The development of mental performance, active cognitive activity is one of the most important tasks of educating the younger generation. The reason here is very simple - a person will need these qualities throughout his life, and if in childhood the desire for new knowledge and skills is not developed, then the consequences will be very disastrous. Cognitive activity is success in all future endeavors. Here, information on methods for the development of this quality in children will be examined in detail.
Definition
From Latin activus - energetic, active. Strengthened and prolonged active state, initiative, enterprise, independence - which parent would not like to see these qualities in his child? Cognitive activity is the main task of education and training. There are many definitions in the literature. First of all, it is the activity of the child, living in a new world around him as an active subject, which shows his personality, directs energy, will, makes him work to achieve a positive result.
The most necessary personality trait is cognitive activity. This attitude to action, a constant state of readiness for it, the assimilation of social experience, the accumulation of knowledge, methods of action, skills and abilities already acquired by mankind. This is what action would not be successful without: the ability to perceive and think. There are many ways to recognize this ability in children.
Manifestation
Cognitive activity is an ability that is difficult to develop and impossible to hide. A simple observation of the child’s activities can establish how active he is and whether he is striving for new knowledge. The presence of their cognitive activity of preschoolers shows the following facts.
- The child is passionate about the activity, subject or story.
- He has a pronounced desire to perform a variety of, even complex tasks, he does not want to stop and finish his actions.
- He shows independence, choosing the means and methods of action, he achieves the result and controls himself, this means that cognitive activity is at its best.
- In communication with adults, he asks questions that satisfy his cognitive interest.
- Very emotional about what he does.
The level, of course, is very different. Cognitive activity of preschoolers manifests itself unequally in different children. If a child takes his activities creatively, knows how to find innovative solutions, thinks creatively, uses previously acquired knowledge - this is a high level.
Specifications
The activity of cognitive processes is characterized by the following features.
- Activities aimed at cognition, manifested from the moment of birth, it develops intensively throughout childhood, accumulating ways of knowing the world surrounding the child.
- Cognitive activity of younger students is manifested in all types of activities, not being focused on a separate area.
- Preschoolers, on the other hand, learn to compare, experiment, solve their own and other people's problems, ask, think, learning new phenomena and objects.
- The child’s curiosity is comprehensive, it not only cognizes certain phenomena or objects, but also tries to recognize certain devices, goals, causes, methods of use, purpose and so on.
Thus, it becomes clear that the most important for the study of the world is experience.
Facilities
Cognitive activity requires constant growth and persistence of interests, then experience will accumulate quickly, knowledge will become sustainable. The methods of transferring knowledge from an adult to a child can be very different, and the means should be as simple as possible, but fun. The process of forming a relationship to the world is a unity of the emotional and intellectual in the knowledge of reality.
By the end of preschool age, the child gains independence, a certain self-regulation and self-control in his activity, he is able to set a goal and achieve it, finding a suitable way. Moreover, he can already evaluate the result. He almost ceases to copy the actions of adults, even sometimes departs from the requirements presented, takes the initiative, strong-willed efforts to achieve a result. He must regulate his own behavior.
Goals
The development of cognitive activity of children is necessary for all their subsequent life activities. In the process of cognition, the child should be a full-fledged personality for an adult, capable of both determining his own activity and creatively approaching the task, realizing not only interests and needs, but also will. Further schooling depends entirely on how developed these abilities are in kindergarten.
Cognitive activity of schoolchildren is already a manifestation of a child in their own activity, independently building relationships with teachers and classmates. At the age of four or five years, the transformative initiative in cognitive activity should be fully manifested. He is already aware of his own capabilities, which encourages initiative, new desires, creativity.
Preschool period
This not too long time lays the foundation for the manifested personality, in many respects determines it. The family and society surrounding the child must create all conditions for the successful development of cognitive activity. Initial acquaintance with the surrounding reality takes place precisely in preschool childhood, therefore, the attitude to cognition must be formed carefully, but steadily: the cultural and historical experience of previous generations begins to be assimilated from early childhood. The development of cognitive activity of preschoolers from the first days of life is the key to further successful education at school, institute, in scientific activity and in production.
Independence
This is the basis on which the rest of life will be built - a palace or a hut, depending on the strength of the foundation. Everyone understands this. But, nevertheless, the activity of cognitive activity is steadily and significantly reduced, as evidenced by the tests of children in schools.
Independence in cognition is not sufficiently formed, and most importantly, the need for independent research becomes less and less, children are much more willing to use ready-made formulas that are also not very interested, without much desire to clarify, expand and deepen knowledge, use independent search, and show creation.
Analysis and synthesis
Children already in preschool age should have the ability to think operations, analyze and synthesize the knowledge gained. There are all kinds of teaching methods for this, but you need to choose from those that rely on children to receive the widest possible information field. The formation of cognitive activity occurs approximately like this. Preschoolers are shown the picture where the house under construction is painted, and asked to describe the person depicted, identifying his profession.
It analyzes the most significant relationships and relationships: why in the hand of a builder, for example, a trowel, why such a high crane, why a house so huge, who needs it and why. If the children learn to identify internal relationships, understand the essence of phenomena, draw the right conclusions, then perhaps by the eighth grade of the school they will not have the unpleasant curiosity that happened recently in a Moscow school.
"The fascist flew"
Elementary analysis among preschoolers is the starting point for a more complex, already entirely causal analysis, which examines the relationships and dependencies between the various signs of a particular phenomenon. In the eighth grade, I attended a regular lesson in speech culture. The teacher presented a reproduction of A. Plastov’s painting “The Fascist Flew Over” and asked to tell what the students saw in the picture. The class was obscured for unknown reasons. When the pause became unbearable, the very first excellent student raised her hand and said uncertainly: "The boy, apparently, is Natsik. He most likely didn’t succeed, didn’t stick together, he was upset. He lies in khaki, in his berets and cries "And the dog howls at him, pities him."
It is clear that modern children are without exception victims of jargon. Who is a fascist for today's student? Nationalist, skinhead. What action now means the verb "flew"? Did not calculate, goofed. Why are there cows lying down? So who knows, they walk where they want. Nobody noticed the plane flying away. And the year the picture was made, the children did not remind of anything. Although the question of when the Great Patriotic War began, everyone answered. Cognitive activity in the lessons does not always bring the desired results. Pupils did not connect information fragments together, did not synthesize. Because they did not get enough knowledge and skills in preschool age, when they should have been taught comparisons in contrast, in similarity, in similarity in elementary subjects.
Questions and answers
At the end of a school lesson or class in kindergarten, it is quite appropriate to leave a little time so that children can ask accumulated questions and receive answers to them. If such work is carried out systematically, the curiosity of a class or group only grows.
A smart teacher responds to questions quickly, but intelligently: answers some questions right away, makes others the topic of the next lesson, and asks others to find the answer in various books or encyclopedias, and even arranges a contest - whose answer is better. An independent search for information is absolutely necessary. Of course, everything needs a measure in order not to extinguish curiosity and children's interest in an object or phenomenon.
Reiteration
For the strength of assimilation of knowledge, there is an indispensable didactic principle that educates and feelings - this is a repetition. In any lesson, this is a leading methodological technique with different forms. Repetition can be straightforward when you need to check how well the material is learned - in the formulations that were used in the presentation of the material. For example, in kindergarten, the picture can be re-examined.
Most often, such a technique is used at the end of the lesson to consolidate the information received. Although it does not use a creative attitude to the material, this view may be the starting point for the transition to more complex tasks. For example, correlating past and already acquired material with new or completely unknown when the acquired helps to learn generalization.
School
Since the time spent in the lessons is very limited, it is simply impossible to equip schoolchildren with all the rapidly developing scientific knowledge because of the grandeur of their scale and pace of development. In order for the children to receive the widest possible education, and their personalities not to lose (or acquire) the desire to delve into the study of the field of cognition, very persistent motives are needed, including independent cognitive interest and a desire for results.
A particular selective orientation of the personality is cognition. The most persistent cognitive activity is formed in the synthesis of the rational and emotional in schooling, starting from the youngest school. The conditions for this formation are very important, each teacher must strictly observe them.
The development and strengthening of self-knowledge
The teacher should rely on the activity of the students' mental activity. Each situation in solving cognitive problems is based on an independent search, guesswork, thought with mental stress, the collision of various positions, where you need to make a decision and determine your own point of view.
It is very important here to observe the optimal level of development of students, load reasonably, and also create and maintain a favorable emotional atmosphere throughout the entire cognitive activity of the class. Communicating with classmates and with a teacher on a good and active wave has always been a strong motive for strengthening interest in knowledge. The class is united by joint creative tasks, all kinds of didactic games, and especially problem tasks. Integrated lessons are very helpful here.