and the child begins to precede his actions with words. At first, he talks about what he is going to accomplish, and then he does what was planned. At this stage of life there is a transition of visual-effective thinking into visual-figurative. The child already has enough life experience to present certain objects in his head, and only then to perform some actions with them.
In the future, in the thinking of preschool children, the word plays an ever greater role. But nevertheless, until about 7 years of age, mental activity remains concrete. In other words, it has not yet been singled out from the general picture of the surrounding world. From about 6 years of age, the development of imaginative thinking allows preschoolers to boldly put into practice their actual material. At the same time, children begin to generalize various phenomena and draw the necessary conclusions for themselves.
Visual-verbal thinking
What is characteristic for this stage of the child’s mental development? The formation of visual-verbal thinking occurs most of all on the basis of descriptions and explanations, and not on the perception of objects. At the same time, the baby continues to think with specific concepts. So, the child already knows that metal objects are drowning in water. That is why he has full confidence that a nail placed in a container with liquid will go to the bottom. Nevertheless, he seeks to reinforce his knowledge with personal experience.
This is the age when the kids are very curious. They ask a lot of questions that adults must answer. This is necessary for the development of children's thinking. Initially, questions are usually associated with violations of the usual order of things for babies. For example, they need to know why the toy broke. Later, questions related to the outside world begin to appear.
The development of thinking of primary schoolchildren, as well as children of middle preschool age, is starting to gain speed. The activity of a child who has sat down at his desk is undergoing significant changes. The development of schoolchildren’s thinking is affected by the expansion of the circle of those subjects that arouse their interest. And here the role of the teacher becomes very important. The teacher should ensure that children in the class freely express their own thoughts using words. They are encouraged to think first, and then begin to perform certain actions.
And despite the fact that among young schoolchildren, the development of thinking is still at the stage of a concrete-shaped form, their abstract type begins to take shape in them. The mental processes of a small person begin to spread to surrounding people, plants, animals, etc.
The development of memory, attention, thinking of a primary school student will depend, first of all, on the correct selection of a training program. Children who are offered material of increased complexity, already by the age of 8 show higher abilities for abstract reasoning than their peers studying in standard teaching aids.
Spatial-temporal thinking
An adult is well aware of the fact that time is a relative and ambiguous concept. Children have yet to familiarize themselves with this.
Psychologists have long noticed the fact that the child is oriented in time, using a meaningful impression for him, the expectation of something, or a bright event. It turns out that the baby is well oriented in the past and the future, but the present is not available for him. The current moment in a child is one that occurs at a given second.
It is much easier to learn the time for those children who have been vaccinated with a specific daily routine from early childhood. After all, their body is already tuned to the existing rhythm of life. That is why in the brain of such a child the idea of time periods develops much faster. If today the baby was eating at noon, and yesterday his mother fed him at 2 in the afternoon, then it is rather difficult for him to navigate in time.
In order to accelerate the development of the attention and thinking of the space-time type in a child , parents from an early age should familiarize him with the concept of time. You do not need to conduct separate conversations for this. It is enough to simply pronounce temporary concepts in words. This should happen in the process of communication or playing with the baby. An adult just needs to comment on his plans and actions.
A little later, parents are advised to designate specific time periods. This will allow the concept of the past, present, and future to be deposited in the child’s head.
Parents can conduct peculiar lessons in the development of thinking of preschool children starting from the age of two of their child. Such kids are already aware of the changing seasons. Adults need to pay the child's attention to changes that occur in nature during the transition from one season to another. At the same time, you need to not only tell the baby about them, but also ask, for example, what changes he sees on the playground or in the park.
Critical thinking
Various tasks in which real objects participate, the child begins to solve after 4-5 years. This contributes to the development of his visual-figurative thinking. In the mind of a preschooler, various models and schemes arise. He is already beginning to analyze and generalize information received from the outside world. A child’s achievement of this stage in the development of thinking should be the reason for the transition to a new life step, where a critical form of vision of the world will form. Why is this direction considered important? In order to understand this, it is worth determining the very concept of critical thinking. In modern psychology, this term is given several interpretations. However, the meaning of all of them is the same. So, critical thinking is understood as a complex thought process, the beginning of which is when a child receives information. It ends with the adoption of a deliberate decision with the formation of a personal attitude to a particular subject.
The development of critical thinking allows the child to develop the ability to pose new questions, to develop arguments in defense of his own opinion, as well as the ability to draw conclusions. Such children interpret and analyze information. They always reasonably prove their own position, relying on the opinion of the interlocutor and on logic. Therefore, they can always explain why they agree or disagree with this or that issue.
The development of critical thinking begins as early as preschool. This is evidenced, for example, by the question “Why?”. The child at the same time shows the adult that he wants to know the causes of natural phenomena, human actions and events that he sees. In this case, it is important for parents not only to answer the question of their child, but also to help him in an objective assessment of the facts. After this, the baby must draw certain conclusions and form its own attitude to the information received. And do not think that a good child should not argue with elders. After all, the principle that a baby is required to do only what adults say to him is no longer suitable for the existing reality. Of course, in the family it is necessary to respect elders and politely communicate with loved ones, but without the use of technology for the development of critical thinking, it will be difficult for a child to adapt to the requirement of curriculum when entering school. Indeed, most of them require a completely different approach to the study of material.
High requirements in this direction are already being presented to younger students. Success in first grade is little dependent on the ability of children to count, write and read. Children are invited to solve simple logical problems. In addition, younger students should draw their own conclusions by reading short texts. Sometimes the teacher even offers the child to argue with him so that the latter proves to the teacher that he is right. Such an approach in the education system is available in many modern curricula.
The technology for the development of critical thinking offers parents a number of tips that will help them in the right education:
- From an early age, the child must be taught to think logically. For this, it is necessary to reason more often with him and to justify his opinion.
- To teach your baby to develop critical thinking in various ways, including during the game.
- Compare objects with a child, find differences and common features in them. After this, the baby must draw its own conclusions.
- Do not accept an answer like this: "Because I want it so." The child must name the real reason, citing his own arguments.
- Allow the child to doubt. In this case, he will distrust certain facts, and he will want to learn more about the object that caused the dispute.
- Try to teach the child to draw conclusions only after all the information has been clarified. Parents should tell them that criticizing something that you don’t know anything about is simply unreasonable.
Creative thinking
Psychologists distinguish such a concept as creativity. By this term they understand the ability of a person to see ordinary things in a new light, which allows us to find a unique solution to emerging problems.
Creative thinking is the exact opposite of stereotyped. It allows you to get away from the usual look, from banal ideas, and contributes to the birth of original solutions.
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Creative abilities of a person find their manifestation in various types of its activity. That is why parents are trying to get the answer to the question: "Is it possible to develop creative thinking in a child?" Psychologists give a definite answer to this: yes. This process will be especially effective in preschool age. Indeed, at this time, the psyche of children is very susceptible and plastic. In addition, the imagination is superbly developed in kids. Thanks to these qualities, the age from 3 to 7 years is very favorable in order to develop the creativity of the individual. There are many ways to do this, and most of all, with parents. The fact is that it is close people who are best able to organize an effective process of creative development for their child. All this happens due to the fact that:
- parents for the child are authority, and he appreciates communication with them;
- mothers and fathers know their child well, and therefore can choose for him the most effective development opportunities that will be of interest to the baby;
- the attention of parents is devoted only to one of their children, and the teacher needs to distribute it among the group of children;
- emotional contacts with significant adults for the baby give him special joy from joint creativity;
- Parents, as a rule, use various means for the effective process of developing memory and thinking, which allows them to double the effectiveness of the result.
How can this process be accelerated? The technology of development of thinking involves performing some exercises with the child. One of them is writing. Parents can come up with their son or daughter a fantasy tale, the main characters of which will be the characters chosen by their children in the form of objects, pictures, simply voiced verbally. Composing a story unfamiliar to the child, it is recommended not to choose the dogs, foxes and hens familiar to him. Otherwise, moving away from the famous plot will be quite difficult. The main character can be made one of the items of home interior or household accessories. You can also come up with a resident who secretly settled in your house. In this case, you can compose a unique story. In general, writing can be done on any topic that comes to mind.
The development of creative thinking will be helped by classes in drawing or folding from paper, wooden, plastic and other geometric blanks of certain figures, which subsequently need to be given names.
Parents can also, together with their children, stack images of plants and animals, collages, furniture and buildings using pieces of vivid illustrations. The development of creative thinking will also be facilitated by the creation of entire landscapes or portraits from such material.