Characteristics of the development of a child of primary school age. Development in primary school age

The concept of a child’s psychological readiness for school. In order for a child to be able to study at school, he must have developed psychological readiness. The components of psychological readiness for school are:

  1. Intellectual readiness: ability to differentiate; ability to concentrate; motor development; ability for purposeful memorization; ability to operate with concepts.
  2. Personal readiness: ability to control emotions; the ability to restrain speech and motor impulses; the ability to subordinate one's behavior to instructions; having a positive attitude towards school.
  3. Social readiness: presence of a need to communicate with peers; ability to build relationships in a group.
  4. Physical fitness: health.

Also among the components of psychological readiness for learning at school can be identified: adequate self-esteem, cooperative-competitive type of relationships with peers and arbitrariness in communication with adults. To develop psychological readiness for school, it is necessary that the following types of play activities be developed: role-playing games, games with rules and director's play. Psychological features of the initial period of school life. When a child enters school, his or her social status changes. Everything is being rebuilt:

  1. In kindergarten, children are busy playing all day and their day is clearly scheduled, but at school the child is busy studying and the second half of the day is free and his day is not regulated (unless he goes to after-school activities).
  2. In kindergarten, the child’s relationship with adults is like with parents, and at school, a business dependence is established.
  3. In kindergarten, children easily communicate with each other and the nature of communication is determined by personal characteristics, but in school, communication is limited to lessons (reduced to a minimum) and communication is mediated by the teacher’s attitude.
  4. In kindergarten, preschool children are the oldest, and in school they are the youngest.
  5. At primary school age, the same needs that were present in preschool childhood continue to manifest themselves: the need for play and movement. But at this age, new needs also appear: the need to fulfill the teacher’s requirements and the need to acquire new skills.

The problem of a child’s adaptation to learning conditions and the criteria for its success.

To the main psychological and pedagogical conditions of effectiveness Social adaptation of younger schoolchildren can be attributed to:

  1. Transformation of the traditional classroom-lesson system into a system for organizing a personality-oriented educational process;
  2. Achievement by the teacher of correspondence between the nature of the pedagogical influence and the internal (subjective) characteristics of the development of the personality of a junior schoolchild;
  3. Relying on the teaching and educational influence of the teacher on the “zone of proximal development” of the child in the formation of motivation to achieve success;
  4. Formation of targeted motivation for various kinds of relationships and activities in the process of physical education;
  5. Positive impact of the teacher on the emotional sphere of schoolchildren;
  6. Formation of adequate self-analysis and self-esteem of schoolchildren;
  7. The presence of psychological and pedagogical competence in the activities of a teacher.

Adaptation of a child to school is a rather long process associated with significant stress in all systems of the body. Most researchers highlight three phases of adaptation:

  1. A generalized reaction, when in response to a new impact, almost all systems of the child’s body respond with a violent reaction and significant stress (2-3 weeks);
  2. Unstable adaptation, when the body searches for and finds some optimal (or close to optimal) variants of reactions to an unusual influence;
  3. A relatively stable adaptation, when the body finds the most suitable response options that are adequate to new loads, i.e. actual adaptation.

Adaptation criteria: effectiveness of educational activities; success, contact, behavior, daily routine.

On average, adaptation to school takes 2-3 months. And for some, within a year. General characteristics of development in primary school age. In anatomical and physiological terms, primary school age is calmer compared to preschool age and adolescence. In a 7-year-old child, the surface dimensions of most cortical zones are slightly more than 80% of similar surfaces in adults. The exception is the frontal lobes of the cortex. Throughout primary school age, the cortex matures and, accordingly, the inhibitory influence of the cortex on the subcortex increases. The more the cortex is developed, the more perfect the mental processes, without which successful training and education are essentially impossible.

During primary school, 4 neoplasms arise:

  1. The ability to see oneself from the outside (reflection is strengthened);
  2. Arbitrariness of all mental processes;
  3. Self-control;
  4. Internal action plan.

The leading activity is educational. Peculiarities of educational activity of a primary school student. During the transition to school education, the subject of assimilation becomes scientific concepts and theoretical knowledge, which primarily determines the developmental nature of educational activities. L.S. Vygotsky pointed out that the main changes of school age - awareness and mastery of mental processes - owe their origin precisely to learning: “awareness comes through the gates of scientific concepts.” Educational activity is specific not only in content (mastery of a system of scientific concepts), but also in its result. This most important feature was specially emphasized D.B. Elkonin. The difference between the result of educational activity and other activities is most clearly revealed when it is compared with productive or labor activity. Educational activities are structured differently. In it, the child, under the guidance of a teacher, learns scientific concepts. However, the child does not make any changes to the system of scientific concepts itself: nothing in science and its conceptual apparatus will change depending on whether the student acts with scientific concepts or not and how successful his actions are. “The result of educational activities in which scientific concepts are mastered, primarily changes in the student himself, his development. This change is the child’s acquisition of new abilities, i.e. new ways of dealing with scientific concepts."

Thus, educational activity is an activity of self-change, self-improvement, and its product is the changes that occurred during its implementation in the subject himself, i.e. student. The formation of a full-fledged educational activity, the formation of the ability to learn in schoolchildren are independent tasks of school education, no less important and responsible than the acquisition of specific knowledge and skills by children. Mastery of educational activities occurs especially intensively in the first years of school life. It is during this period that the foundations of the ability to learn are laid. Essentially, during primary school age, a person learns how to acquire knowledge. And this skill remains with him for the rest of his life. Educational activities, being complex in content, structure, and form of implementation, do not develop immediately for a child. It takes a lot of time and effort so that, through systematic work under the guidance of a teacher, a small schoolchild gradually acquires the ability to learn. The complexity of this process is evidenced by the fact that even in conditions of purposeful, specially organized formation of educational activity, it does not develop in all children. Moreover, special studies show that by the end of primary school age, individual educational activity itself is usually not yet formed; its full implementation is possible for a child only together with other children. Educational activities have a certain structure:

  1. motives for teaching;
  2. learning objectives;
  3. learning activities;
  4. control;
  5. grade.

For the full formation of educational activity, mastery of all its components is required equally. Their insufficient development can be a source of school difficulties. Therefore, when diagnosing possible reasons for school failure or other difficulties in learning, it is necessary to analyze the level of development of various components of educational activity. Development of cognitive processes in primary schoolchildren. Perception is characterized by a high degree of impressionability, acuteness and emotionality. It is characterized by such age-related features as:

  1. Low differentiation (children do not perceive similar objects well, for example, the letters sh and sh, etc.).
  2. At the same time, children are able to notice the smallest details, but in-depth analysis of objects of perception is characterized by weakness.

Children's perception of contour drawings (so-called objectification) is very peculiar. Children have a very unique perception of time and space. Everything that goes beyond immediate experience is perceived as if it was a very long time ago or very far away. At primary school age, the role of semantic memory. It becomes possible to manage your memory. Interest in the material helps develop memory of any kind. By primary school age, thinking goes from visual-actional to figurative-schematic, and further dynamics lead to verbal-logical or reasoning thinking. Attention is characterized by the weakness of all its properties: it is narrow in volume; almost not distributed; the concentration is quite high; but the stability of attention is not significant.

By the end of the 3rd grade, the properties of attention are gaining strength: the volume expands, the ability to distribute increases and stability increases. Since the frontal lobe of the cortex is not yet mature enough, voluntary attention is difficult in younger schoolchildren. Personality formation and features of interpersonal interaction among junior schoolchildren. The most important condition for the formation of personality is its participation in activities. It contains motives for behavior and character traits. Teaching becomes the leading activity. The social circle of schoolchildren is narrowing, and communication with the teacher becomes more important. The teacher is an authority; communication with him mediates the child’s other communications. The teacher is a referent person and has a great influence on the child.

By the 3rd grade, the teacher’s authority becomes less significant, and groupings begin to appear. Younger schoolchildren are shown a very wide set of norms and rules of behavior that they must follow in their relationships with teachers and adults in different situations, when communicating with friends during lessons and breaks, while in public places and on the street.

Children of seven to eight years of age are psychologically prepared to clearly understand the meaning of these norms and rules and to implement them on a daily basis. The assimilation of new norms and rules of behavior significantly changes the characteristics of the emotions of younger schoolchildren. As a rule, for many this happens without negative experiences and is positively perceived by the children themselves. During primary school age, there is an increase in restraint and awareness in the manifestations of emotions, an increase in the stability of emotional states. Also, the formation of the personality of a junior schoolchild is associated with new formations of this age (see above). Factors related to learning that influence children's mental health. Factors influencing the mental health of schoolchildren: genetic; hygienic; economic; social; emotional. Situations predisposing to the occurrence of borderline disorders in schoolchildren:

  1. Inability to cope with academic workload.
  2. Hostile attitude of the teacher.
  3. Change of school team.
  4. Rejection by the children's group.
  5. Excessive mental stress (long-term traumatic situation).

The provoking factor is exhaustion of the nervous system associated with educational overload. Neurogenic factors: 1. Unfairly low assessment. 2. Lack of respect from the teacher, humiliation of the child’s dignity.

Neuroses in primary schoolchildren. Neuroses are borderline neuropsychic disorders that are not caused by psychotic conditions.

Neurosis is a personality disease, it is a psychogenic disease, which is based on an intrapersonal conflict, which is accompanied by painfully painful experiences. Prerequisites: conditions of family relationships, etc. 3 types of neuroses: hysterical neurosis; neurasthenia (nervous weakness); obsessive-phobic or fear neurosis (psychasthenia). Neurotic disorders in childhood:

  1. Neurotic sleep disorders. Difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking up. Wakes up from a nightmare. Early awakening without a feeling of rest, daytime drowsiness. Enuresis may occur due to sleep disturbances. In this case, you need to look for the cause and eliminate it.
  2. Neurotic appetite disorders. Eating food is accompanied by a complex of negative experiences (in childhood, they may have been fed hastily, they may have been burned by food, etc.). Anorexia nervosa in older age. Eliminate the cause.
  3. Neurotic tics. Involuntary, periodically repeated twitching of individual muscle groups, intensifying with excitement. Sometimes they occur by chance + mother's reaction.
  4. Neurotic fears. Increased normal fears. There may be: unexpected frightening circumstances; reaction to the reaction of adults.
  5. Neurotic speech disorders. Due to acute psychotraumatic circumstances, there may be loss of speech. Selective or elective mutism (in a certain situation). Total mutism (complete loss of speech – logoneurosis). Then he can recover with stuttering. There may be a fear of speech (may stutter). It is based on psychotrauma; experiencing the presence of a defect, etc. There must be a gentle regime. Neurosis-like speech syndrome should be distinguished from logoneurosis (basis - sloppiness of speech; no worries; demandingness is required).
  6. Graphospasm is a writing disorder. Either a painful variant, or a convulsive, or paralytic, or tremulous.

Children have a number of factors related to learning: training schedule - excessive loads (loads must be dosed); excessive conflicts with teachers and peers; start date; moving from class to class; additional loads. Pathological personal reactions and maladjustment reactions. In situations of gross infringement of the interests of a child, insult or deception, pathocharacterological reactions often arise - these are short-term temporary states of maladaptive behavior, lasting from several hours to several days. They manifest themselves in inappropriate behavior, which, however, does not reach the neurotic level of response.

1. Reaction of the opposition. This is a protest reaction directed against persons or circumstances in which the child’s personality is violated.

2. The reaction of nihilism. This type of reaction to psychological trauma is manifested in avoiding any forms of contact and in refusing to accept the child’s most desired and beloved things and ways of spending time, that is, there is a generalization of the negative reaction beyond the confines of the psychotraumatic situation.

3. Overcompensation reaction. In response to humiliation and insult to the child’s “I”, he begins to behave aggressively, thus harshly trying to gain authority and respect (among children).

4. Imitation reaction. By imitating the behavior of some person significant to the child, he can adopt a style of not only positive, but also negative behavior. Psychosomatic disorders in primary school age. The primary basis of psychosomatic illness is mental trauma. If the psychogenic factor is not eliminated, the disease becomes protracted. The most common psychosomatic diseases are:

  1. Pseudo-neurological diseases: dizziness, sleep disorder.
  2. Skin manifestations: urticaria, itching.
  3. Urological manifestations: enuresis.
  4. Appetite disturbance, nausea, constipation.

NON-GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

MODERN HUMANITIES ACADEMY (NACHOU VPO SGA)

Course work

Features of mental development in primary school age

Moscow, 2010


Introduction

Chapter 1. Personality and its development in primary school age

1.1.Personal changes in the child that occur when entering school

1.2.Anatomical and physiological characteristics of younger schoolchildren

1.3.Main types of difficulties experienced by first-graders

1.4.Development of cognitive processes in younger schoolchildren

Chapter 2. Diagnosis of the mental development of younger schoolchildren

2.1.Methods of psychodiagnostics of younger schoolchildren in the classroom

Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Appendix A


Introduction

When we say junior schoolchild, this concept includes a child aged 6-10 years. From 6 to 10 years, during the time it takes to study in primary school, the child develops a new activity for him - academic. It is the fact that he becomes a student, a learning person, that leaves a completely new imprint on his entire psychological appearance, on his entire behavior. Under the influence of new educational activities, the nature of the child’s thinking, his attention and memory changes. Behavior acquires the features of arbitrariness, intentionality, meaningfulness, and the ability to follow certain rules and norms of behavior. A new position in society for a child is the position of a person who is engaged in socially important activities valued by society, i.e. teaching - entails changes in relationships with other children, with adults, in the way the child evaluates himself and others.

The child’s worldview is formed, a circle of moral, ideological ideas and concepts is formed. The world of his feelings and aesthetic experiences is enriched, his hobbies at work, art, and sports become wider.

Therefore, the topic under consideration is very relevant, because the whole life of society leaves an imprint on the formation of the child’s personality. Particularly important in this regard are the direct relationships that a child enters into with the people around him: in the family, at school, in the classroom - in any group or team of which he is a member.

The purpose of the work is to study the psychological characteristics of development in primary school age.

The object of the study is primary schoolchildren.

The subject of the study is the psychological characteristics of younger schoolchildren.

Research objectives:

1. Reveal the essence of mental processes in primary school age;

2. Consider the features of mental development in younger schoolchildren.

Research hypothesis: With the correct use of knowledge regarding the characteristics of the mental development of primary schoolchildren, it is possible to structure the educational process in such a way as to activate the cognitive interest of students and successfully develop memory, thinking and other mental functions of children.

Research methods: analysis and abstracting of psychological literature.


Chapter 1. Personality and its development in primary school age

1.1 Personal changes in a child that occur when entering school

Primary school age is called the peak of childhood. The child retains many childish qualities - frivolity, naivety, looking up at the adult. But he is already beginning to lose his childish spontaneity in behavior; he has a different logic of thinking.

The famous pediatrician Benjamin Spock writes: “After 6 years, the child continues to deeply love his parents, but tries not to show it. He doesn't like being kissed, at least not in front of other people. The child treats other people coldly, except those whom he considers “wonderful people.” He doesn't want to be loved as property or as a "charming child." He gains self-esteem and wants to be respected. In an effort to get rid of parental dependence, he increasingly turns for ideas and knowledge to adults outside the family whom he trusts... What his parents taught him is not forgotten, moreover, their principles of good and evil are ingrained so deeply in his soul, that he considers them his ideas. But he gets angry when his parents remind him what he should do, because he himself knows and wants to be considered conscientious.”

Teaching is a meaningful activity for him. At school, he acquires not only new knowledge and skills, but also a certain social status. The interests, values ​​of the child, and his entire way of life change.

However, it must be taken into account that increased physical endurance and increased performance are relative, and in general, high fatigue remains characteristic of children. Their performance usually drops sharply by the end of the first lesson. Children become very tired when they attend an extended day group, as well as when lessons and events are intensely emotional.

During this period, life in all its diversity, not illusory and fantastic, but the most real, real, always surrounding us - this is what excites his activity. During this period, the child little by little leaves the illusory world in which he lived before. Dolls and soldiers lose their original charm. The child gravitates towards real life. He is no longer a mystic and a dreamer. He is a realist.

Interest is already attracted by what does not necessarily have to be given in personal, present or past experience. Other countries, other peoples and their activities attract the student’s attention to a fairly strong degree. There is a colossal expansion of mental horizons. It is at this age that a passion for travel is discovered, which sometimes results in such forms as a tendency to wander, running away from home, etc.

The spontaneity of children's reactions and insatiable impressionability at this age are most noticeable in out-of-school settings. In situations where children feel quite at ease, they almost involuntarily satisfy their curiosity: they run closer to what interests them; They strive to experience everything they can for themselves.

They like to use names that are new to them, to notice out loud what seems beautiful and what is unpleasant. During walks and excursions, they have a clearly expressed desire and ability to grasp the unusual and new. Sometimes they begin to express fantastic judgments to each other out loud. But they themselves do not attach importance to their comments. Their attention fluctuates. They cannot help but peer and listen, and their exclamations and assumptions apparently help them in this.

Primary school students often show a tendency to talk: to talk about everything they read, saw and heard at school, on a walk, on TV. At the same time, they usually end up with a long narrative with many references that are unclear to an outsider. They themselves clearly enjoy such a story; for them, the significance of everything that happened to them is undeniable.

Impressions from poems and stories performed in an expressive artistic form, from a theatrical performance, from a song, from a musical play and a movie can be deep and lasting for children 8-10 years of age. Feelings of pity, sympathy, indignation, and worry for the well-being of a beloved character can reach great intensity. However, in the perception of individual emotions of people, young schoolchildren make serious mistakes and distortions. In addition, a small schoolchild may not understand some of the experiences of people, and therefore they are uninteresting to him and inaccessible to empathy.

The emergence of broad realistic interests forces the child to pay attention to the experiences of the people around him, to understand them “objectively”, without assessing them only from the point of view of only the meaning that they have for him at the moment. He begins to understand other people's suffering precisely as suffering, as an unpleasant experience of a given person, for example, his friend or mother, and not just as a source of any inconvenience for himself. If the previous era is usually characterized as selfish, then the new stage of life can be considered as the beginning of altruistic manifestations.

A junior schoolchild can show sympathy for someone’s grief, feel pity for a sick animal, and show a willingness to give something dear to someone else. When an offense is caused to his comrade, he can rush to help, despite the threat from older children. And at the same time, in similar situations, he may not show these feelings, but, on the contrary, laugh at the failure of a comrade, not feel a feeling of pity, treat misfortune with indifference, etc.

Such “unsteadiness” of the moral character of a small schoolchild, expressed in the inconstancy of his moral experiences, an inconsistent attitude towards the same events, is due to the fact that the moral principles that determine the child’s misdeeds do not yet have a sufficiently generalized nature and have not yet become sufficiently a stable property of his consciousness.

At the same time, his immediate experience tells him what is good and what is bad. Therefore, when he commits illegal acts, he usually experiences feelings of shame, remorse, and sometimes fear.

Primary school age is a classic time for the formation of moral ideas and rules. Of course, early childhood also makes a significant contribution to the moral world of a child, but the imprint of “rules” and “laws” that must be followed, the idea of ​​“norm”, “duty” - all these typical features of moral psychology are determined and formalized precisely in childhood. school age. The child is typically “obedient” during these years; he accepts various rules and laws in his soul with interest and enthusiasm. He is unable to form his own moral ideas and strives precisely to understand what he “should” do, experiencing pleasure in adaptation.

It is important for the teacher to remember that when a junior student learns about the norms of behavior, he perceives the teacher’s words only when they emotionally hurt him, when he directly feels the need to act one way and not another.

It should be noted that younger schoolchildren are characterized by increased attention to the moral side of the actions of others and a desire to give a moral assessment to an action. Borrowing criteria for moral assessment from adults, younger schoolchildren begin to actively demand appropriate behavior from other children.

Such a new role for the child - a conductor of adult demands - sometimes has a positive effect on the fulfillment of demands by the children themselves. However, in a significant proportion of cases, the first-grader’s demands on others and his own behavior differ quite strongly. His behavior continues to be determined mainly by immediate motives. Moreover, the contradiction between the desire to act “correctly” and real behavior does not cause the child to feel dissatisfied with himself.

By consciously accepting the rules and “teaching” them to others, he himself, as it were, confirms that he really corresponds to this model, and in case of a contradiction with reality, he easily consoles himself with the fact that he “did it by accident,” “didn’t want to,” “more will not be".

Primary school age is a very favorable time for the acquisition of many moral standards. Children really want to fulfill these norms, which, with proper organization of upbringing, contributes to the formation of positive moral qualities in them.

The danger is posed by the moral rigor of children. As you know, younger schoolchildren judge the moral side of an action not by its motive, which is difficult for them to understand, but by the result. Therefore, an action dictated by a moral motive (for example, to help mom), but ending unfavorably (a broken plate), is regarded by them as bad.

Since the roots of “moral rigorism” are in the age characteristics of the student, in particular in the peculiarities of his thinking, in primary school it is unacceptable to use such a pedagogical technique as discussing the child’s behavior with peers. V.A. Sukhomlinsky called for special caution when using the public opinion of peers in raising children, believing that in this case both the one who made the mistake and the team are morally injured.

Thus, primary school age is the most critical stage of school childhood.

Full-fledged living of this age, its positive acquisitions are the necessary foundation on which the further development of the child as an active subject of knowledge and activity is built. The main task of adults in working with children of primary school age is to create optimal conditions for the development and realization of children's capabilities, taking into account the individuality of each child.

1.2 Anatomical and physiological characteristics of younger schoolchildren

At primary school age, significant changes occur in all organs and tissues of the body. Thus, all the curves of the spine are formed - cervical, thoracic and lumbar. However, the ossification of the skeleton does not end here - its greater flexibility and mobility, which open up both great opportunities for proper physical education and playing many sports, and fraught with negative consequences (in the absence of normal conditions for physical development). That is why the proportionality of the furniture at which a junior schoolchild sits, the correct seating position at the table and desk are the most important conditions for the normal physical development of a child, his posture, and the conditions for his entire future performance.

In younger schoolchildren, muscles and ligaments vigorously strengthen, their volume increases, and overall muscle strength increases. In this case, large muscles develop earlier than small ones. Therefore, children are more capable of relatively strong and sweeping movements, but have a more difficult time coping with small movements that require precision. Ossification of the phalanges of the metacarpus ends by the age of nine to eleven, and of the wrist by ten to twelve. If we take this circumstance into account, it becomes clear why younger schoolchildren often have great difficulty coping with written assignments. His hand gets tired quickly, he cannot write very quickly and for an excessively long time. You should not overload younger schoolchildren, especially students in grades I-II, with written assignments. Children's desire to graphically rewrite a poorly done task most often does not improve results: the child's hand quickly gets tired.

In a junior schoolchild, the heart muscle grows rapidly and is well supplied with blood, so it is relatively resilient. Thanks to the large diameter of the carotid arteries, the brain receives enough blood, which is an important condition for its performance. Brain weight increases noticeably after age seven. The frontal lobes of the brain, which play a large role in the formation of the highest and most complex functions of human mental activity, are especially enlarged.

The relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition changes. Inhibition (the basis of inhibition, self-control) becomes more noticeable than in preschoolers. However, the tendency to get excited is still very high, hence the restlessness of younger schoolchildren. Conscious and reasonable discipline, systematic requirements of adults are necessary external conditions for the formation in children of a normal relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition. At the same time, by the age of seven, their overall balance meets the new school requirements for discipline, perseverance and endurance.

Thus, at primary school age, compared to preschool age, the musculoskeletal system is significantly strengthened, cardiovascular activity becomes relatively stable, and the processes of nervous excitation and inhibition become more balanced. All this is extremely important because the beginning of school life is the beginning of a special educational activity that requires from the child not only significant mental stress, but also great physical endurance.

Each period of a child’s mental development is characterized by a main, leading type of activity. Thus, for preschool childhood the leading activity is play. Although children of this age, for example in kindergartens, are already studying and even working as hard as they can, the real element that determines their entire appearance is role-playing play in all its diversity. In the game, a desire for social appreciation appears, imagination and the ability to use symbolism develop. All this serves as the main points characterizing a child’s readiness for school.

As soon as a seven-year-old child enters the classroom, he is already a schoolchild. From that time on, the game gradually lost its dominant role in his life, although it continued to occupy an important place in it. The leading activity of a primary school student is learning, which significantly changes the motives of his behavior and opens up new sources for the development of his cognitive and moral powers. The process of such restructuring has several stages.

The stage of the child’s initial entry into the new conditions of school life stands out especially clearly. Most children are psychologically prepared for this. They happily go to school, expecting to find something unusual here compared to home and kindergarten. This internal position of the child is important in two respects. First of all, the anticipation and desire for the novelty of school life helps the child quickly accept the teacher’s demands regarding the rules of behavior in the classroom, the norms of relationships with friends, and the daily routine. These demands are perceived by the child as socially significant and inevitable. The situation, known to experienced teachers, is psychologically justified; From the first days of a child’s stay in the classroom, it is necessary to clearly and unambiguously disclose to him the rules of student behavior in the classroom, at home and in public places. It is important to immediately show the child the difference between his new position, responsibilities and rights and what was familiar to him before. The requirement for strict adherence to new rules and regulations is not excessive severity for first-graders, but a necessary condition for organizing their lives, corresponding to the own attitudes of children prepared for school. Given the instability and uncertainty of these requirements, children will not be able to feel the uniqueness of the new stage of their lives, which, in turn, can destroy their interest in school.

The other side of the child’s internal position is associated with his general positive attitude towards the process of acquiring knowledge and skills. Even before school, he gets used to the idea of ​​​​the need to study in order to one day truly become what he wanted to be in the games (a pilot, a cook, a driver). At the same time, the child naturally does not imagine the specific composition of knowledge required in the future. He still lacks a utilitarian-pragmatic attitude towards them. He is drawn to knowledge in general, to knowledge as such, which has social significance and value. This is where the child’s curiosity and theoretical interest in the environment manifests itself. This interest, as the main prerequisite for learning, is formed in the child by the entire structure of his preschool life, including extensive play activities.
At first, the student is not yet truly familiar with the content of specific academic subjects. He does not yet have cognitive interests in the educational material itself. They are formed only as they delve deeper into mathematics, grammar and other disciplines. And yet, from the first lessons, the child learns the relevant information. His educational work is based on an interest in knowledge in general, a particular manifestation of which in this case is mathematics or grammar. Teachers actively use this interest in the first lessons. Thanks to him, information about such essentially abstract and abstract objects as the sequence of numbers, the order of letters, etc. becomes necessary and important for the child.
The child’s intuitive acceptance of the value of knowledge itself must be supported and developed from the first steps of schooling, but by demonstrating unexpected, tempting and interesting manifestations of the very subject of mathematics, grammar and other disciplines. This allows children to develop genuine cognitive interests as the basis of educational activities.

Thus, the first stage of school life is characterized by the fact that the child submits to the new requirements of the teacher, regulating his behavior in the classroom and at home, and also begins to be interested in the content of the academic subjects themselves. A child’s painless passage through this stage indicates good readiness for school activities. But not all seven-year-old children have it. Many of them initially experience certain difficulties and do not immediately become involved in school life.

1.3 The main types of difficulties experienced by first-graders

Most often observed three types of difficulties .
The first of them is related to the features of the new school regime (you need to wake up on time, you cannot miss classes, you must sit quietly in all lessons, homework must be completed on time, etc.). Without proper habits, a child experiences excessive fatigue, disruptions in academic work, and missed routine moments. Most seven-year-old children are psychophysiologically prepared to form appropriate habits. It is only necessary that the teacher and parents clearly and clearly express the new requirements for the child’s life, constantly monitor their implementation, take measures of encouragement and punishment, taking into account the individual characteristics of the children.

The second type of difficulties experienced by first-graders stems from the nature of relationships with the teacher, with classmates, and in the family. Despite all possible friendliness and kindness towards children, the teacher still acts as an authoritative and strict mentor, putting forward certain rules of behavior and suppressing any deviations from them. He constantly evaluates the children's work. His position is such that the child cannot help but feel some shyness in front of him. As a result, some children become overly constrained and others become loose (at home they can be completely different). Often a first-grader gets lost in a new environment, cannot immediately get to know other children, and feels alone.

An experienced teacher makes the same demands on all children, but carefully observes the individual characteristics of how different children fulfill these requirements. This helps to look beyond the facade of their behavior and understand their true psychological qualities. Only on the basis of such a special study of children can one choose one or another specific method of influencing them, the purpose of which is to instill in all first-graders the habit of calm, self-controlled behavior in lessons, adherence to the general pace of learning sessions, and efficiency when responding to the teacher’s comments. Ultimately, it all comes down to building trust in the teacher and his actions.

The relationships between students in the class are normal when the teacher is equally even and demanding of all children, when he rewards the weak for hard work, and can scold the strong for excessive self-confidence. This creates a good psychological background for the collective work of the class. The teacher maintains the friendship of children based on common interests (they collect stamps, are interested in puppet theater), based on general external living conditions (children live in the same house, sit at the same desk), etc. An important goal of educational work in the first months of a child’s stay at school is to instill in him the feeling that the class, and then the school, is not a group of people alien to him, but a friendly and sensitive group of peers, junior and senior comrades.

When a child enters school, his or her position in the family changes. He has new responsibilities and new rights (for example, a schoolchild needs to be given a special place and time for homework, he needs to take into account his daily routine). Experience shows that in most families these rights of the child are respected and fully satisfied. The following picture is often observed: feeling the sympathy of adults and their readiness to immediately satisfy the needs of the “school worker,” some children begin to “usurp” their position and dictate to the family the way of home life, in the center of which they, the schoolchildren, are. And this is already fraught with the emergence of a kind of student egoism. Therefore, attention to the first-grader in the family must be combined with showing him the equally important interests and concerns of its other members. The child must take them into account and not excessively highlight his school conflicts in the general flow of family affairs.

Many first-graders begin to experience the third type of difficulties in the middle of the school year. At the beginning, they happily ran to school long before classes, took on any exercises with pleasure, and were proud of the teacher’s grades. This reflected their general readiness to master knowledge. But the learning process in first grade was usually structured in such a way that children received certain ready-made knowledge and definitions that needed to be remembered and applied in the right situations. As a rule, the need for this knowledge was not specifically addressed. Naturally, in such conditions, the child’s field of intellectual search is small, and cognitive independence is significantly limited. In such classes, interests in the very content of the educational material are poorly formed. Since, as the child gets used to the external trappings of school, the initial desire to learn fades away, the result is often apathy and indifference. Teachers sometimes try to overcome them by introducing elements of external entertainment into the material. But this technique only works for a short time.

The surest way to prevent “saturation” of learning is to ensure that children receive sufficiently complex educational and cognitive tasks in lessons and are faced with problematic situations, the way out of which requires mastery of the relevant concepts.

Presenting children with a system of tasks that require active clarification of ways and means of solving them, from the very beginning introduces first-graders into the field of intellectual searches, opens up to them the need to justify the found methods of action on the basis of detailed reasoning and inferences. Thanks to such active mental activity, children can consciously acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. This work attracts children and, with proper guidance from the teacher, is quite feasible for them. Therefore, in the first months of training, it is especially dangerous to require students to simply memorize certain information without a proper understanding of its necessity and conditions of application.

Of course, first-graders can remember a lot and firmly. In this case, the immediate and external effect of the teaching will be achieved, but an important point will be lost from control - the beginning of the formation of cognitive interests in schoolchildren in the educational material. The absence of such interests has a negative impact on all subsequent educational work.

Thus, when initially entering school life, a child undergoes a significant psychological restructuring. He acquires some important habits of the new regime and establishes trusting relationships with his teacher and comrades. Based on the emerging interests in the content of the educational material, he develops a positive attitude towards learning. The further development of these interests and the dynamics of the attitude of younger schoolchildren to learning depend on the process of formation of their educational activities.

1.4 Development of cognitive processes in younger schoolchildren

Development of perception.

Perception is the process of reception and processing by a junior schoolchild of various information entering the brain through the senses. This process ends with the formation of an image.

Although children come to school with fairly developed perception processes, in educational activities it is reduced only to recognizing and naming shapes and colors. First-graders lack a systematic analysis of the perceived properties and qualities of objects themselves.

The child’s ability to analyze and differentiate perceived objects is associated with the formation of a more complex type of activity in him than the sensation and discrimination of individual immediate properties of things. This type of activity, called observation, develops especially intensively in the process of school learning. In the classroom, the student receives and then formulates in detail the tasks of perceiving certain examples and aids. Thanks to this, perception becomes targeted. Then the child can independently plan the work of perception and deliberately carry it out in accordance with the plan, separating the main from the secondary, establishing a hierarchy of perceived features, differentiating them according to their generality, etc. Such perception, synthesizing with other types of cognitive activity (attention, thinking), takes the form of purposeful and voluntary observation. With sufficiently developed observation, we can talk about the child’s observation ability as a special quality of his personality. Research shows that early education can significantly develop this important quality in all primary schoolchildren.

Development of attention.

Attention is a state of psychological concentration, concentration on some object.

Children coming to school do not yet have focused attention. They pay their attention mainly to what is directly interesting to them, what stands out as bright and unusual (involuntary attention). The conditions of school work from the first days require the child to follow such subjects and assimilate such information that at the moment does not interest him at all. Gradually, the child learns to direct and steadily maintain attention on the necessary, and not just externally attractive objects. In grades II-III, many students already have voluntary attention, concentrating it on any material explained by the teacher or available in the book. Voluntary attention, the ability to deliberately direct it to a particular task is an important acquisition of primary school age.

As experience shows, of great importance in the formation of voluntary attention is the clear external organization of the child’s actions, the communication of such models to him, the indication of such external means, using which he can guide his own consciousness. For example, when purposefully performing phonetic analysis, the use by first-graders of such external means of fixing sounds and their order, such as cardboard chips, plays an important role. The exact sequence of their laying out organizes children's attention, helps them concentrate on working with complex, subtle and “volatile” sound material.

The child's self-organization is a consequence of the organization initially created and directed by adults, especially the teacher. The general direction of development of attention is that from achieving the goal set by the teacher, the child moves on to the controlled solution of problems set by him.

In first-graders, voluntary attention is unstable, since they do not yet have internal means of self-regulation. Therefore, an experienced teacher resorts to various types of educational work that replace each other during the lesson and do not tire the children (oral calculation in different ways, solving problems and checking the results, explaining a new method of written calculations, training in their implementation, etc.). In grades I-II students, attention is more stable when performing external than actual mental actions. It is important to use this feature in lessons, alternating mental exercises with drawing up graphic diagrams, drawings, layouts, and creating applications. When performing simple but monotonous activities, younger schoolchildren are distracted more often than when solving more complex tasks that require the use of different methods and techniques of work.

The development of attention is also associated with expanding the scope of attention and the ability to distribute it between different types of actions. Therefore, it is advisable to set educational tasks in such a way that the child, while performing his actions, can and should monitor the work of his comrades. For example, when reading a given text, a student is obliged to monitor the behavior of other students. In case of a mistake, he notices the negative reactions of his comrades and strives to correct it himself. Some children are “absent-minded” in the classroom precisely because they do not know how to distribute their attention: while doing one thing, they lose sight of others. The teacher needs to organize different types of educational work in such a way that children become accustomed to simultaneous control of several actions (at first, of course, relatively simple ones), preparing for the general frontal work of the class.

Memory development.

A seven-year-old child who comes to school primarily strives to literally remember externally vivid and emotionally impressive events, descriptions, and stories. But school life is such that from the very beginning it requires children to voluntarily memorize material. Students must specifically remember the daily routine, rules of behavior, homework, and then be able to be guided by them in their behavior or be able to reproduce them in class. Children develop a distinction between the mnemonic tasks themselves. One of them involves literal memorization of the material, the other - only retelling it in your own words, etc. The memory productivity of primary schoolchildren depends on their understanding of the nature of the mnemonic task itself and on mastering the appropriate techniques and methods of memorization and reproduction.

Initially, children use the simplest methods - repeated repetition of material while dividing it into parts, which, as a rule, do not coincide with semantic units. Self-monitoring of memorization results occurs only at the level of recognition. Thus, a first grader looks at the text and believes that he has memorized it because he experiences a feeling of “familiarity.” Only a few children can independently move on to more rational methods of voluntary memorization. Most require special and lengthy training in this at school and at home. One direction of such work is associated with the formation in children of methods of meaningful memorization (dividing material into semantic units, semantic grouping, semantic comparison, etc.), the other is with the formation of methods of reproduction distributed over time, methods of self-monitoring of memorization results. The method of dividing material into semantic units is based on drawing up a plan. This should be taught at the stage of schooling when children only orally convey the content of a picture (especially by presentation) or a story they heard. It is important to immediately demonstrate to children the relativity of the identified semantic units. In one case they can be large, in others small. A message-story and then a story-memory about the content of the same picture can be carried out using different units, depending on the purpose of the retelling.

The work of drawing up an expanded and collapsed plan occupies a large place in the second half of the first grade, when children already know how to read and write. In grades II-III, this work continues on the material of significant arithmetic and grammatical texts. Now students are required not only to identify units, but also to group the material semantically - combining and subordinating its main components, dividing premises and conclusions, summarizing certain individual data into a table, etc. This grouping is associated with the ability to freely move from one text element to another and compare these elements. It is advisable to record the results of the grouping in the form of a written plan, which becomes a material carrier of both the successive stages of understanding the material and the features of the subordination of its parts. Based first on a written plan and then on an idea of ​​it, schoolchildren can correctly reproduce the content of different texts.

Special work is necessary to develop reproduction techniques in younger schoolchildren. First of all, the teacher shows the ability to reproduce individual semantic units of the material out loud or mentally before it is assimilated in its entirety. Reproduction of individual parts of a large or complex text can be distributed over time (repetition of the text immediately after working with it or at certain intervals). In the process of this work, the teacher demonstrates to the children the advisability of using the plan as a kind of compass that allows them to find direction when reproducing the material.

The semantic grouping of material, the comparison of its individual parts, and the drawing up of a plan are initially formed in younger schoolchildren as methods of voluntary memorization. But when children master them well, the psychological role of these techniques changes significantly: they become the basis of developed involuntary memory, which performs important functions in the process of acquiring knowledge, both at the end of primary education and in subsequent years.

The ratio of involuntary and voluntary memory in the process of their development within educational activities is different. In first grade, the effectiveness of involuntary memorization is higher than voluntary, since children have not yet developed special techniques for meaningful processing of material and self-control. In addition, when solving most problems, students perform extensive mental activity, which has not yet become familiar and easy for them. Therefore, each element of knowledge is considered especially carefully. The following pattern has been established in psychology: what is best remembered is what serves as the subject and goal of mental work. It is clear that under these conditions all the advantages are on the side of involuntary memory.

As the techniques of meaningful memorization and self-control are formed, voluntary memory in second and third graders turns out to be more productive in many cases than involuntary memory. It would seem that this advantage should continue to be maintained. However, a qualitative psychological transformation of the memory processes themselves occurs. Students now begin to use well-formed methods of logical processing of material to penetrate into its essential connections and relationships, for a detailed analysis of their properties, i.e. for such meaningful activity when the direct task of “remembering” recedes into the background. But the results of the involuntary memorization that occurs in this case still remain high, since the main components of the material in the process of its analysis, grouping and comparison were the direct subjects of the students’ actions. The capabilities of involuntary memory, based on logical techniques, should be fully used in initial education. This is one of the main reserves for improving memory in the learning process.

Both forms of memory - voluntary and involuntary - undergo such qualitative changes at primary school age, thanks to which their close relationship and mutual transitions are established. It is important that each form of memory is used by children in appropriate conditions. One should not think that only voluntary memorization leads to a complete assimilation of educational material. Such assimilation can also occur with the help of involuntary memory, if it is based on the means of logical comprehension of this material. Logical processing of educational material can happen very quickly, and from the outside it sometimes seems that the child simply absorbs information like a sponge. In fact, this process consists of many actions. Their implementation requires special training, without which the memory of schoolchildren remains unarmed and unorganized, i.e. “poor memory”, when schoolchildren strive to directly remember something that requires special analysis, grouping and comparison. The formation of appropriate techniques for working with educational texts is the most effective way to develop a “good memory”.

From grades I to III, the efficiency of students’ memorization of verbally expressed information increases faster than the efficiency of memorizing visual data, which is explained by the intensive development of meaningful memorization techniques in children. These techniques are associated with the analysis of significant relationships, recorded mainly with the help of verbal constructions. At the same time, retaining visual images in memory is important for learning processes. Therefore, methods of voluntary and involuntary memorization need to be developed in relation to both types of educational material - verbal and visual.

Development of imagination. Systematic educational activities help children develop such an important mental ability as imagination. Most of the information communicated to primary schoolchildren by teachers and textbooks takes the form of verbal descriptions, pictures and diagrams. Each time, schoolchildren must recreate for themselves an image of reality (the behavior of the characters in the story, events of the past, unprecedented landscapes, the superposition of geometric shapes in space, etc.).

The development of the ability to do this goes through two main stages. Initially, the reconstructed images very roughly characterize the real object and are poor in details. These images are static because they do not represent the changes and actions of objects and their relationships. The construction of such images requires a verbal description or picture (and also very specific in content). At the beginning of class II, and then in class III, the second stage is observed. First of all, the number of signs and properties in images increases significantly. They acquire sufficient completeness and specificity, which occurs mainly due to the recreation in them of elements of action and the interrelations of the objects themselves. First-graders most often imagine only the initial and final states of some moving object. Third grade students can successfully imagine and depict many intermediate states of an object, both directly indicated in the text and implied by the nature of the movement itself. Children can recreate images of reality without directly describing them or without much specification, guided by memory or a general diagram-graph. So, they can write a long exposition on a story they listened to at the very beginning of the lesson, or solve mathematical problems, the conditions of which are given in the form of an abstract graphic diagram.

Recreating (reproductive) imagination in primary school age develops in all school classes, through the formation in children, firstly, of the ability to identify and depict the implied states of objects that are not directly indicated in their description, but naturally follow from them, and secondly, the ability understand the conventions of some objects, their properties and states.

Already the recreating imagination processes images of reality. Children change the plot line of stories, imagine events in time, depict a number of objects in a generalized, compressed form (this is largely facilitated by the formation of semantic memorization techniques). Often such changes and combinations of images are random and unjustified from the point of view of the purpose of the educational process, although they satisfy the child’s needs for fantasy and for expressing an emotional attitude towards things. In these cases, children are clearly aware of the pure conventionality of their inventions. As we learn information about objects and the conditions of their origin, many new combinations of images acquire justification and logical argumentation. At the same time, the ability is formed, either in expanded verbal form or in compressed intuitive considerations, to build justifications of this type: “This will definitely happen if you do this and that.” The desire of younger schoolchildren to indicate the conditions for the origin and construction of any objects is the most important psychological prerequisite for the development of their creative imagination.

The formation of this prerequisite is helped by labor classes, in which children carry out their plans for the manufacture of any objects. This is largely facilitated by drawing lessons, which require children to create an idea for an image, and then look for the most expressive means - its embodiment.

Development of thinking. There are also two main stages in the development of thinking in younger schoolchildren. At the first stage (it approximately coincides with learning in grades I and II), their mental activity is still in many ways similar to the thinking of preschoolers. The analysis of educational material is carried out here mainly in a visual and effective manner. Children rely on real objects or their direct substitutes, images (such analysis is sometimes called practical-effective or sensory).

Students in grades I and II often judge objects and situations very one-sidedly, grasping a single external sign. Inferences are based on visual premises given in perception. The substantiation of the conclusion is carried out not on the basis of logical arguments, but by direct correlation of the judgment with the perceived information. Thus, observing the relevant facts in school life, children can draw the appropriate conclusions: “Galya did not water her flowers, and they withered, but Nadya often watered the flowers, and they grow well. In order for the flowers to be fresh and grow well, they must be watered often.” .

Generalizations performed by children at this stage occur under strong “pressure” from the striking features of objects (such features include utilitarian and functional). Most generalizations that arise at this stage capture specifically perceived signs and properties lying on the surface of objects and phenomena. For example, the same preposition “on” is identified by second-graders much more successfully in cases where its meaning is concrete (expresses the relationship between visual objects - apples on a plate) and less successfully when its meaning is more abstract (“one of these days, for memory” ).

Elements of natural history, geography and history are presented to the junior schoolchild in such a way that the generalizations he makes are based as widely as possible on observations of specific situations and on familiarity with their detailed verbal descriptions. When comparing such material, children identify similar external features and designate them with appropriate words (city, mountains, war, etc.). The main criterion for a complete generalization of knowledge is the child’s ability to give a specific example or illustration that corresponds to the knowledge acquired. These features of the thinking of younger schoolchildren serve as the basis for the widespread use of the principle of visualization in primary education.

Based on systematic educational activities, by the third grade the nature of thinking of younger schoolchildren changes. The second stage in its development is associated with these changes. Already in grades I-II, the teacher’s special concern is to show children the connections that exist between the individual elements of the information being learned. Every year the volume of tasks requiring the indication of such connections or relationships between concepts increases.

By grade III, students master generic relationships between individual characteristics of concepts, i.e. classification (for example, “table is a noun”). Children constantly report to the teacher in the form of detailed judgments about how they have learned this or that classification. So, in third grade, to the teacher’s question: “What is called ending?” - the student answers: “The ending is the part of the word that changes. The ending serves to connect the word with other words in the sentence.”

To develop the concept of “cereal plants” in children, the textbook provides drawings of ears and panicles, and teachers show these plants in real life. By examining and analyzing their features according to a certain plan, children learn to distinguish these plants from each other by appearance, remember their purpose, sowing time, in other words, acquire the concept of cereals. In a similar way, they learn, for example, the concepts of domestic animals, fields, gardens, forests, and climate.
Schoolchildren's judgments about the characteristics and properties of objects and phenomena are most often based on visual images and descriptions. But at the same time, these judgments are the result of an analysis of the text, a mental comparison of its individual parts, a mental isolation of the main points in these parts, their combination into a holistic picture, and finally, a generalization of the particulars in some new judgment, now separated from its direct sources and becoming abstract knowledge. The consequence of precisely this kind of mental analytical-synthetic activity is an abstract judgment or generalized knowledge of the type: “Cereal plants sown in the fall and wintering under the snow are winter crops.” The formation of a classification of objects and phenomena develops in younger schoolchildren new complex forms of mental activity itself, which gradually develops from perception and becomes a relatively independent process of working on educational material, a process that acquires its own special techniques and methods.

By the end of the second stage, most students make generalizations in terms of previously accumulated ideas, through their mental analysis and synthesis. Detailed explanations from the teacher and textbook articles are in many cases sufficient to master concepts without directly handling the subject material.

There is a growing number of judgments in which visual aspects are reduced to a minimum and objects are characterized by significant connections.


Chapter 2. Diagnosis of the mental development of younger schoolchildren

Psychodiagnostics is a field of psychological science that develops methods for identifying and measuring individual psychological characteristics of a person.

It is aimed at measuring some quality, making a diagnosis and, on this basis, finding the place that the subject occupies among others in terms of the severity of the characteristics being studied.

According to modern general scientific understanding, the term “Diagnostics” means recognition of the state of a certain object or system by quickly recording its essential parameters and subsequent relation to a certain diagnostic category in order to predict its behavior and apply a decision on the possibilities of influencing this behavior in the desired direction.

The main goal of psychodiagnostics is to ensure full mental and personal development, create conditions for targeted correctional and developmental work, develop recommendations, conduct psychotherapeutic activities, and so on.

Diagnostic inference is a transition from observed features to the level of hidden categories.

A particular difficulty in psychological activity lies in the fact that there are no strict one-to-one relationships between features and categories.

The same act can be caused by different psychological reasons, therefore, for the indicated conclusion, one symptom (one act), as a rule, is not enough.

It is necessary to analyze a complex of actions, i.e. series in different situations.


2.1 Methods of psychodiagnostics of younger schoolchildren in the classroom

Using various methodological means, the psychologist obtains a more and more accurate picture of a person’s individual characteristics to the extent necessary for identifying and psychologically assessing the decisive development factor. In the work of a practical psychologist, the role of a functional test can be played by experimental tasks that can actualize the mental operations that a child uses in his activities, his motives that motivate this or that activity, etc. Let us give an example of a test to determine the level of development of a child’s ability to generalize. Children are given five columns of numbers and asked to complete a task: the sum of the numbers in the first column is 55, and they need to quickly find the sum of the numbers in the remaining four columns:

Similar features of thinking are manifested in the work of schoolchildren with any educational material. For example, third-graders were given 8 cards, on each of which the text of a proverb was printed, and they were asked to combine the proverbs into groups according to the main meaning contained in them.

Some children generalize proverbs based on essential features:

If you're afraid of wolves, don't go into the forest This is about courage. A brave man.
Cheek brings success They are not afraid of wolves or enemies
It's not a bear - it won't go into the forest. Seven pick up one straw “This is all about lazy people: they are in no hurry to work, and when they start working, they all do an easy task together, but even one person could do it”
Try it on seven times and cut it once. If you hurry, you will make people laugh “We need to do everything properly, think first”
Seven are not waiting for one, who got up early and went further away "You should never be late"
Other children generalize based on external, superficial features:

Don't go into the forest to be afraid of wolves.

It's not a bear - it won't go into the forest.

Seven do not wait for one.

Try it on seven times and cut it once.

It's all about the animals

“These proverbs are the same, there are seven everywhere here.”

In order to judge on the basis of samples the characteristics of a child’s thinking, it is necessary to analyze his repeated performance of tasks from different areas of knowledge. Mathematical material.

Students are given a piece of paper with examples of missing numbers printed on it. Assignment: “Insert the missing numbers so that the examples are solved correctly.” In total, three gradually multiplying columns of examples are given (one number, two numbers, three numbers are missing), in each column there are examples of the same complexity.

1 2 3
…+3=11 4 + 3 +…=17 …+…* 2=16
…- 8=7 18 - 7 -…=4 …* 3 -…=11
…*4=16 7+…- 4=6 18 -…* 2=14
5+…=19 …*3 - 5=13 18 -…* 2=14
…+…=17 …+5- 4=3 20 - …+…=17

For each correctly solved example, the student will receive one point, so the maximum number of points that the student could score when completing this task is 15.

Literary material.

The subject is given three cards in succession, on which short stories with missing content are printed. Assignment: “The beginning and end of the story are written here, very briefly add to its content.”

Cards can be presented in the following order:

1. The children went to the forest.

…………………….

Therefore, before reaching the forest, they ran home.

2. Tanya came for Katya and invited her to go for a walk.

…………………….

Then Tanya decided to stay and help her friend.

3. Winter came unexpectedly.

…………………….

“It’s always so beautiful in winter,” said my mother.

Answers are scored with a certain number of points:

The addition is colorful, with elements of imagination – 6.

The addition is very laconic – 4.

The addition is not logically connected with the end - 2.

Cannot complement at all – 0.

Verbal material.

Students are given a piece of paper on which words with missing letters are printed. Task: “Insert the letters to make a word.” In total, three gradually more complex columns of words are given (one letter is missing, two letters, three letters), in each column there are words of equal complexity. This task can be completed starting from any column. For each correctly recovered word, the student will also receive one point, so the maximum number of points that a student can score on this task is 24.

In order to more deeply and subtly determine the causes of a particular psychological phenomenon, a psychologist must be able to combine his own impressions with conclusions obtained as a result of the use of test and other objective methods. L.S. Vygotsky specifically drew attention to the fact that the establishment of symptoms never automatically leads to a diagnosis, that the researcher should never allow savings at the expense of thoughts, through the creative interpretation of symptoms.

Methods of psychodiagnostics of thinking of a junior schoolchild

Methodology 1. Definition of concepts.

In this technique, the child is offered the following sets of words:

Bicycle, button, book, cloak, feathers, friend, move, unite, beat, stupid.

Airplane, nail, newspaper, umbrella, fur, hero, swing, connect, bite, sharp.

Car, screw, magazine, boots, scales, coward, run, tie, pinch, prickly.

Bus, paper clip, letter, hat, fluff, sneak, spin, fold, push, cutting.

Motorcycle, clothespin, poster, boots, skin, enemy, stumble, collect, hit, rough.

Before starting the diagnosis, the child is given the following instructions: “You have several different sets of words in front of you. Imagine that you met a person who does not know the meaning of any of these words. You should try to explain to this person what each word means, for example, the word “bicycle”. How would you explain this?”

Next, the child is asked to define a sequence of words chosen at random from five proposed sets, for example, this: car, nail, newspaper, umbrella, scales, hero, bind, pinch, rough, spin. For each correct definition of a word, the child receives 1 point. You have 30 seconds to define each word. If during this time the child was unable to define the proposed word, then the experimenter leaves it and reads the next word in order.

2. Before your child tries to define a word, you need to make sure that he understands it. This can be done by asking the following question: “Do you know this word?” or “Do you understand the meaning of this word?” If an affirmative answer is received from the child, then the experimenter invites the child to independently define this word and records the time allotted for this.

3. If the definition of a word proposed by the child turned out to be not entirely accurate, then for this definition the child receives an intermediate mark - 0.5 points. If the definition is completely inaccurate - 0 points.

The evaluation of the results is the sum of points awarded for each of the ten words in the set. The maximum number of points that a child can receive for completing this task is 10, the minimum is 0. As a result of the experiment, the sum of points received by the child for defining all 10 words from the selected set is calculated.

Method 2.

Using the same set of words. Another method can be used . "Find the right word"

The purpose of the technique is to find out the volume of vocabulary.

It is necessary to read to the child the first word from the first row “bicycle”, and ask from the following rows to choose a word that matches it in meaning, forming a single group with this word, defined by one concept. Each subsequent set is read slowly to the child with an interval of 1 second between each spoken word. While listening to a series, the child points to the word from this series that in meaning matches what he heard. For example, if he previously heard the word “bicycle”, then from the second row he selects the word “airplane”, which is combined with the first concept “types of transport, or means of transportation: “Then, sequentially from the following sets, he selects the words “car”, “bus”, "motorbike".

If the child could not find the right word, then he is allowed to read this series to him again, but at a faster pace. If, after the first listening, the child made his choice, but this choice turned out to be incorrect, the experimenter records the error and reads the next row.

As soon as all four rows are read to the child to find the necessary words, the researcher moves on to the second word of the first row and repeats this procedure until the child makes attempts to find all the words from the subsequent rows that match all the words from the first row.

Before reading the second of the subsequent rows of words, the experimenter should remind the child of the found words so that he does not forget the meaning of the excluded words. For example, if by the beginning of reading the fourth row, in response to the word stimulus from the first row “bicycle,” the child had already managed to find the words “plane” and “car” in the second and third rows, then before starting to read the fourth row to him, the experimenter should tell the child something like this: “So, you and I have already found the words “bicycle”, “plane” and “car”, which have a common meaning. Remember about it when I read you the next series of words, and as soon as you hear a word with the same meaning in it, then immediately tell me about it.”

Evaluation of results:

If the child correctly found the meanings of 40 to 50 words, then he ultimately receives 10 points.

If the child managed to correctly find the meanings of 30 to 40 words, then he is awarded 8-9 points.

If a child was able to correctly find the meanings of 20 to 30 words, then he receives 6-7 points.

If during the experiment the child correctly combined 10 to 20 words into groups, then his final score will be 4-5.

Finally, if a child managed to combine less than 10 words in meaning, then his score will be no more than 3.

Conclusions about the level of development:

10 points – very high

8-9 points – high

4-7 points - average

0-3 points – low

Thus, a psychodiagnostic study of schoolchildren makes it possible to identify not only weaknesses, but also strengths in their development. Based on the data obtained in the ascertaining experiment, the teacher can build his correctional work with students. The given methods help teachers both in psychodiagnostic and correctional work with students.

The effectiveness of correctional work with children, the ability to fully implement psychoprophylaxis at a critical time for schoolchildren from the point of view of the educational process, depends on the methodological and pedagogical literacy of the teacher, on the extent to which he is able to accept the recommendations of a psychologist and engage in joint work with him.

The main goal of teachers’ correctional classes with students is to eliminate the causes of students’ poor performance.

schoolchild feature mental development


Conclusion

Younger schoolchildren face a very important moment in their lives - the transition after finishing the primary level to the secondary level of school. This transition deserves the most serious attention. This is due to the fact that the conditions of teaching are radically changing. New conditions place higher demands on the development of children’s thinking, imagination, memory and attention, on their personal development, as well as the degree of development of students’ educational knowledge, educational actions, and the level of development of voluntariness.

However, the level of development of a significant number of students barely reaches the required limit, and for a fairly large group of schoolchildren, the level of development is clearly insufficient for transition to the secondary level.

According to middle-level teachers, students coming from primary school have poorly developed speech, students read poorly, their memory is poorly developed (this deficiency was named by 53% of surveyed teachers), they are inattentive, not independent, not observant, not organized, not can concentrate and much more.

This indicates that those qualities that should be developed in students by the end of their primary education are not formed, or are developed to an insignificant extent, or not in all children.

Therefore, identifying the degree of development of the cognitive abilities of younger schoolchildren, determining their readiness for education at the secondary level is very important, and the more accurately the child’s diagnosis is carried out, the faster and more correctly a set of correctional work is developed and carried out with each student, the higher the students’ academic performance and their success in learning.

Conclusions: a positive change in the level of cognitive processes in students confirms our hypothesis that the correct use of teacher knowledge regarding the characteristics of the mental development of younger schoolchildren can build the educational process in such a way as to activate the cognitive interest of students and successfully develop memory, thinking and other mental functions of children.


Glossary

1. Adaptation – adaptation of the senses to the characteristics of the stimuli acting on them in order to best perceive them and protect the receptors from excessive overload.

2. Attention – a state of psychological concentration, concentration on any object.

3. Imagination - the ability to imagine an absent or really non-existent object, hold it in consciousness and mentally manipulate it.

4. Memory – reproduction from memory of any previously perceived information. One of the main memory processes.

5. Perception is the process of a person receiving and processing various information entering the brain through the senses. It ends with the formation of an image.

6. Memorization is one of the memory processes, indicating the introduction of newly arriving information into memory.

7. Thinking is a psychological process of cognition associated with the discovery of subjectively new knowledge, with problem solving, with the creative transformation of reality.

8. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities as a result of life experience.

9. Communication – exchange of information between people, their interaction.

10.Memory – processes of remembering, preserving, reproducing and processing various information by a person.


Bibliography

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Appendix A

“House” technique (the ability to accurately copy samples). The child is asked to draw the image of the house as accurately as possible. The technique allows us to identify the degree of development of voluntary attention and the formation of spatial perception. Accurate reproduction was scored 0 points, and 1 point was awarded for each mistake made.

“Snake” technique (studying the characteristics of visual-motor coordination). On a sheet of paper there is a drawing of a winding path 5 mm wide. The child must draw a line inside this path with a pencil as quickly as possible, without touching its walls. The quality of the task is assessed by the number of touches. The best result was scored 0 points, 1 point was awarded for each touch. Methodology "Labyrinth" (identifying the degree of development of analytical-synthetic activity). A student with his eyes closed traces with his finger the outline of a figure of a rather complex geometric configuration cut out in cardboard. The task is to imagine this figure and then draw it on a sheet of paper. The better the child can analyze it, the more correct the drawing will be. Assessment of the quality of the completed drawing depends on the number of reproduced parts and its overall configuration. “Sticks” technique (identification of features of self-regulation of intellectual activity). On a sheet of lined paper, the student needs to write a system of sticks and dashes between them; I-II-III-I-II-III. When completing the task, the student must follow the given sequence of sticks, when transferring, do not break the group of sticks, do not write in the margins, write sticks across the line. Based on these indicators, which determine the degree of self-control formation, the student’s work is assessed. The best result is scored 10 points.

Psychologists call the period from 8 to 11 years one of the most difficult. It cannot be called a teenager yet, but children at this age are no longer primary schoolchildren. Due to a number of features of the development of the nervous system in children aged 8-11 years, the behavior of schoolchildren often becomes uncontrollable. It takes a lot of effort from parents to maintain a friendly relationship with their child and at the same time force the student to fulfill his responsibilities responsibly.

Age-related features of the development of the nervous system in children and adolescents

The peculiarities of the neuropsychic development of school-age children cause some concern among parents. This is due to the fact that schooling has entered the life of a child aged 8-11 years. However, you should not be scared or worried that a student is not behaving the way you expect him to behave at school or at home. These are only age-related characteristics, a mandatory stage in a child’s development. The fact that he cannot, for example, concentrate on one task and is distracted does not at all mean that he is incapable of learning and will grow up insufficiently educated.

The development of the nervous system in children and adolescents is very active. The human skull stops growing at about 10 years of age, and further development of the nervous system occurs at the expense of the functional part. The brain is developing intensively, new, more subtle functional connections are being formed between its various departments, which will ensure the perfect functioning of the whole organism. The cerebral cortex is especially actively developing - the part of the brain that is responsible for thinking, perception, behavior control and other higher forms of human brain activity. The weight of a child's brain at this age is almost equal to the weight of an adult's brain. The high excitability of the child’s brain gradually smoothes out, the processes of excitation and inhibition are balanced. Another age-related feature of the development of the nervous system in children 8-11 years old is the accelerated formation of the departments responsible for the child’s motor activity, so his movements become more and more precise and varied. The senses work more precisely, visual, color, and auditory sensations acquire greater clarity.

The mental development of a child aged 8-11 and his perception of the world around him is still imperfect. He perceives objects and phenomena inaccurately, as if incompletely. The child’s attention is drawn to some random signs, bright details, and sometimes there is no complete picture. Parents of children of this age are sometimes surprised by such selective observation. A child may, for example, not remember what color and size the dog was, but he definitely remembers that it had a red leash. Due to the characteristics of the mental development of school-age children, attention at 8-11 years old is involuntary. They are instantly and very easily distracted by any external stimulus. The sound of a siren outside the window, a fly flying into the classroom - and now all the children are distracted from the lesson and are watching the fly or craning their necks, trying to see if an ambulance or fire truck has turned on the siren. Due to their mental development, children aged 8-11 years cannot focus and maintain attention on one object for a long time. During school classes, they get tired by the second or third lesson, and it becomes difficult for teachers to keep their attention.

Extended day groups and classes that are emotionally and cognitively intense also lead to fatigue. This is reflected in their behavior at home when doing homework. Attempts by adults to force a child to concentrate on the task at hand lead to rapid fatigue and are unlikely to have a beneficial effect on his studies. Therefore, parents need to allow their child to periodically take short 10-15 minute breaks.

Features of the development of children 8-11 years old: memory, speech and thinking of schoolchildren

Due to age-related developmental characteristics, the memory of schoolchildren aged 8-11 years is more figurative. They remember the external features of an object better than, for example, their purpose or meaning. When studying a phenomenon, children assimilate it in parts, but a complete understanding of it and the interconnection of its parts often does not develop. When developing memory in a child 8-11 years old, keep in mind that memorization at this age is predominantly mechanical in nature.

Children remember better what made the most vivid impression or was repeated several times. Therefore, the reproduction of educational material by children of this age is less accurate, and the acquired knowledge is often not retained in memory for long, giving way to new, more vivid and fresh impressions.

One of the features of the development of schoolchildren’s thinking at this age is its figurative nature. Children remember better what is accompanied by demonstration of visual material. The perception of complex abstract concepts causes them significant difficulties, since they do not visualize them clearly. In addition, they still do not have enough knowledge about the general laws of natural phenomena and relations in society. Therefore, to develop the thinking of schoolchildren when teaching educational material in class or explaining homework to a child, first of all, clarity and separation of complex concepts into separate components are necessary. The use of play techniques in teaching a child of this age is still relevant and gives good results. The so-called formal-logical type of thinking is gradually being formed, based on reasoning, constructing logical chains, representing not obvious but possible properties of an object or phenomenon, the consequences of a particular action, and not just the visible characteristics of the phenomenon. The development of formal logical thinking is facilitated by the child’s mastery of comparisons, classifications, and the ability to analyze and synthesize information.

The development of a child’s speech at 8-11 years old and his thinking occurs in close interrelation. At this age, children's vocabulary is actively expanding and reaches an average of 4,000 words or more. The important thing is that it is at this age that the child acquires the skills to express his thoughts orally and in writing. School essays are aimed at developing the speech of children aged 8-11 years. The character of a child of this age is unstable, and in general its formation occurs according to the information laid down in preschool age. With defects in preschool education, children often display such negative character traits as rudeness, selfishness, and swagger.

Development of the student’s personality and emotional-volitional sphere

Children aged 8-11 years are very emotional, and emotions are always reflected on their face and behavior. They actively react to current events, their mental and physical activity, and the work of their imagination are always emotionally charged. Due to their emotional development, school-age children do not hold back their feelings and always openly express joy or sadness, fear or dissatisfaction. Children of this age are characterized by frequent mood swings during the day, which reflects their reaction to current events, although in general they are cheerful and carefree. However, displeasure and disagreement can be expressed very violently, albeit briefly, with tears and throwing hysterics. This is especially true for children with the so-called demonstrative personality type. At this age, positive or negative emotions are caused not only by games and communication with peers. Relationships with school teachers and their assessment of the child’s academic success are important and cause certain reactions. At the same time, children are usually indifferent to the feelings of other people; they have not yet developed the ability to empathize (so-called empathy). The development of strong-willed qualities is very active in a child aged 8-11 years, which is facilitated by studying at school. It trains patience, perseverance, discipline, etc. However, the increased emotionality and motor activity of children to some extent prevent this. Some children, especially those who do not receive enough attention from parents and teachers, have a less developed will. This may manifest itself as increased suggestibility and lack of discipline. Due to the age-related characteristics of the emotional development of schoolchildren, they may succumb to the bad influence of their peers or older children, violating discipline and disrupting the educational process in the classroom. Such children should be given increased attention, directing it to the development of strong-willed qualities. It will be easier for the child to overcome the difficulties that arise, feeling the support of adults. But some children can show such qualities only in the presence of adults, trying to earn their favor. The development of the emotional-volitional sphere of a schoolchild by the age of 10-11 is already such that children begin to show volitional activity, guided in their actions by their own motives, and not just the instructions of adults and carrying out their tasks. At first, their volitional efforts extend only to immediate targets. Distant goals require additional intermediate efforts, for which children of this age are not yet ready.

The main features that they acquire are arbitrariness and internal planning of actions, that is, the child no longer runs somewhere, succumbing to a momentary impulse, a fleeting desire. He already knows that there is the word “must”, there are duties that he must fulfill, lessons that he needs to prepare. And he is already learning to plan his time, distribute it between fulfilling his duties and his desires.

Relationships with other people, both adults and peers, are influenced by studying at school, since it changes the child’s lifestyle and forces him to take on certain responsibilities: the need to attend classes, complete assignments, and learn new material. In general, the child’s social circle expands, social behavior skills appear: collectivism, camaraderie, etc. In a team consisting of children of this age, due to the increased development of the emotional sphere of schoolchildren, public opinion begins to form. The child gradually understands the significance of his relationships with others and understands the motives of conflict situations. The opinion of his peers becomes very important to him, and he develops a fear that he may be considered weak, cowardly, or a deceiver. He begins to make sure he looks the part in the eyes of his friends and classmates. Feelings that he had not previously experienced also appear. If a child has achieved more success in something than other children, he has a feeling
superiority over them; if, on the contrary, he failed in something, envy may arise towards those who are more successful or capable.

Another important aspect of the emotional development of a schoolchild’s personality at this age is strong susceptibility to the influence of authority, which is played by an adult who establishes a certain order. It is his requirements that the child strives to meet in detail. The fear of breaking the rules established by the authority and causing his anger leads to the fact that some children become sneaks, closely monitoring not only their own behavior, but also the other children, and noticing all their deviations from the rules. If the child nevertheless violates the established order, he develops a feeling of guilt and shame for his mistake. In general, the child begins to feel differently, already an adult, a responsible person, whose opinion is important to others.

The emotional and volitional development of schoolchildren aged 8-11 years is influenced by the social environment in which they develop (family, teachers, peers), the characteristics of upbringing in preschool age, activity in working on themselves and the desire to meet assigned tasks, and to some extent heredity.

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Primary school age is called the peak of childhood. In modern periodization of mental development, it covers the period from 6-7 to 9-11 years.
At this age, a change in image and lifestyle occurs: new requirements, a new social role for the student, a fundamentally new type of activity - educational activity. At school, he acquires not only new knowledge and skills, but also a certain social status. The perception of one’s place in the system of relationships changes. The interests, values ​​of the child, and his entire way of life change.
The child finds himself on the border of a new age period.
From a physiological point of view, this is a time of physical growth, when children quickly grow upward, there is disharmony in physical development, it is ahead of the child’s neuropsychic development, which affects the temporary weakening of the nervous system. Increased fatigue, anxiety, and increased need for movement appear.
Social situation in primary school age:
1. Educational activity becomes the leading activity.
2. The transition from visual-figurative to verbal-logical thinking is completed.
3. The social meaning of the teaching is clearly visible (the attitude of young schoolchildren towards grades).
4. Achievement motivation becomes dominant.
5. There is a change in the reference group.
6. There is a change in the daily routine.
7. A new internal position is strengthened.
8. The child’s system of relationships with people around him changes.

Leading activity
The leading activity in primary school age is educational activity. Its characteristics: effectiveness, commitment, arbitrariness.
The foundations of educational activities are laid precisely in the first years of study. Educational activities should, on the one hand, be structured taking into account age-related capabilities, and on the other hand, should provide them with the amount of knowledge necessary for subsequent development.
Components of educational activities (according to D.B. Elkonin):
1. Motivation.
2. Learning task.
3. Training operations.
4. Monitoring and evaluation.

Motives of the teaching:
cognitive (aimed at mastering knowledge, methods of obtaining knowledge, methods of independent work, acquiring additional knowledge, self-improvement programs);
social (responsibility, understanding of the social significance of teaching, the desire to take a certain position in relations with others, to gain their approval);
narrowly personal - to get a good mark, to deserve praise (according to E.E. Sapogova).
School education is distinguished not only by the special social significance of the child’s activities, but also by the indirect nature of relationships with adult models and assessments, by following rules common to everyone, and by acquiring scientific concepts.
As a result of educational activities, mental new formations arise: arbitrariness of mental processes, reflection (personal, intellectual), internal plan of action (mental planning, ability to analyze).
SPEECH
The vocabulary increases to 7 thousand words. Shows his own active position towards language. With training, he easily masters the sound analysis of words. The child listens to the sound of the word. The need for communication of younger schoolchildren determines the development of speech. Contextual speech is an indicator of the child’s level of development.
In written speech, correctness is distinguished between spelling (correct spelling of words), grammatical (construction of sentences, formation of morphological forms) and punctuation (placement of punctuation marks).
THINKING
Thinking at primary school age becomes the dominant function, and the transition from visual-figurative to verbal-logical thinking that began in preschool age is completed.
By the end of primary school age, individual differences in thinking (theorists, thinkers, artists) appear.
During the learning process, scientific concepts (the foundations of theoretical thinking) are formed.
MEMORY
Memory develops in two directions - arbitrariness and meaningfulness.
In educational activities, all types of memory are developed: long-term, short-term and operational.
Memory development is associated with the need to memorize educational material. Voluntary memorization is actively formed.
ATTENTION
Children are able to concentrate, but their involuntary attention still prevails.
The arbitrariness of cognitive processes occurs at the peak of volitional effort (a special one organizes itself under the influence of requirements). Attention is activated, but not yet stable. Maintaining attention is possible thanks to volitional efforts and high motivation.
PERCEPTION
Perception is also characterized by involuntariness, although elements of voluntary perception are found already in preschool age.
Perception is characterized by weak differentiation (objects and their properties are confused).
At primary school age, orientation towards sensory standards of form, color, and time increases.
IMAGINATION
Imagination in its development goes through two stages: in the first - recreating (reproductive), in the second - productive. In the first grade, the imagination is based on specific objects, but with age, the word comes first, giving scope for imagination.
7-8 years is a sensitive period for the assimilation of moral norms (the child is psychologically ready to understand the meaning of norms and rules and to implement them on a daily basis).
SELF-AWARENESS
Self-awareness develops intensively. The formation of self-esteem of a junior schoolchild depends on the performance and characteristics of the teacher’s communication with the class. The style of family education and the values ​​accepted in the family are of great importance. Excellent students and some well-achieving children develop inflated self-esteem. For underachieving and extremely weak students, systematic failures and low grades reduce self-confidence in their abilities. They develop compensatory motivation. Children begin to establish themselves in another area - in sports, music.
Value orientations towards the name become the norm of life. It is important that the child accepts another type of address to him - by his last name. This provides the child with self-esteem and self-confidence.


  • Peculiarities mental development children junior school age. Jr school age called the pinnacle of childhood. In modern periodization mental development covers the period from 6-7 to 9-11 years.


  • Peculiarities mental development children junior school age. Jr school age called the pinnacle of childhood.
    Going beyond the boundaries of subject-cognitive interests school programs.


  • The problem of genotypic and environmental conditioning development psyche and behavior is associated with finding out... more ».
    Peculiarities mental development children junior school age.


  • The role of productive activity in mental development baby.
    Peculiarities mental development children junior school age. Jr school age called the pinnacle of childhood.


  • Mental development baby V younger school age. This is the period of childhood, in which educational activities become the leading
    Second peculiarity this activity is the acquisition child the ability to subordinate your work in various classes to the mass...


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  • The influence of natural features on mental development person.
    These contradictions are typical for all ages, but they acquire specifics depending on the
    As a result child moves to a higher level mental development.


  • Stages mental development person. Development baby– complex dialectical
    (5–7 years), Jr school(7-11 years old), teenager age(11–15 years old), early adolescence or
    characteristic general peculiarities age, indicating the general direction development.


  • Peculiarities development secondary school students school age(10-15 years).
    Attention junior schoolchildren involuntary, not stable enough, limited in volume. Therefore, the entire process of training and education baby- primary school is subordinated to the education of culture...


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The transition of a child to school age is associated with decisive changes in his activities, communication, and relationships with other people.

Teaching becomes the leading activity, the way of life changes, and new responsibilities appear.

Physiological characteristics of a junior schoolchild:

û growth slows down, weight increases noticeably;

û the skeleton undergoes ossification;

û the muscular system develops intensively;

û the ability to perform subtle movements appears;

û all tissues are in a state of growth.

At primary school age, the nervous system is improved, the functions of the cerebral hemispheres intensively develop, and the analytical and synthetic functions of the cortex are enhanced.

The child’s psyche develops quickly. The relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition changes: the process of inhibition becomes stronger, but the process of excitation still predominates, and primary schoolchildren are highly excitable.

The accuracy of the sensory organs increases.

The perception of younger schoolchildren is characterized by instability and disorganization, but at the same time sharpness and freshness, “contemplative curiosity. The low differentiation of perception and the weakness of analysis during perception are partly compensated by the pronounced emotionality of perception. Based on it, experienced teachers gradually teach schoolchildren to purposefully listen and watch, and develop their powers of observation. The child completes the first stage of school with the fact that perception, being a special purposeful activity, becomes more complex and deepening, becomes more analytical, differentiating, and takes on an organized character.

The attention of younger schoolchildren is involuntary, not stable enough, and limited in volume. Therefore, the entire process of teaching and raising a primary school child is subordinated to the cultivation of a culture of attention.

School life requires the child to constantly exercise voluntary attention and volitional efforts to concentrate. Voluntary attention develops together with other functions and, above all, with motivation to learn and a sense of responsibility for the success of learning activities.

The thinking of elementary school children develops from emotional-imaginative to abstract-logical. The task of the first stage school is to raise the child’s thinking to a qualitatively new stage, to develop intelligence to the level of understanding cause-and-effect relationships. Research has shown that with different organization of the educational process, with changes in the content and methods of teaching, methods of organizing cognitive activity, completely different characteristics of the thinking of children of primary school age can be obtained.


Children's thinking develops in conjunction with their speech. The vocabulary of current fourth graders is approximately 3500-4000 words. The influence of schooling is manifested not only in the fact that the child’s vocabulary is significantly enriched, but, above all, in the acquisition of the extremely important ability to express one’s thoughts orally and in writing. Memory is of great importance in the cognitive activity of a schoolchild.

The natural capabilities of a first-stage schoolchild are very great; his brain has the kind of plasticity that allows him to easily cope with word-for-word memorization tasks.

However, elementary school students do not know how to manage their memory and subordinate it to learning tasks. It takes teachers a lot of effort to develop self-control skills when memorizing, self-testing skills, and knowledge of the rational organization of educational work.

Junior school age is determined by the moment the child enters school. The beginning of schooling coincides with the period of the second physiological crisis. In the body of a seven-year-old child, a sharp endocrine shift occurs, accompanied by rapid body growth, enlargement of internal organs, and vegetative restructuring. Thus, cardinal changes in the system of social relations and activities of the child coincide with the period of restructuring of all systems and functions of the body.

During primary school age, significant changes occur in the mental development of the child. Qualitative changes consist in the fact that the cognitive sphere is transformed, a personality is formed, and a complex system of relationships with adults and peers is formed. The central neoplasms of primary school age are:

· a qualitatively new level of development of voluntary regulation of behavior and activity;

· reflection, analysis, internal plan of action;

· development of a new cognitive attitude to reality;

· Peer group orientation.

Educational activity is the leading activity for a primary school student. D. B. Elkonin emphasizes that the child’s main relations with society are carried out through her; it involves the formation of both the basic qualities of the child’s personality and individual mental processes. The attitude towards oneself, towards other people, towards the world, towards society is formed in the educational activities of a primary school student, but, most importantly, these relations are realized mainly through it as an attitude towards the content, teaching methods, teacher, class, school, etc. d.

The formation of a full-fledged educational activity, the development of the student’s ability to learn are independent tasks of school education. Mastery of educational activities occurs especially intensively at primary school age. Educational activities, being complex in content, structure, and form of implementation, do not develop immediately for a child. For the full development of the educational activity of a primary school student, mastery of all its components is required:

· educational motivation;

· identifying and solving educational problems;

· educational activities;

· control;

· assessment.

A criterion for mastering the components of educational activity by a junior schoolchild can be the occurrence student position. This is a new type of attitude of a primary school student to learning, which makes him a subject of educational activity. The formation of a junior schoolchild as a subject of educational activity is facilitated by his mastering new methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and classification in the process of educational activity. The younger schoolchild himself develops and is formed as a subject in it.

Another condition for the formation of a junior schoolchild as a subject of educational activity is highlighted by G. A. Tsukerman. She writes that the project for the normal development of a primary school student can be expressed in the words: “I know how and want to learn.” This will happen if educational activities are not only based on interaction with an adult (teacher), peers, but also with oneself. To do this, it is necessary, according to G. A. Tsukerman, to adhere to two principles:

teaching children extremely differentiated self-esteem;

providing the child with as many equally worthy choices as possible regarding the aspect of assessments.

The main choice that the subject of educational activity must learn to make is the choice of his own meaningful point of view.

A primary school should include its students in reasonably organized, productive work that is feasible for them, the significance of which in the formation of the social qualities of an individual is incomparable.

The work that children do is self-service, helping adults or older schoolchildren. Good results are obtained by a combination of work and play, in which the initiative, initiative, and competitiveness of the children themselves are maximized.

The desire of a primary school student for the bright, unusual, the desire to explore the wonderful world of wonders and challenges, physical activity - all this should be satisfied in a reasonable, beneficial and enjoyable game that develops in children diligence, culture of movement, skills of collective action and versatile activity.

In child development, the general and special are manifested:

general common to all children of a certain age;

special distinguishes an individual child. Special is also called individual, and a child with a pronounced specialness - individuality.

Individuality characterized by a set of intellectual, volitional, moral, social and other traits that significantly distinguish a given child from other children.

Individuality is expressed in specific features (differences). Their occurrence is due to the fact that each child goes through his own developmental path, acquiring various typological features of higher nervous activity. The latter influence the originality of the emerging qualities.

Individual features include:

ü sensations,

ü perception,

ü thinking,

ü memory,

ü imagination,

ü interests,

ü inclinations,

ü abilities,

ü temperament,

ü character.

Individual characteristics influence personality development. They largely determine the formation of all qualities.

In the process of education, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of children in order to achieve educational goals.

Individual approach− the principle of domestic pedagogy, according to which in educational work, pedagogical interaction with each child is achieved, based on knowledge of his personality traits and living conditions.

As a result of systematic and regular study of his students, the teacher:

Creates a clear idea of ​​the character of each student, his interests and abilities, the influence of his family and immediate environment on him;

Gets the opportunity not only to explain the child’s actions, attitude to certain subjects and to learning in general, but also to set his own pedagogical goals aimed at overcoming negative and developing positive personality traits. Children especially need an individual approach

"difficult"

Incapable

With developmental delay,

Highly gifted,

Prodigies.

An individual approach is one of the principles of humanistic pedagogy.

Questions and tasks

1. Name the physiological characteristics of a child of primary school age.

2. Describe the basic mental processes of a primary school student.

3. What components of educational activity do primary schoolchildren need to master?