Age features of the imagination of younger students. Coursework development of creative imagination in children of primary school age. Need help with a topic
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION "BELARUSIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER MAXIM TANK"
Department of General Psychology
Coursework on general psychology
"The development of imagination in primary school age"
STUDENTS 404 GROUPS
FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCE
KOVALENO Anna Borisovna
WORK MANAGER:
PhD in Psychology,
CHINIKOYLA Svetlana Ivanovna
MINSK 2012
CONTENT
Maintenance…………………………………………………………………………4
Chapter 1. The Problem of Imaginationin psychology……...…………………...6
1.1.The concept of imagination……………………………………………………6
1.2. Types of imagination………………………………………………………8
1.3. Features of imagination in primary school age……..16
Chapter 2
2.1. The development of imagination in primary school age.………….19
2.2. Diagnostics of the level of imagination development……………………....23
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….….34
List of sources used……………………………………36
Applications ……………………………………………………………...38
INTRODUCTION
Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from the rest mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory.
The specificity of this form of mental process lies in the fact that imagination is probably characteristic only of a person and is strangely connected with the activity of the organism, being at the same time the most "mental" of all mental processes and states. The latter means that the ideal and mysterious nature of the psyche is not manifested in anything other than imagination. It can be assumed that it was the imagination, the desire to understand and explain it, that drew attention to psychic phenomena in antiquity, supported and continues to stimulate it today.
Imagination is a special form of reflection, which consists in creating new images and ideas by processing existing ideas and concepts. The development of the imagination goes along the lines of improving the operations of substituting real objects with imaginary ones and recreating imagination. The child gradually begins to create on the basis of the available descriptions, texts, fairy tales more and more complex images and their systems. The content of these images is developed and enriched. Creative imagination develops when the child not only understands some methods of expressiveness (hyperbole, metaphor), but also uses them independently. Imagination becomes mediated and deliberate.
In general, primary schoolchildren usually do not have any problems associated with the development of children's imagination, so almost all children who play a lot and in a variety of ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that in this area may still arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, the ability to regulate figurative representations through voluntary attention, as well as the assimilation of abstract concepts that can be imagined and presented to the child, as well as to an adult, hard enough. Thus, the diagnosis and development of imagination in young children school age is up to date.
Target term paper - to study the features of the development of creative imagination.
Tasks term paper:
1. Uncover the nature of creative imagination based on analysis educational literature.
2. To study ways of developing creative imagination in younger students.
3. Conduct experimental work on the diagnosis and development of creative thinking in younger students.
Subject term paper - the development of imagination in younger students.
An object term paper - a process of exercises for the development of imagination in younger students.
Hypothesis: if you use a system of exercises for the development of creative thinking, its level will increase significantly and in the future will contribute to an increase in the overall level of learning ability of younger students.
The paper uses the methods of analysis of theoretical, methodological, practical literature on this issue, the method of statistical data in evaluating the results of the experiments.
Relevance of the topic:The problem of developing the creative imagination of children is relevant in that this mental process is an integral component of any form creative activity child, his behavior in general.
The importance of imagination and fantasy in a child's life has been pointed out by almost all psychologists who have studied the ontogeny of mental development. Some of them (V. Stern, D. Dewey) argued that the imagination of a child is richer than the imagination of an adult, others (L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinshtein, Kulagina I.Yu.) pointed to the relativity of children's imagination, which can only be assessed in comparison with the rate of development of other mental processes.
The laws of development of creative imagination revealed for each age stage form the basis for the construction of new training programs and the allocation of special tasks in them aimed at activating creative processes and abilities.
However, it should be noted that in the psychological and pedagogical literature, the issues of psychoregulation of the creative activity of junior schoolchildren in general and, in particular, imagination are not sufficiently covered. The solution to this issue requires psychological foundations the formation and development of the imagination, which should include the objective and subjective components of the creative activity of younger students. Knowledge of the structural characteristics of the psychoregulation of the creative activity of younger students will more effectively solve the problems of developing and improving the creative imagination of children of primary school age.
The relevance of studying the general laws of the development of the imagination is dictated, on the one hand, by the logic of the development of psychological theory, and on the other hand, by the needs of pedagogical practice.
Chapter 1 The Problem of Imagination in Psychology
1.1. Theoretical problems of imagination in the psychology of imagination
Along with memory images, which are copies of perception, a person can create completely new images. In the images can appear both what we did not directly perceive, and what in this particular form does not really exist. These are images of the imagination. So, “imagination is a cognitive process, which consists of creating new images, on the basis of which new actions and objects arise,” notes I.V. Dubrovina et al. (2001).
Each image created in the imagination is, to some extent, both a reproduction and a transformation of reality. Reproduction is the main characteristic of memory, transformation is the main characteristic of imagination.
Imagination images are based on memory representations. But these ideas are undergoing profound changes. Representations of memory are images of objects and phenomena that we this moment we do not perceive, but once perceived. But we can, based on knowledge and relying on the experience of mankind, create ideas for ourselves about such things that we ourselves have never perceived before. For example, “I can imagine a sandy desert or tropical forests, although I have never been there,” writes V.M. Melnikov (1987). Imagination is the creation of something that did not yet exist in a person's experience, that he did not perceive in the past and that he had not met before. Nevertheless, everything new, created in the imagination, everything, one way or another, is connected with the real one.
All representations of the imagination are built from the material received in past perceptions and stored in memory. The activity of the imagination is always the processing of those data that are delivered by sensations and perceptions. Imagination cannot create from “nothing” (a blind person from birth cannot create a color image, a deaf person cannot create sounds). The most bizarre and fantastic products of the imagination are always built from elements of reality.
Imagination is one of the fundamental characteristics of a person. It most clearly shows the difference between man and animal ancestors. Pinsky B.I. He wrote: “In itself, fantasy, or the power of imagination, belongs to the number of not only precious, but also universal, universal abilities that distinguish a person from an animal. Without it, one cannot take a single step, not only in art ... Without the power of imagination, it would not even be possible to cross the street through the stream of cars. Humanity, deprived of imagination, would never launch rockets into space” (1962, p. 84) D. Diderot exclaimed: “Imagination! Without this quality one cannot be either a poet, or a philosopher, or smart person, neither a thinking being, nor just a person ... Imagination is the ability to evoke images. A person completely devoid of this ability would be stupid.
With the help of imagination, a person reflects reality, but in other, unusual, often unexpected combinations and connections. Imagination transforms reality and creates new images on this basis. Imagination is closely connected with thinking, therefore it is able to actively transform life impressions, acquired knowledge, data of perception and ideas. In general, the image is associated with all aspects of human mental activity: with his perception, memory, thinking, feelings.
Any activity of a person, the result of which is not the reproduction of impressions or actions that were in his experience, will belong to this second kind of creative or combining behavior. The brain is not only an organ that preserves and reproduces our previous experience, it is also an organ that combines, creatively processes and creates new positions and new behavior from the elements of this previous experience. According to L.S. Vygotsky (1997), imagination is called “this very creative activity based on the combining ability of our brain”.
R.S. Nemov (p. 220, 1995) defines imagination as "a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from other mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory." The specificity of this form of mental process lies in the fact that imagination is probably characteristic only of a person and is strangely connected with the activity of the organism, being at the same time the most “mental” of all mental processes and states. The latter means that the ideal and mysterious nature of the psyche is not manifested in anything other than imagination. It can be assumed that it was imagination, the desire to understand and explain it, that drew attention to psychic phenomena in antiquity, supported and continues to stimulate it today.
As for the mystery of this phenomenon, it lies in the fact that until now we know almost nothing about the mechanism of imagination, including its anatomical and physiological basis. Where is imagination located in the human brain? With the work of what nervous organic structures known to us is it associated? We cannot answer almost anything concrete to these important questions, which, of course, does not mean that this phenomenon is of little importance in human psychology and behavior.
Here the situation is just the opposite, namely: we know a lot about the importance of imagination in a person’s life, how it affects his mental processes and states, and even on the body.
Thanks to the imagination, a person creates, intelligently plans his activities and manages them. Almost all human material and spiritual culture is a product of the imagination and creativity of people, and we already know quite well what significance this culture has for the mental development and improvement of the Homo sapiens species. Imagination takes a person beyond the limits of his momentary existence, reminds him of the past, opens the future. Possessing a rich imagination, a person can "live" in different times, which no other living being in the world can afford. The past is fixed in images of memory, arbitrarily resurrected by an effort of will, the future is presented in dreams and fantasies.
Imagination is the basis of visual-figurative thinking, which allows a person to navigate the situation and solve problems without the direct intervention of practical actions. It helps him in many ways in those cases of life when practical actions are either impossible, or difficult, or simply inappropriate (undesirable).
How do images of the imagination arise, according to what laws are they constructed?
A.N. Leontiev (1972) defines imagination as a cognitive process based on the analytical and synthetic activity of the human brain. Analysis helps to identify individual parts and features of objects or phenomena, synthesis - to combine into new, hitherto unseen combinations. As a result, an image or a system of images is created in which reality is reflected by a person in a new, transformed, changed form and content.
1.2 Types of imagination
The authors of the textbook I.V. Dubrovina et al. (1999) identify the following types of imagination.
involuntary or passivein the imagination - new images under the influence of little conscious or unconscious needs. These are dreams, hallucinations, daydreams, states of "mad rest".
Thus, images are born unintentionally. People came to the discovery of the secret of sleep only at the end of the 19th - 20th century. Fragments of memories of the past are bizarrely combined in dreams, they are born unintentionally, enter into unexpected, sometimes completely meaningless combinations. In a half-asleep, drowsy state, the same thing can happen. Sechenov said that dreams are "unprecedented combinations of experienced impressions."
Despite the fantastic nature of dreams, they can only contain what was perceived by a person. Today, some mechanisms of dreams are known.
For example, the reason for dreams can be irritations that the body of a sleeping person receives.
Sometimes the cause of sleep is the turbulent events that occurred during the day - a dream is a dream on the same topic, in the continuation of these events.
Sleep is a product of a healthy psyche. All people see dreams. Recent studies have led scientists to believe that dreams are even necessary for the normal functioning of our brain. If you deprive a person of dreams, this can lead to a mental disorder. The product of a diseased or unhealthy psyche are hallucinations.
A hallucination is also a passive, unintentional imagination. In people who are mentally abnormal or not quite healthy, fantasy images acquire the features of reality. In the mentally ill, they compete with what he really perceives. If a long-dead relative appears to him, he talks to him as if he were alive, not for a moment doubting the reality of the latter. Such "waking dreams" are called hallucinations.
Hallucinations appear with various mental illnesses, under the influence of strong experiences - feelings of longing, fear, obsessive thoughts.
With auditory hallucinations, the patient hears voices, music, sounds. Voices now threaten him, then ask for something. At the same time, voices are quiet, loud, “ordering”, as a result of which a person performs unexpected actions. This psychological disorder often occurs on the basis of alcoholism.
Visual hallucinations usually occur in diseases such as epilepsy, hysteria, and also in alcoholics who have reached the state of delirium tremens.
These phenomena Vygotsky L.S. (1995) explains that significant areas of the brain of a mentally ill person are constantly inhibited to a greater or lesser extent. Traces of past perceptions, combined in fantasy images, evoke the same reaction as real stimuli.
Dreams are passive but deliberate imagination. These are dreams that are not connected with the will aimed at their fulfillment. People dream about something pleasant, joyful, tempting, and in dreams the connection between fantasy and needs and desires is clearly visible.
Passive imagination rarely becomes an impulse creative process, since “spontaneous”, images independent of the will of the artist are more often the product of the subconscious work of the creator, hidden from him. Nevertheless, observations of the creative process described in the literature provide an opportunity to give examples of the role of passive imagination in artistic creation. So, Franz Kafka gave an exceptional role in his work to dreams, capturing them in his fantastically gloomy works.
Voluntary or active imagination- this is a process of deliberate construction of images in connection with a consciously set goal in a particular activity. This type of image arises at an early age and is most developed in children's games. In the game, children take on different roles (pilot, driver, doctor, Baba-Yaga, etc.). The need to build one's behavior in accordance with a pleasant role requires an active work of the imagination. In addition, you need to imagine the missing items and the very situation of the game. Active imagination is characterized by the fact that, using it, a person voluntarily evokes appropriate images in himself.
The authors of the textbook "Psychology" (1987) divide arbitrary (active) imagination according to originality into recreative, or reproductive, and creative.
Recreating or reproductive imagination is the construction of an image of an object, a phenomenon in accordance with its verbal description or according to a drawing, diagram, picture. In the process of recreating imagination, new images arise, but new ones subjectively, for a given person, but objectively they already exist. They are already embodied in certain cultural objects. When reading fiction and educational literature, when studying geographical, historical and other descriptions, it constantly turns out to be necessary to recreate with the help of fantasy what is said in these sources. Any viewer, reader or listener must have a sufficiently developed recreative imagination to see and feel what the artist, writer, storyteller wanted to convey and express. An excellent school for the development of a recreative imagination is the study of geographical maps.
The essence of the recreative imagination is that we reproduce what we ourselves did not directly perceive, but what other people tell us (speech, drawings, diagrams, signs, etc.). We sort of decipher signals, symbols, signs. For example, an engineer, considering a drawing (a system of lines on a sheet), restores the image of a machine that is “encrypted” with symbols.
A.V. Petrovsky (1976) believes that the recreative imagination plays an important role in human life. It allows people to share experiences, without which life in society is unthinkable. It helps each of us to master the experience, knowledge and achievements of other people.
The task of reproductive imagination is to reproduce reality as it is, and although there is also an element of fantasy, such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity. So, with the reproductive imagination, a direction in art called naturalism, as well as partly, realism, can be correlated. It is well known that according to the paintings of I.I. Shishkin, botanists can study the flora of the Russian forest, since all the plants on his canvases are drawn with "documentary" accuracy. The works of democratic artists of the second half of the 19th century. I. Kramskoy, I. Repin, V. Petrov, for all their social sharpness, also represent a search for a form that is as close as possible to copying reality.
With the phenomenon of imagination in the practical activities of people, the famous artist K.F. Yuon (1959) primarily connects the process of artistic creation. Creative imagination is the independent creation of new images that are realized in original products of activity. Images are created without relying on a ready-made description or conditional image.
The role of creative imagination is huge. New original works are being created that never existed. However, their characters (for artists, sculptors, writers) are so vital, real that you begin to treat them as if they were alive (Don Quixote, Natasha Rostova, Anna Karenina).
But sometimes the reconstruction of reality by the realistic method does not suit the artist. Reality is passed through the creative imagination of the creators, they construct it in a new way, using light, color, filling their works with air vibration (impressionism), resorting to a dotted image of objects (pointillism in painting and music), decomposing the objective world into geometric figures(cubism), etc. The fruit of such an imagination is M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, the fiction of the Strugatsky brothers, the famous abstract painting by P. Picasso “Guernica”, where behind a chaotic heap of geometric shapes a very specific image arises, a specific thought reflecting the tragic events of the war in Spain 1936– 1939
With a special kind of imagination S.D. Smirnov (1985) calls the dream. A dream is always directed to the future, to the prospects for the life and work of a particular person, a particular personality. A dream allows you to plan the future and organize your behavior for its implementation. A person could not imagine the future (that is, what does not exist) without imagination, without the ability to build a new image. Moreover, a dream is such a process of imagination, which is always directed not just to the future, but to the desired future.
A dream does not give an immediate, objective product of activity. But always an impetus to action. K.G. Paustovsky said that the essence of a person is the dream that lives in everyone's heart. “Nothing a person hides so deeply as a dream. Perhaps because she cannot bear the slightest ridicule, and certainly cannot bear the touch of indifferent hands. Only a like-minded person can believe his dream. Images of this kind, like a dream, include the ideals of a person - images that serve him as models of life, behavior, relationships, and activities. An ideal is an image in which the most valuable, significant traits and personality traits for a given person are presented. In the image-ideal, the tendency of personality development is expressed.
Another type of creative imagination is fantasy or daydreaming. Here the desired future is not connected directly with the present. Fantasy images include fairy-tale and science-fiction images. Fantasy presents objects and phenomena that do not exist in nature. Both fairy tales and science fiction are the result of creative imagination. But their authors see no way to achieve what their imagination draws for them.
Each object, no matter how everyday and far from fantasy it may seem, is to some extent the result of the work of the imagination. In this sense, we can say that any object made by human hands is a dream come true. The new generation uses the thing that their fathers dreamed about and created. A fulfilled dream creates a new need and creates a new dream. At first, each new achievement seems wonderful, but as it is mastered, people begin to dream of the best, more.
The essence of imagination lies in the ability to notice and highlight specific features and properties in objects and phenomena and transfer them to other objects. The authors of the textbook "Psychology" (2001) identify several techniques of imagination.
Combination - a combination of individual elements of various images of objects in new, more or less ordinary combinations. Combination is a creative synthesis, and not a simple sum of already known elements, it is a process of significant transformation of the elements from which a new image is built.
A special case of combination is agglutination - a way to create a new image by connecting, gluing completely different objects or their properties. For example, a centaur, a dragon, a sphinx - a lion with a human head, or a carpet - an airplane, when the ability to fly was transferred from a bird to another object. This is a fabulous image: the conditions under which the carpet could fly are not taken into account. But the very imaginary transfer of the ability of birds to fly to other bodies is justified. Then we studied the flight conditions and realized the dream - an airplane appeared. Such combinations of different objects exist not only in art, but also in technology: a trolleybus, an aerosleigh, an amphibious tank, etc.
Emphasis - emphasizing certain features (for example, the image of a giant). This method underlies the creation of caricatures and friendly cartoons (smart - a very high forehead, lack of intelligence - low).
Emphasis manifests itself in several specific actions:
1. exaggeration - intentionally emphasizing the features of a person's external appearance;
2. exaggeration or understatement (Boy-with-finger, seven-headed Serpent - Gorynych);
3. typification - generalization and emotional richness of the image. This is the most difficult way to create an image of creative imagination.
Individual characteristics imagination is defined by:
1) the degree of ease and difficulty with which a person is generally given imagination;
2) the characteristic of the created image itself: an absurdity or an original find of a solution;
3) in what area is it brighter, faster is the creation of new images (personal orientation).
Fig 1. "Types of imagination"
1.3 Features of imagination in primary school age
In a child, the imagination is formed in the game and at first is inseparable from the perception of objects and the performance of game actions with them. In children of 6-7 years of age, the imagination can already rely on such objects that are not at all similar to the ones being replaced. Parents and, especially, grandparents, who love to give their grandchildren big bears and huge dolls, often unwittingly hinder their development. They deprive them of the joy of independent discoveries in games. Most children do not like very naturalistic toys, preferring symbolic, home-made, imaginative toys. Children, as a rule, like small and inexpressive toys - they are easier to adapt to different games. Large or “just like real” dolls and animals do little to stimulate the imagination. Children develop more intensively and get much more pleasure if the same stick plays the role of a gun, the role of a horse, and many other functions in various games. L. Kassil's book "Konduit and Shvambrania" gives a vivid description of the attitude of children to toys: "Turned lacquered figures represented unlimited possibilities for using them for the most diverse and tempting games ... Both queens were especially comfortable: the blonde and the brunette. Each queen could work for a Christmas tree, a cab driver, a Chinese pagoda, a flower pot on a stand, and a bishop.”
Gradually, the need for an external support (even in a symbolic figure) disappears and internalization occurs - a transition to a game action with an object that does not really exist, to a game transformation of an object, to giving it a new meaning and representing actions with it in the mind, without real action. This is the origin of imagination as a special mental process.
A feature of the imagination of younger students, manifested in learning activities, in the beginning, too, there is a reliance on perception (primary image), and not on representation (secondary image). For example, a teacher offers a task to children in a lesson that requires them to imagine a situation. It can be such a task: “A barge was sailing along the Volga and carried in holds ... kg of watermelons. There was pitching, and ... kg of watermelons burst. How many watermelons are left? Of course, such tasks start the process of imagination, but they need special tools (real objects, graphic images, layouts, diagrams), otherwise the child finds it difficult to advance in arbitrary actions of the imagination. In order to understand what happened in the watermelon holds, it is useful to give a sectional drawing of a barge.
In lessons with children, we often offer children tasks to develop their imagination. However, the material used in educational process, must be applied in a strictly specified way. For example, with the help of numbers, we suggest imagining anything. To do this, it is enough to ask the children the question: “What does the unit look like?”. And immediately get answers: “On a person who gives flowers”, “On a crocodile standing on its hind legs”. And also - on a springboard, an airplane, a giraffe, a snake ... This task gives children the opportunity to see that the same numbers can be very strict, obeying mathematical rules (the line “must”, “the same for everyone”, “correct” ), and at the same time alive, creating their own possibilities (the line “I want”, “not like everyone else”, “great”). Such games with numbers or other educational material not only stimulate the development of the imagination, but also serve as a kind of bridge between two types of thinking, abstract-logical and figurative.
The most vivid and free manifestation of the imagination of younger students can be observed in the game, in drawing, writing stories and fairy tales. IN children's creativity manifestations of the imagination are diverse: some recreate reality, others create new fantastic images and situations. When writing stories, children can borrow plots known to them, stanzas of poems, graphic images, sometimes without noticing it at all. However, they often deliberately combine well-known plots, create new images, exaggerating certain aspects and qualities of their characters. The tireless work of the imagination is an effective way for a child to learn and assimilate the world around him, an opportunity to go beyond personal practical experience, the most important psychological prerequisite for the development of a creative approach to the world. Often, the activity of the imagination underlies the formation of personal qualities that are relevant for a particular child. A. Barto's poem "On the way to class" serves as an excellent illustration of this last provision:
Often in their imagination, children create dangerous, scary situations. The experience of negative tension in the process of creating and deploying images of the imagination, managing the plot, interrupting images and returning to them not only trains the child's imagination as an arbitrary creative activity, but also contains a therapeutic effect. At the same time, experiencing difficulties in real life, children can go into an imaginary world as a defense, expressing doubts and experiences in dreams and fantasies.
Output : thus, imagination is a special form of the human psyche, thanks to which a person creates, intelligently plans his activity and manages it. Imagination is a complex mental process that has several types:
voluntary and involuntary;
recreative and creative;
dreams and fantasies.
The initial forms of imagination first appear at an early age in connection with the emergence of a role-playing game and the development of a sign-symbolic function of consciousness. Further development of the imagination goes in three directions. First, along the lines of expanding the range of items to be replaced and improving the replacement operation itself. Secondly, along the line of improving the operations of the recreating imagination. Thirdly, creative imagination develops. The development of the imagination is influenced by all types of activities, and in particular drawing, playing, designing, reading. fiction.
The activity of the imagination is carried out with the help of the following mechanisms: combination, accentuation, agglutination, hyperbolization, schematization, typification, reconstruction.
Chapter 2 The development of the imagination.
2.1
The development of imagination in primary school age.
At primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination passes into other types of activity.
In the conditions of educational activity, special requirements are imposed on the child's imagination, which encourage him to arbitrary actions of the imagination. The teacher at the lesson invites the children to imagine a situation in which certain transformations of objects, images, signs take place. These educational requirements stimulate the development of the imagination, but they need to be reinforced with special tools - otherwise the child finds it difficult to advance in the voluntary actions of the imagination. These can be real objects, diagrams, layouts, signs, graphic images, etc.
In the experiments of J. Piaget, tasks were used in which the subject was required to imagine successive steps of some physical transformation.
The child was shown a rod standing vertically and reinforced at one end, and asked to imagine (in a drawing, gestures, etc.) the successive positions that the rod occupies in the process of falling, passing into a horizontal position. It turned out that children of six or seven years old could not cope with this task.
In another experiment, a child was given a glass with a certain amount of liquid and asked to guess the result of moving the liquid into a glass of a different shape: 1) whether the amount of liquid would remain the same; 2) what will be the height of the liquid column in the second glass.
Children six or seven years old made correct predictions about the height of the liquid column and the conservation of its amount. However, the most interesting is the transitional stage, in which the child correctly predicts the change in level, but then denies the retention of the amount of fluid.
From such studies, J. Piaget concluded that the imagination undergoes a genesis similar to that which intellectual operations undergo: at first, the imagination is static, limited to the internal reproduction of states accessible to perception; as the child develops, the imagination becomes more flexible and mobile, capable of anticipating successive moments of the possible transformation of one state into another.
J. Piaget separates the imagination, as he previously did with perception, from intellectual operations; he distinguishes it also from perception. Higher-level imagination develops in tandem with concrete operations, but it cannot be identified with them.
J. Piaget believes that a flexible imagination capable of anticipation can really help operational thinking, even if it is necessary for it. Imagination is most clearly manifested in drawing and writing stories and fairy tales. In younger schoolchildren, as well as among preschoolers, we can observe great variability in the nature of children's creativity: some children recreate reality, others - fantastic images and situations. Depending on this, children can be conditionally divided into realists and dreamers. A child's special interest may be the fantastic, frightening and attractive world of fairy tales. Devils, mermen, goblin, mermaids, sorcerers, fairies, fairy princesses and many other characters of folk art, creatures created by individual imagination, along with completely realistic images of people, determine the content of the mental work and products of the child's activity. Of course, the content of the child's drawings depends on the cultural baggage, which is determined by the spiritual level of the family and the degree of orientation of the child himself to real or imaginary reality.
Composing all sorts of stories, rhyming "poems", inventing fairy tales, depicting various characters, children can borrow plots, stanzas of poems, graphic images that they know, sometimes without noticing it at all. However, often the child deliberately combines well-known plots, creates new images, exaggerating certain aspects and qualities of his characters. A child, if his speech and imagination are sufficiently developed, if he enjoys reflecting on the meanings and meaning of words, verbal complexes and images of the imagination, can come up with and tell an entertaining story, can improvise, enjoying his improvisation himself and including other people in it.
In the imagination, the child creates dangerous, scary situations when, for example, it is necessary to go to a black-black mountain, climb into the deepest cave and move towards the cherished goal in complete darkness, not reacting to frightening sounds, not being afraid of repeated echoes flickering in the gaps of the shadows , multiple reflections of mysterious mirrors, etc. The main thing is overcoming, finding a friend, access to the light, hope and joy. The experience of negative tension in the process of creating and deploying imaginary situations, managing the plot, interrupting images and returning to them train the child's imagination as an arbitrary creative activity.
In addition, imagination can act as an activity that brings a therapeutic effect.
Child experiencing difficulty real life, perceiving his personal situation as hopeless, can go into an imaginary world. So, when there is no father and this brings inexpressible pain, in the imagination one can find the most wonderful, most extraordinary - a generous, strong, courageous father. In the imagination, you can even save your father from mortal danger, and then he will not only love you, but also appreciate your courage, resourcefulness and courage. A father-friend is a dream not only for boys, but also for girls. Imagination provides a temporary opportunity to relax, to release tension in order to continue living without a father. When peers oppress - they beat, threaten with reprisals, humiliate morally, in the imagination you can create a special world in which a child either solves his problems with his own generosity, reasonable behavior, or turns into an aggressive ruler who cruelly takes revenge on his offenders. It is important to listen to your child's statements about bullying peers. What dominates in his emotions - grief, bewilderment about the behavior of offenders or aggression? Only by understanding the deepest feelings of the child, you can try to help him.
When a nervous and unhappy mother constantly breaks down and screams at her child, in the imagination you can meet a good fairy or accomplish a feat, save your mother from terrible danger. But you can wish your mother to die - because she is so unfair ...
Imagination, no matter how fantastic it may be in its storyline, is based on the norms of real social space. Having experienced good or aggressive impulses in his imagination, the child can thereby prepare for himself the motivation for future actions.
Imagination, with all its usefulness for preparing for creative activity, can lead the child away from the real world, giving pain to his spiritual life.
Imagination can lead a child to a dead end, creating obsessive images that really stubbornly pursue the child. In this case, special assistance is required.
As mentioned above, the images of imagination in some children can be close to eidetic images, which have not only brightness and distinctness, but also processuality - they can involuntarily change in front of the child's inner gaze. At the age of seven or eleven, the child may still be dependent on emerging images of the imagination, but he can, with some effort, control their appearance and development, inducing the free flow of visual or sound associations, or interrupt it depending on his will. Involuntary images of the imagination burden the child; release from their spontaneous onslaught requires a special application of effort and control.
A child can be tense from involuntarily arising images of the imagination, sometimes feel unhappy, but he also finds attractive sides from immersion in the spontaneously arising world of imagination, which for him acts as a different reality than natural, objective and social world human relations.
Imagination in the life of a child plays a greater role than in the life of an adult, manifesting itself much more often, and more often allows a violation of life reality. The tireless work of the imagination is the most important way for a child to learn and master the world around him, a way to go beyond personal practical experience, the most important psychological prerequisite for the development of creativity and a way to master the normativity of social space, the latter forces the imagination to work directly on the development of personal qualities.
The mental development of a child attending school changes qualitatively due to the requirements imposed by educational activities. The child is now forced to enter the reality of figurative-sign systems and the reality of the objective world through constant immersion in situations of solving various educational and life tasks.
Main tasks , which are solved at primary school age:
1) penetration into the secrets of the linguistic, syntactic, and other structure of the language;
2) the assimilation of the meanings and meanings of verbal signs and the independent establishment of their subtle integrative connections;
3) solving mental problems related to the transformation of the objective world;
4) development of arbitrary aspects of attention, memory and imagination;
5) the development of imagination as a way to go beyond personal practical experience, as a condition for creativity.
2.2 Diagnosis of the level of development of imagination in children of primary school age
The study was carried out on the basis of 2 "A" class (experimental group) and 2 "B" class (control group) of a secondary school.
The experiment consists of three stages:
- ascertaining;
- forming;
- control.
Target ascertaining experiment - to identify the level of development of imagination in younger students. To do this, we used imaging diagnostic techniques based on a generalization of the developmental features of a 6-8 year old child.
The child's imagination is assessed by the degree of development of his fantasy, which in turn can manifest itself in stories, drawings, crafts and other products of creative activity.
Method 1. "Verbal fantasy" (verbal imagination)
It is necessary to come up with a story (story, fairy tale) about some living creature (human, animal) or about something else of the child’s choice and present it orally within 5 minutes. Up to one minute is allotted for inventing a theme or plot of a story (story, fairy tale), and after that the child starts the story.
In the course of the story, the child's fantasy is evaluated on the following grounds:
1. Speed of imagination processes.
2. Singularity, originality of images.
3. Wealth of fantasy.
4. Depth and elaboration (detailing) of images.
5. Impressibility, emotionality of images.
For each of these features, the story gets from 0 to 2 points.
0 points are given when this feature is practically absent in the story.
The story receives 1 point if this feature is present, but is relatively weakly expressed.
The story earns 2 points when the corresponding feature is not only present, but also expressed quite strongly.
If within 1 minute the child has not come up with the plot of the story, then the experimenter himself prompts him to some plot and puts 0 points for the speed of imagination. If the child himself came up with the plot of the story by the end of the minute allotted for this, then by the speed of imagination he gets a score of 1 point. Finally, if the child managed to come up with the plot of the story very quickly, within the first 30 seconds of the allotted time, or if within one minute he came up with not one, but at least two different plots, then the child is given 2 points on the basis of “speed of imagination processes”.
Unusualness, originality of images is regarded in the following way.
If the child simply retold what he once heard from someone or saw somewhere, then on this basis he gets 0 points. If the child retells the known, but at the same time introduced something new from himself, then the originality of his imagination is estimated at 1 point. Finally, if the child came up with something that he could not see or hear anywhere before, then the originality of his imagination gets a score of 2 points.
The richness of the child's fantasy is also manifested in the variety of images he uses. When evaluating this quality of imagination processes, the total number of different living beings, objects, situations and actions, various characteristics and signs attributed to all this in the child's story is fixed.
If the total number of the named exceeds 10, then the child receives 2 points for the richness of fantasy. If the total number of parts of the specified type is between 6 and 9, then the child receives 1 point. If there are few signs in the story, but in general not less than 5, then the richness of the child's fantasy is estimated at 0 points.
The depth and elaboration of images are determined by how varied the details and characteristics are presented in the story related to the image (person, animal, fantastic creature, object, object, etc.), which plays a key role or occupies a central place in the story. It also gives marks in a three-point system.
The child receives 0 points when the central object of his story is depicted very schematically, without a detailed study of its aspects.
1 point is given if, when describing the central object of the story, its detailing is moderate.
The child receives 2 points in terms of the depth and elaboration of images if the main image of his story is described in sufficient detail, with many different details characterizing him.
The impressionability or emotionality of images is assessed by whether they arouse interest and emotions in the listener.
If the images used by the child in his story are of little interest, banal, and do not impress the listener, then the child's fantasy is estimated at 0 points according to the criterion under discussion. If the images of the story arouse interest on the part of the listener and some emotional response, but this interest, together with the corresponding reaction, soon fades away, then the impressionability of the child’s imagination receives a score of 1 point. And, finally, if the child used bright, very interesting images, the listener's attention to which, once having arisen, then did not fade away and even intensified towards the end, accompanied by emotional reactions such as surprise, admiration, fear, etc., then the impressionability of the child's story is evaluated by the highest score - 2.
Thus, the maximum number of points that a child in this technique can receive for his imagination is 10, and the minimum is 0.
Conclusions about the level of development
8-10 points - high.
3 -7 points - average.
0 - 3 points - low.
Method 2. "Drawing" (artistic imagination)
In this technique, the child is offered a standard sheet of paper and felt-tip pens (at least six different colors). The child is given the task to come up with and draw a picture. This takes 5 minutes.
The analysis of the picture and the assessment of the child's fantasy in points are carried out in the same way as the analysis of oral creativity in the previous method, according to the same parameters and using the same protocol.
Method 3. "Sculpture" (artistic and applied imagination)
The child is offered a set of plasticine and a task: in 5 minutes to make some kind of craft by molding it from plasticine. The child's fantasy is evaluated according to approximately the same parameters as in the previous methods, from 0 to 10 points.
0-1 point is given to the child if in the time allotted for the task (5 minutes) he could not think of anything and do it with his hands.
A child gets 2-3 points when he invented and fashioned something very simple from plasticine, for example, a ball, a cube, a stick, a ring, etc.
A child earns 4-5 points if he made a relatively simple craft, in which there are a small number of ordinary parts, no more than two or three.
6-7 points are given to the child if he came up with something unusual, but at the same time not distinguished by the richness of his imagination.
A child receives 8-9 points when the thing he invented is quite original, but not worked out in detail.
A child can get 10 points for this task only if the thing he invented is very original, worked out in detail and has a good artistic taste.
Comments on the method of psychodiagnostics of imagination. The methods for assessing the development of the imagination of a child of primary school age through his stories, drawings, crafts were not chosen by chance. This choice corresponds to the three main types of thinking that a child of this age has: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical. The child's fantasy is most fully manifested precisely in the corresponding types of creative activity.
Conclusions about the level of development
A score of 8-10 points indicates that the child has the inclinations for the type of activity for which the development of the corresponding type of imagination is essential. That is, the imagination is fully developed.
A score in the range from 4 to 7 points is a sign that, in general, this child has a satisfactorily developed imagination.
A score equal to 3 or less points most often acts as a sign of a child's unpreparedness for learning in primary school. Imagination is not developed, which greatly complicates the course of learning in general.
At the beginning of the experimental work, we conducted a stating experiment. Three methods described by us in the first paragraph of this section of the course work are taken as a basis.
Table No. I.
| Children's name |
Age |
Methodology № 1 |
Methodology № 2 |
Methodology № 3 |
|
| 1. Liza |
8 years 6 months |
middle |
short |
tall |
|
| 2. Dima |
8 years 4 months |
middle |
middle |
short |
|
| 3. Zhenya |
8 years |
tall |
middle |
short |
|
| 4. Alik |
8 years |
short |
middle |
short |
|
| 5. Pasha |
8 years |
middle |
middle |
tall |
|
| 6. Ksyusha |
8 years 7 months |
short |
short |
middle |
|
| 7. Dasha M. |
8 years 2 months |
middle |
tall |
short |
|
| 8. Dasha P |
8 years 3 months |
tall |
middle |
short |
|
| 9. Albert |
8 years 2 months |
middle |
short |
tall |
|
| 10. Artem |
8 years 4 months |
middle |
middle |
short |
|
Table No. II.
| High level |
Average level |
Low level |
||
| Method #1 |
20%
|
60%
|
20%
|
|
| Method #2 |
10%
|
60%
|
30%
|
|
| Method #3 |
30%
|
10%
|
60%
|
|
| Average |
20%
|
43%
|
37%
|
|
Methods and techniques for developing creative imagination
Starting the next, developing, stage of the experiment, we will define the principles for the development of creative thinking in younger students:
1. Before proceeding with the development of creative activity in children, they should form the necessary speech and thinking skills for this.
2. New concepts should be introduced only in familiar content.
3. The content of developing techniques should focus on the personality of the child and his interaction with other children.
4. The focus should be on mastering the meaning of the concept, and not the rules of grammar.
5. The child should be taught to look for a solution, considering, first of all, possible consequences rather than absolute merit.
6. Encourage children to express their own ideas about the problem being solved.
In the developmental experiment, we tried to implement the proposed principles as much as possible in the exercises and games offered to children.
In addition to the tasks used in the ascertaining experiment, the following games were offered to younger students.
1. The game "Archimedes".
The goal is to activate the work of fantasy, and thus stimulate the child to learning activities.
Description: When studying works, children are offered a number of problems. The task of the guys is to give as many ideas as possible to solve these problems. For example, in a reading lesson while working on a work by L.N. Tolstoy "The Lion and the Dog" to propose to solve the following problem: How can you calm the lion?; when studying the fairy tale “The Traveling Frog” - How can the fallen frog continue the journey?
The responses of all children as a whole can be characterized as complete, detailed, containing cause-and-effect relationships.
However, Dasha Pachkina and Zhenya Vestoropsky were the most active in the game. They were characterized by the ability to move away from the “correct answer” template and think broadly. Breadth of outlook - good knowledge environment and properties of objects - helped to find original "outputs" and "solutions" in the proposed situations.
Difficulties were experienced by Ksyusha, Dima, Artem, Alik. In order to activate their activity during the game and not let them out of sight, they were appointed co-leaders. Their task was to announce the situations and evaluate the originality of the answers.
2. Game "Inventor".
The goal is to activate thinking along with fantasy.
Description. This game was used when getting acquainted with Russian folk tales. Children were offered several tasks, the result of which should be inventions. Fairy tale "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka" - think up a fairy tale spell, with the help of which brother Ivanushka, turned into a kid, will take on a human form. The fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” - imagine that the wolf fell ill and could not help Ivan Tsarevich, come up with a fabulous type of transport that Ivan Tsarevich would use. In mathematics lessons, this game was based on the search for an inverse solution to problems with the initial condition.
In this game, Artyom and Alik were in the lead, demonstrating the skill of an inventor and the ability to work with applied material.
M. Dasha, among others, who prefers drawing lessons, depicted invented inventions on paper.
P. Dasha and Zhenya, who were in the lead in the first game, successfully continued to complete tasks in this game, but to a greater extent it concerned inventing spells, that is, working with verbal material.
The co-leaders in this game were Lisa, Pasha, Albert, who have not yet shown themselves in any way.
3. Game "Fan"
Purpose - used to develop fantasy and combinatorics skills for children of primary school age.
Description: children were offered several cards with the image of objects or fairy-tale characters. On the left is one object, on the right - three. In the center, the child must draw three complex objects (fantastic), in which objects from the right and left halves are connected, as it were. When studying the works of D.N. Mamin-Siberian "The Tale of the Brave Hare-Long Ears, Slanting Eyes, Short Tail" on the left was an image of a Hare, on the right - a wolf, a fox and a bear. Playing with numbers and math symbols in math class.
Absolutely everyone actively participated in this game. For greater success in completing tasks, we have united the children in pairs.
4. Game "Transformation".
The goal is to develop the child's ingenuity, that is, imagination combined with creative thinking, to expand the scope of the child's understanding of the world around him.
Description: this game is built on the universal mechanism of a children's game - imitation of the functions of an object. For example, children were asked to use facial expressions, pantomime, imitation of actions with objects to turn an ordinary object (for example, a hat) into a completely different object, with other functions.
Conducting this game did not cause problems with understanding the task or being active. Each of the children prepared independently and consciously. The game was held in the form of a concert, when each of the participants went to the board and showed the task to everyone.
To improve the interior environment in the classroom, the desks were moved to the end of the auditorium, freeing up space in the center. For greater interest, a jury of school teachers was created. The task of the jury was to determine the main property that was most clearly manifested in the child's performance. This is how the nominations for originality, ingenuity, resourcefulness, etc. arose.
The main nominations are Miss Fantasy and Mr. Ingenuity, which went to M. Dasha and Pasha, respectively.
In addition to playing games, exercises were used to develop children's imagination. Let's give some examples.
1. Let your favorite toy tell the story of your life - soap in the bathroom, an old sofa, a pear to be eaten.
2. Take an old book that is well known to the child and try together to come up with a new story for the illustrations from it.
3. Suggest a new twist to an old story, let the child continue. For example, Little Red Riding Hood did not tell the wolf where the grandmother's house was and even threatened to call the woodcutter.
4. Find reproductions of paintings, the contents of which the baby does not yet know. Give him the opportunity to express his own version of the drawing. Perhaps it will not be too far from the truth?
5. Continue drawing. A simple figure (eight, two parallel lines, a square, triangles standing on top of each other) must be turned into part of a more complex pattern. For example, from a circle you can draw a face, a ball, a car wheel, glass from glasses. It is better to draw (or offer) options in turn. Who is bigger?
6. "Squiggles". We draw arbitrary squiggles for each other, and then we change leaves. Whoever turns the squiggle into a meaningful drawing will win.
7. One picture can be drawn together, making several strokes in turn.
8. You can paint with paints not only with a brush. You can draw with your finger, paint can be sprayed through a straw for juice, drip from a brush directly onto a sheet. The main thing is that after the paint dries, take a closer look, try to see the plot and finish the drawing. What does that big green blob look like?
9. "Non-existent animal." If the existence of hammerhead fish or needlefish is scientifically proven, then the existence of thimblefish is not excluded. Let the child dream up: “What does a pan fish look like? What does a scissor fish eat and how can a magnet fish be used?
10. Imagination is also useful when discussing serious topics in a playful way. What is bad and what is good about snowfall? How can ice be used? What are the benefits of a mosquito?
The exercises were used as a warm-up in every session. And each new lesson was accompanied by a new exercise. Using the principle of novelty, we tried to stimulate children's interest in the development of imagination.
Control experiment
At the end of the formative experiment, a control experiment was carried out, in which we used the same diagnostic methods based on generalizing the features of the development of mental operations in a child of 6-8 years old.
The results of the control experiment are somewhat different from the results of the ascertaining experiment. We present the results of each technique.
Table No. III.
As can be seen from the results shown in Table VI, there is no low level of imagination development. The indicator of high level of imagination development increased by 23%, the indicator of average level of imagination development increased by 14%.
Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the effectiveness of the system we used is quite effective, since there is a trend of growth in the level of development of creative imagination in children of primary school age. Thus, the hypothesis of our study was confirmed.
At the end of the experiment, we gave the following recommendations for the development of imagination in younger students:
1. In the process of learning, give tasks for “inventing” non-standard solutions to standard situations, and this can happen, as the experiment showed, in any lesson, from literature to work, drawing and physical education.
2. Periodically conduct extra-curricular activities, a component of which is certainly a creative approach. Moreover, when voicing tasks, initially emphasize the need for imagination, fantasy.
3. For a quality time at recess, we recommend using imagination exercises. At the end of the week, you can sum up the most "tireless" and "original" dreamer.
4. At the same time, children can be allowed to invent and conduct "their" games and exercises for the development of the imagination.
5. It is also possible to involve children of this class in introductory work on the development of imagination in children in other (parallel) classes.
CONCLUSION
Imagination is the ability inherent only to a person to create new images (representations) by processing previous experience. Imagination is the highest mental function and reflects reality. However, with the help of the imagination, a mental departure is carried out beyond the limits of the directly perceived. Its main task is to present the expected result before its implementation.
Imagination and fantasy are inherent in every person, and especially these qualities are inherent in children. Indeed, the ability to create something new, unusual, is laid down in childhood, through the development of higher mental functions, which include imagination. It is the development of the imagination that must be given attention in the upbringing of a child between the ages of five and twelve. Scientists call this period sensitive, that is, the most favorable for the development of the cognitive functions of the child.
There is no doubt that imagination and fantasy are the most important aspects of our life. If people did not possess these functions, humanity would lose almost all scientific discoveries and works of art, children would not hear fairy tales and would not be able to play many games, would not be able to learn the school curriculum. After all, any learning is associated with the need to imagine something, to imagine, to operate with abstract images and concepts. All artistic activity is based on active imagination. This feature provides the child with a new, unusual view of the world. It contributes to the development of abstract-logical memory and thinking, enriches individual life experience.
But unfortunately the curriculum primary school in modern school provides for an insufficient number of techniques, training techniques, exercises for the development of imagination.
It has been proven that imagination is closely connected with other mental processes (memory, thinking, attention, perception) that serve learning activities. Thus, not paying enough attention to the development of imagination, primary teachers reduce the quality of education.
In the conducted experimental work, we clearly proved the need for diagnosing creative imagination in younger students, and also showed the results of a formative experiment that fully confirmed the hypothesis of the course work that if you use a system of exercises to develop creative thinking, its level will increase significantly and in the future will contribute to an increase in general the level of learning of younger students.
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Features of the development of imagination in children of primary school age
Imagination is one of the forms of mental reflection of the world. A more traditional point of view is the definition of imagination as a process (V.G. Kazakova, L.L. Kondratieva, A.V. Petrovsky, M.G. Yaroshevsky, etc.). According to M.V. Gamezo and I.A. Domashenko, "imagination is a mental process that consists in creating new images (representations) by processing the material of perceptions and ideas obtained in previous experience."
Russian authors also consider imagination as an ability (L.S. Vygotsky, V.T. Kudryavtsev) and as a special human activity (L.D. Stolyarenko, B.M. Teplov). Taking into account the complex functional structure of the imagination, L.S. Vygotsky considered the optimal application of the concept of a psychological system.
So, imagination is the process of transforming images in memory in order to create new ones that have never been perceived by a person before. The process of imagination is peculiar only to man and is a necessary condition for his labor activity. Imagination is always a certain departure from reality. But in any case, the source of imagination is objective reality. Imagination, orienting a person in the process of activity, allows you to present the result of labor before it begins.
With the help of imagination, a person reflects reality in unusual, often unexpected combinations and connections. Imagination changes reality and creates other images on this basis. Imagination is closely connected with thinking, therefore it is able to intensively change a person's life impressions, the knowledge and ideas he has received. In general, imagination is closely connected with all aspects of a person's mental activity: with his perception, thinking, memory, feelings.
Imagination plays a huge role in human life. Without imagination, creativity is impossible. Peculiar forms of automobiles, fantasies on the themes of "engineer Garin's beam" and display of images at a distance (modern television), E. Tsiolkovsky's dreams of interplanetary flights and much more would have remained aloof from culture for centuries if humanity had not been capable of imagination . Thanks to the imagination, a person intelligently plans his activity, manages it, and creates. Almost all human spiritual and material culture is the creation of people and the product of the imagination. Imagination is of great importance for the development and improvement of man as a species. It takes a person beyond the limits of his existence, reminds him of the past, opens the future. With a rich imagination, a person can "live" in different time that no other creature in the world can afford. The past is presented in images of memory, arbitrarily resurrected by an effort of will, the future is presented in dreams and fantasies.
Imagination allows a person to understand and navigate the situation, to solve problems independently without the intervention of practical actions. It helps him in many ways in such life situations when practical actions are either impossible, or confused, or simply undesirable. Imagination differs from perception in that its images do not always correspond to reality, they contain elements of fantasy and fiction. If the imagination paints such pictures to the consciousness, to which there is little or nothing in reality, then this is called fantasy. If, in addition, the imagination is directed to the future, it is called a dream.
In psychology, there are two directions in the development of the imagination of the individual: cognitive and affective. The cognitive direction is focused on the development of the imagination as a specific reflection of the objective world, overcoming the contradictions that have arisen in the ideas of a growing person about reality, completing and clarifying a holistic picture of the world. The affective direction presupposes the appearance, as a result of contradictions, of the image of the “I” that is emerging in the child, which in such cases is one of the mechanisms for its construction and development.
The mind of a person cannot be in an inactive state, that is why people dream so much. The human brain continues to function even when it does not solve any problems, when new information does not enter it. It is at this time that the imagination begins to work. It has been established that a person, at will, is not able to stop the flow of thoughts, stop the imagination.
Imagination in the process of human life performs a number of specific functions, the first of which is to represent reality in images and be able to use them when solving problems. The second function of the imagination is to regulate emotional states. With the help of his imagination, a person is able to satisfy many needs. The third function of imagination is connected with the state of a person and his participation in the arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes. With the help of skillfully created images, a person can pay attention to the necessary events, through images he gets the opportunity to control perception, memories, statements. The fourth function of the imagination is to form an internal plan of action, i.e. the ability to perform them in the mind, manipulating images. The fifth function of the imagination is the planning and programming of activities.
Depending on the characteristics of the flow of the process of imagination, the following types of imagination are distinguished: involuntary and arbitrary. Involuntary imagination is a process when new images are produced by themselves in the mind of a person without a predetermined goal. Arbitrary imagination is produced intentionally in connection with a predetermined goal.
Depending on the degree of activity, imagination is passive and active. Passive imagination is the spontaneous creation of images that often do not materialize. Passive imagination can be intentional and unintentional. Intentional imagination is the creation of images (dreams, illusions) that are not connected with the will, which could contribute to their implementation. Unintentional imagination is a weakening of the activity of consciousness during its disorders in a semi-drowsy state, in a dream, with hallucinations.
A dream is an image of the desired future. It arises under the influence of a person's needs, interests, beliefs, character traits. According to its content, a dream can be associated with lofty, noble, socially important goals or, conversely, with insignificant, petty, and sometimes base motives. Dreams are a dream that is not connected with life. Dreams relax the will, reduce the activity of a person, slow down his development.
Active imagination is the creation of images that are aimed at solving certain problems. Active imagination can be recreative and creative. Recreating imagination - the process of creating certain images that correspond to the description, the more information, the less work remains for the imagination. Active imagination, in turn, includes reproductive (recreative) and productive (creative). Imagination is called productive, in the images of which there is a lot of new (elements of fantasy). The products of such imagination usually resemble nothing, or bear very little resemblance to what is already known. Reproductive is imagination, in the products of which there is a lot of what is already known, although there are also individual elements of the new. Such, for example, is the imagination of a novice engineer, writer, artist, who at first create their creations according to known patterns, thereby learning professional skills.
Creative imagination is the independent creation of images that require the selection of materials in accordance with the plan. Creative imagination is priceless in its social significance and is aimed at the implementation of a creative or personal task. Fantasy is a kind of creative imagination. Fantasy is the creation of ideas about unreal events, phenomena. Fantasy is inherent in every person, but all people (especially children) differ in the direction of this fantasy, its strength and brightness.
M.V. Ermolaeva singles out and describes the following psychological mechanisms of imagination: 1) variation is the desire to change the images and representations that exist in experience; 2) modeling is a way of recreating events on new material; 3) schematization is the reduction of reality with the subsequent transfer of the action and functions of the object to other objects; 4) detailing is a mechanism that enhances the brightness of an image, representation; 5) combination is the transformation of previously obtained representations by combining heterogeneous components in a new image.
The creation of images of the imagination is carried out using several techniques. The first method is agglutination, i.e. "gluing" of various, incompatible in Everyday life parts (for example, "Centaur" or "Phoenix"). The second technique is hyperbolization, i.e. an incredible increase or decrease in an object or its individual parts (“Gulliver”, “Thumb Boy”, “Dwarf Nose”). The third technique is schematization, in this case, individual representations merge, differences are smoothed out, and the main similarities are clearly worked out (schematic drawing). The fourth technique is typification, i.e. highlighting the essential, repeating in some respects homogeneous facts and embodying them in a specific image (the image of a doctor, policeman, fireman). The fifth technique is accentuation, i.e. in the image being created, some part, a detail stands out, is especially emphasized (for example, a cartoon; a caricature).
In the images that appear in the imagination, there are always features of images already known to man. But in the new image they are transformed, changed, combined into unusual combinations. The essence of imagination lies in the ability to notice and highlight specific features and properties in objects and phenomena, and transfer them to other objects.
According to L.S. Vygotsky, at the very beginning of the process of imagination, there are external and internal perceptions that form the basis of human experience. What the child sees and hears are the first reference points for his future creativity. Then dissociation occurs, which consists in the fact that this complex whole, as it were, crumbles into parts: individual parts are distinguished predominantly in comparison with others, that is, some are preserved, while others are forgotten. The process of dissociation is followed by a process of change to which these dissociated elements undergo. This process of change is based on the dynamism of our internal, nervous excitations and their corresponding images. Next comes the association, that is, the unification of the dissociated and changed elements into a new image. Then the individual elements are combined, brought into the system, and a complex picture is built. At the very end, imagination is embodied in external images.
According to L.S. Vygotsky, imagination develops most actively in children of preschool and primary school age. Younger school age (from 7-11 years old) is called the pinnacle of childhood. The child retains many childish qualities - naivety, frivolity, looking at an adult from the bottom up. Teaching for him is a significant activity. A child's entry into school is associated with huge changes in all areas of his life. These changes relate, first of all, to the structure of relationships and the place of the child in society.
The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception and his play activity. A one and a half year old child is still not interested in listening to stories (fairy tales) of adults, since he still lacks the experience that generates perception processes. But in the imagination of a playing child, one can see how a cube, for example, turns into a car, a doll into a cheerful or offended by someone man, a blanket into an affectionate friend. The child uses his imagination even more actively in his games during the period of speech development. However, all this happens as if by itself, by accident. From 3 to 5 years, arbitrary forms of imagination develop. Imagination images can appear at the request of others, initiated by the child himself.
The junior school period is characterized not only by the rapid development of the imagination, but also by the intensive process of acquiring versatile knowledge and using it in practice.
The individual features of the imagination of younger students are clearly manifested in the process of creativity. For the development of imagination in children, adults need to create conditions under which freedom of action, independence, initiative, and looseness are manifested. If at primary school age not enough attention is paid to the development of imagination, then the quality level of education also decreases.
In general, there are usually no problems associated with the development of imagination in younger schoolchildren, so that almost all children who play a lot and in various ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that may arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, as well as the assimilation abstract concepts, which is quite difficult to imagine and imagine for a younger student, as well as for an adult.
Younger school age is qualified by scientists as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasy. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories, conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and images of the imagination can be experienced by children as quite real. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. Such fantasies are often perceived by others as a lie. Parents and teachers often turn to psychological counseling, alarmed by such manifestations of fantasy in children, which they regard as deceit. In such cases, the psychologist usually recommends that you analyze whether the child is pursuing any benefit with his story. If not (and most often it is), then adults are dealing with fantasizing, inventing stories, and not with lies. This kind of storytelling is normal for kids. In these cases, it is useful for adults to join the children's game, to show that they like these stories, but precisely as manifestations of fantasy, a kind of game. Participating in such a game, sympathizing and empathizing with the child, an adult must clearly designate and show him the line between the game, fantasy and reality.
Children of primary school age develop all kinds of imagination. It can be recreative (creating an image of an object according to its description) and creative (creating new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the idea).
The main trend that arises in the development of children's imagination is the transition to an increasingly correct and complete reflection of reality, the transition from a simple arbitrary combination of ideas to a logically reasoned combination. If a child of 3-4 years old is satisfied to depict a bird with checkmarks, then at 7-8 years old he already needs an external resemblance to a bird (“so that there are wings and a beak”). A schoolboy at the age of 11-12 often sculpts a model himself and demands from her an even more complete resemblance to a real bird.
The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in children to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all forms of activity available to him: in play, in visual activity, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age.
Observations show that the child strives to portray well-known events truthfully, as happens in life. In many cases, the change in reality is caused by ignorance, the inability to coherently, consistently portray the events of life. Realism of the imagination elementary school student especially evident in the selection of attributes of the game. For a younger preschooler in the game, everything can be everything. Older preschoolers are already selecting material for the game according to the principles of external similarity. The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum proximity, from the point of view of the child, this material to real objects, according to the principle of the possibility of performing real actions with it.
The obligatory and main protagonist of the game for schoolchildren in grades 1-2 is a soft toy and a doll. With them, you can perform any necessary "real" actions: you can feed, dress, express your feelings. Also, for this purpose, younger students use a live kitten or puppy, as they can really be fed, put to bed. The corrections to the situation and images made during the game by children of primary school age give the game and the images themselves imaginary features that bring them closer and closer to reality.
A.G. Ruzskaya notes that children of primary school age are not deprived of fantasizing, which is at odds with reality, which is even more typical for schoolchildren (cases of children's lies, etc.). Fantasizing of this kind still plays a significant role and occupies a certain place in the life of a younger schoolchild. But, nevertheless, it is no longer a simple continuation of the fantasizing of a preschooler who himself believes in his fantasy as in reality. A 9-10 year old student already understands the “conventionality” of his fantasizing, its inconsistency with reality.
Concrete knowledge and fascinating fantastic images built on their basis coexist peacefully in the mind of a junior schoolchild. With age, the role of fantasy, divorced from reality, weakens, and the realism of the child's imagination increases. However, the realism of a child's imagination, in particular the imagination of a younger schoolchild, must be distinguished from its other feature, close, but fundamentally different. The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life.
The imagination of a younger student is also characterized by another feature: the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction (in their games, children repeat the actions that they observed in parents and adults, play out stories that they saw in the movies, at school, in the family). However, with age, the elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student become less and less, and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.
According to L.S. Vygotsky, child preschool age and a junior school student can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore a child has more imagination in the everyday, cultural sense of the word than an adult. However, not only is the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in a child than in an adult, but the nature of the combinations that are attached to this material, their quality and variety, are significantly inferior to those of an adult. Of all the forms of connection with reality, the child's imagination has the same degree of resemblance to the adult's imagination only in the reality of the elements from which it is built.
V.S. Mukhina notes that at primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination passes into other types of activity.
In the process of educational activities of schoolchildren, which goes into primary school From living contemplation, an important role, as psychologists note, is played by the level of development of cognitive processes: attention, memory, perception, observation, thinking. The development and improvement of the imagination will be more effective with purposeful work in this direction, which will entail the expansion of the cognitive abilities of children.
At primary school age, for the first time, there is a division of play and labor, that is, activities carried out for the sake of pleasure that the child will receive in the process of the activity itself, and activities aimed at achieving an objectively significant and socially assessed result. This distinction between play and work, including educational work, is an important feature of school age.
At primary school age, imagination is the highest and main human ability. At the same time, it is this ability that cannot do without purposeful development. And if during this period the imagination is not specifically developed, then subsequently a decrease in the intensity of this function is observed. Along with the fading of a person’s ability to fantasize, the personality becomes impoverished, the possibilities of creative thinking decrease, interest in science, art, etc. decreases.
Younger schoolchildren carry out their productive activities with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the active work of fantasy, they are happy to engage in creative activities. When, in the process of learning, younger students are faced with the need to comprehend abstract material, it is imagination that comes to the aid of the child.
Thus, the value of the imagination function in mental development junior high school student is great. However, fantasy must have a positive direction of development. It should promote self-disclosure and self-improvement of the personality and better knowledge of the world around, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life with dreams. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to help the younger student use their imagination in the direction of progressive self-development, to activate cognitive activity in particular the development abstract thinking, attention, speech and creativity in general. Children of primary school age love to engage in visual activities. It allows the younger student to reveal his personality in a more free form. All visual activity is based on active imagination. These features provide the child with a new, unusual view of the world.
P. Torrens developed criteria and indicators for the development of creative imagination. He attributed the following to the main criteria: 1) fluency; 2) flexibility; 3) originality; 4) brightness and detail of images.
Fluency reflects the ability to generate a large number of ideas (associations, images) and is measured by the number of produced images. Flexibility allows you to put forward a variety of ideas, reflects the ability to move from one aspect of the problem to another, use different strategies for solving creative problems. Originality characterizes the ability to put forward ideas that are different from the obvious, normative, measured by the number of extraordinary, non-recurring answers, images, ideas. The brightness and detail of the images captures the ability for productive, constructive activity, measured by the number of essential and non-essential features in the development of the main idea.
Thus, the imagination is the main driving force of the human creative process and plays a huge role in all of his life. Creativity needs to be developed in a person with early childhood, without a creative approach it is difficult to solve any problem. The imagination of a younger student is actively developing in the process of playing, productive activities, which depends on the conditions of his life, education and upbringing. Imagination goes from being involuntary, passive, recreating to arbitrary, creative. A characteristic feature of the creative imagination in children of primary school age is spontaneity, an internal interest in the process, the absence of a pronounced desire to achieve high performance in work. This is due to the fact that the product of activity for a younger student is only subjective novelty, activity at this age is more often episodic.
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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
GOU VOP Russian Pedagogical University them. A.I. Herzen
Childhood Institute
Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Primary Education
The development of imagination in primary school age
St. Petersburg
Introduction
3. Formative stage
Bibliography
Introduction
The problem of the development of abilities is not new for psychological and pedagogical research, but is still relevant. It is no secret that schools and parents are concerned about the development of students' abilities. Society is interested in the fact that a person begins to work exactly where he can bring maximum benefit. And for this, the school must help pupils find their place in life. The problem of developing the imagination of children is relevant because in recent years society has faced the problem of preserving the intellectual potential of the nation, as well as the problem of developing and creating conditions for gifted people in our country, since this category of people is the main productive and creative force of progress.
IN domestic psychology research on the development of imagination in preschool children also occupies a significant place. Most authors associate the genesis of imagination with the development of the child’s play activity (A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin, etc.), as well as with the mastery of preschool children with activities traditionally considered “creative”: constructive, musical, visual, artistic - literary. S.L. Rubinshtein et al. devoted their research to studying the mechanisms of imagination. The basis for determining the characteristics of the creative activity of primary school students are the works of famous Russian teachers and psychologists A.S. Belkina, L.I. Bozhovich, L.S. Vygotsky, V.V. Davydova, V.A. Petrovsky, E.S. Polat and others. As studies by L.S. Vygotsky, V.V. Davydova, E.I. Ignatieva, S.L. Rubinstein, D.B. Elkonina, V.A. Krutetsky and others, imagination is not only a prerequisite for the effective assimilation of new knowledge by children, but is also a condition for the creative transformation of knowledge available to children, promotes self-development of the individual, i.e. to a large extent determines the effectiveness of teaching and educational activities at school.
Thus, the imagination of children represents a huge potential for the realization of the reserves of an integrated approach in teaching and upbringing. And great opportunities for the development of creative imagination are represented by the visual activity of children.
The purpose of this work: to study the possibilities of developing the imagination of younger students. The object of the study is the process of developing the imagination of younger students. The subject is the development of the imagination of younger students.
To study and analyze the scientific and methodological literature and practical experience on the problem of imagination and creativity.
To identify the features of the creative imagination of younger students.
Find diagnostics that study the level of imagination of younger students
Hypothesis: the role of the primary school teacher in the development of the imagination will be successful if he uses a system of exercises to develop the imagination, as a result of which the level of development of the imagination of children will increase significantly and in the future will contribute to the increase general level learning ability of younger students.
1. Theoretical aspects of the study of imagination
1.1 Imagination as a mental process
Imagination is one of the forms of mental reflection of the world. The most traditional point of view is the definition of imagination as a process (A.V. Petrovsky and M.G. Yaroshevsky, V.G. Kazakova and L.L. Kondratieva and others).
According to M.V. Gamezo and I.A. Domashenko: “Imagination is a mental process that consists in creating new images (representations) by processing the material of perceptions and representations obtained in previous experience.”
Domestic authors also consider this phenomenon as an ability (V.T. Kudryavtsev, L.S. Vygotsky) and as a specific activity (L.D. Stolyarenko, B.M. Teplov). Taking into account the complex functional structure, L.S. Vygotsky considered it appropriate to use the concept of a psychological system.
According to E.V. Ilyenkov, the traditional understanding of the imagination reflects only its derivative function. The main one - allows you to see what is, what lies before your eyes, that is, the main function of the imagination is the transformation of an optical phenomenon on the surface of the retina into an image of an external thing.
So, imagination is the process of transforming images in memory in order to create new ones that have never been perceived by a person before. The process of imagination is peculiar only to man and is a necessary condition for his labor activity. Imagination is always a certain departure from reality. But in any case, the source of imagination is objective reality.
Imagination functions Borovik O.V. The development of the imagination.
Presentation of activities in images and making it possible to use them in solving problems;
Regulation of emotional relationships;
Arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes and human states;
Formation of the inner plan of a person;
Planning and programming of human activity.
Human imagination is multifunctional. Among its most important functions, some scientists distinguish: Gamezo M.V., Domashenko I.A. Atlas of Psychology: Inform.-Method. Manual for the course "Human Psychology".
1) gnostic-heuristic - allows the imagination to find and express in images the most essential, significant aspects of reality;
2) protective - allows you to regulate the emotional state (satisfy needs, reduce stress, etc.);
3) communicative - involves communication either in the process of creating a product of the imagination, or when evaluating the result;
4) predictive - lies in the fact that the product of the imagination is the goal that the subject strives for.
Nemov noted that imagination includes the intellectual, emotional, behavioral experience of the subject and is included in various types of his activities. Nemov R.S. Psychology. In 3 books. Book 2.
Forms of expression of imagination Borovik O.V. The development of the imagination.
Building the image, means and final result of the activity.
Creation of a program of behavior in an uncertain situation.
Creation of images corresponding to the description of the object, etc.
Imagination representations are of 4 types:
Representations of what exists in reality, but which a person did not perceive before;
Representations of the historical past;
Representations of what will be in the future and what has never been in reality.
Forms of synthesis of representations in the processes of imagination
Agglutination - a combination of qualities, properties, parts of objects that are not connected in reality;
Hyperbolization or emphasis - an increase or decrease in an object, a change in the quality of its parts;
Sharpening - emphasizing any signs of objects;
Schematization - smoothing out differences in objects and identifying similarities between them;
Typification is the selection of the essential, recurring in homogeneous phenomena and its embodiment in a specific image.
Mechanisms of imagination: Subbotina L.Yu. Children's fantasies: Development of children's imagination.
Dissociation - dissection of a complex whole into parts;
Association - the union of dissociated elements.
There are different classifications of types of imagination:
Types of imagination according to L.S. Vygotsky: Vygotsky L.S. Pedagogical psychology.
Active
reproductive
passive
Productive
Types of imagination according to O. Borovik: Borovik O.V. The development of the imagination.
Active (or it is also called arbitrary) - the imagination is controlled by the efforts of the will. Images of passive imagination arise spontaneously, in addition to the desire of a person.
Recreating imagination is a representation of something new for a given person, based on a verbal description or a conditional image of this new one. Creative - imagination, giving new, original, first created images. The source of creativity is the social need for a particular new product. It also causes the emergence of a creative idea, a creative plan, which leads to the emergence of a new one.
Fantasy is a kind of imagination that gives images that do not correspond to reality. However, images of fantasy are never completely divorced from reality. It has been noted that if any product of fantasy is decomposed into its constituent elements, then among them it will be difficult to find something that does not really exist. Dreams are a fantasy associated with desire, most often a somewhat idealized future. A dream differs from a dream in that it is more realistic and more connected with reality. Dreams are passive and involuntary forms of imagination in which many vital human needs are expressed. Hallucinations are fantastic visions, usually the result of mental disorders or disease states.
Types of imagination according to V.A. Morozov A.V. Morozov Business psychology. :
1. Involuntary (or passive), that is, images arise spontaneously, in addition to the will and desire of a person, without a pre-set goal, by themselves (for example, dreams).
The dissatisfaction of a material or spiritual need can involuntarily evoke in the mind a vivid representation of the situation in which this need could be satisfied. Feelings and emotional states that arise in a given situation can also be the cause of the appearance of images of involuntary imagination.
2. Arbitrary (or active) - using it, a person of his own free will, by an effort of will, causes himself to have appropriate images, makes his imagination work in order to solve his problems.
Arbitrary imagination is associated with the activity of the second signal system, with its ability to regulate the functions of the first signal system, which underlies, first of all, the figurative reflection of reality. The main forms of arbitrary imagination are:
a) recreating - the process of creating images based on personal experience, perception of speech, text, drawing, map, diagram, etc.;
b) creative - a more complex process - this is the independent creation of images of objects that do not yet exist in reality. Thanks to creative imagination, new, original images are born in various areas of life.
3. A dream - a kind of imagination - is a representation of the desired future. It can be helpful and harmful. A dream, if it is not connected with life, relaxes the will, reduces the activity of a person, slows down his development. She is empty. Such dreams are called dreams.
Having characterized imagination as a mental process, it is necessary to highlight the features of its development in primary school age. There are conditions conducive to finding a creative solution: observation, ease of combination, sensitivity to the manifestation of problems.
1.2 Development of imagination in ontogeny
The ability to imagine is not given from birth. Imagination develops with the accumulation of practical experience, the acquisition of knowledge, the improvement of all mental functions. In modern psychology, there are a large number of studies devoted to the development of imagination in ontogeny. The main subject of study was the age periods of development and the types of activities in which it developed. There are the following stages in the development of imagination:
The first stage (from 0 to 3 years) - the prerequisites for imagination are ideas that appear in the second year of life. A kid at the age of about one and a half years recognizes what is shown in the picture. Imagination helps to perceive a pictorial sign. It completes what does not quite correspond to the representation in memory. Upon recognition, the child does not create anything new. Therefore, imagination acts as a passive process. It exists within other mental processes; its foundation is laid in them. The child's ability to act in an imaginary situation with imaginary objects testifies to the first manifestations of imagination. The first imitative games that appear in the second year of life do not yet contain elements of the imagination. One of the reasons for the emergence of imagination is the psychological distance between the child and the adult, the child and the object of his desire. The child perceives the main actions of an adult, but reflects them in a generalized and conditional way, conveying only their meaning and external drawing Kataeva L.I. The study of cognitive processes of preschool children. .
The development of the initial forms of imagination in a young child is associated with the generalization of play actions and play objects, as well as with the fact that the repertoire of play actions firmly includes substitutions Kudryavtsev V.T. Child's imagination: nature and development. .
According to V.A. Skorobogatov and L.I. Konovalov's baby does not immediately respond to the substitution offered by an adult, but plays only with real toys. The turning point occurs when the child refuses to use any substitution offered by adults. The most important factor that provides the possibility of transferring meaning to other objects is the appearance of speech forms. Mastering speech leads to the fact that the first independent substitutions appear in the game. A new way of acting with objects as substitutes is emerging - the full use of substitutions. The choice of substitute subjects becomes conscious and is accompanied by detailed statements. Thus, creative elements are born in the play activities of young children. Against the background of interest in a new type of activity, the child quickly begins to deviate from the patterns of actions set by adults, introduces his own nuances into them. But imagination has a reproductive character.
The second stage (then 3 to 4 years) - the formation of verbal forms of imagination takes place. In the third year of life, the need for play activity becomes an independent need of the child, although it needs the support and encouragement of an adult. The main maintenance of the game is a detailed orientation in the subject side of human activity. This orientation begins with imitation of the actions of an adult and develops along the path of independent creative construction of images of action with objects, still based on real objects. Consequently, the indicators of the development of imagination in the game are: a variety of plots, action in an imaginary situation, independent choice of an object - a substitute, flexibility in changing the functions and names of objects, originality of the replacement of game actions, criticality to the partner's substitutions.
Affective imagination appears, associated with the child's awareness of his "I" and the separation of himself from other people. Imagination is already becoming an independent process.
The third stage (from 4 to 5 years) - at this age, creative manifestations in activities increase, primarily in the game, manual labor, storytelling and retelling. Dreams of the future appear. They are situationally, often not stable, due to events that caused an emotional response in the child. Imagination turns into a special intellectual activity aimed at transforming the surrounding world. The support for creating an image is not only a real object, but also representations expressed in a word. Imagination remains largely involuntary. The child does not yet know how to direct the activity of the imagination, but can already imagine the state of another person. The recreated images are differentiated, meaningful and emotional. Kataeva L.I. The study of cognitive processes of preschool children.
The fourth stage (from 6 to 7 years) - at this age, the imagination is active. The external support prompts the idea, and the child arbitrarily plans its implementation and selects the necessary means. There is an increase in the productivity of the imagination, this is manifested in the development of the ability to create an idea and plan for its achievement. The recreated images appear in various situations, being characterized by content and specificity. The child develops the ability to act in a figurative way, an internalized imagination arises, that is, it passes into the internal plan, the need for a visual support for creating images disappears. Creativity appears. At preschool age, a child develops a special inner position, and imagination is already becoming an independent process. Considering the fact that the imagination develops in different types activities, the most productive in childhood are playing and drawing.
The fifth stage (from 7 to 11 years old) is a qualitatively new stage in the development of imagination in children. This is facilitated by a significant expansion of the amount of knowledge that the student receives in the learning process, the systematic mastery of a variety of skills and abilities that enrich and at the same time clarify, concretize the images of the imagination, determine their productivity. “Children of primary school age are not deprived of fantasy, which is at odds with reality. Which is even more typical for middle school students (cases of children's lies, etc.).
The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life. The imagination of a younger student is also characterized by another feature - the presence of elements of reproduction, simple reproduction. This feature of the imagination is expressed in the fact that in their games children repeat the actions and positions that they observed in adults. They act out the stories that they experienced, saw in the cinema, reproducing the life of the school, family, etc. However, with age, the elements of reproduction become less and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.
At primary school age, verbal-cogitative imagination begins to develop, which constitutes, as it were, a new stage in the development of imagination. With a developing verbal-cogitative imagination, reliance on an object and even an action, if it takes place, is secondary, third-rate. Rogov E.I. Handbook of practical psychologist.
The sixth stage (from 12 to 17 years old) - the further development of the imagination of students is carried out not only in the classroom, but also in the process of creative activities in school circles, electives, and so on. At the stage of the student's creative activity, he must be supported and encouraged. The benevolent attitude of adults to the creative activities of the child, to the results of his creativity will serve as an incentive for further activation of creative activity.
The stages of the development of the imagination as an indirect function described here represent only the possibilities of each age, which are realized under natural conditions by a minority of children. Without special guidance, the development of the imagination can have unfavorable prognoses. Affective imagination without sufficient, usually spontaneous healing of traumas can lead to pathological experiences (obsessive fears, anxiety) or lead the child to complete autism, to the creation of a substitute imaginary life, and not real creative products. The culture of emotional life (the ability to empathize, sympathize), as well as the mastery of various other elements of culture, are only necessary conditions full development of human imagination.
Conclusion: thus, imagination is a special form of the human psyche, thanks to which a person creates, intelligently plans his activity and manages it.
The initial forms of imagination first appear at an early age in connection with the emergence of plot- role play and development of the sign-symbolic function of consciousness. Further development of the imagination goes in three directions. First, along the lines of expanding the range of items to be replaced and improving the replacement operation itself. Secondly, along the line of improving the operations of the recreating imagination. Thirdly, creative imagination develops. The development of the imagination is influenced by all types of activities, and in particular by drawing, playing, designing, reading fiction. Subbotina L.Yu. Children's fantasies: Development of children's imagination.
1.3 Features of the creative imagination of children of primary school age
In a child, the imagination is formed in the game and at first is inseparable from the perception of objects and the performance of game actions with them. In children of 6-7 years of age, the imagination can already rely on such objects that are not at all similar to the ones being replaced. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.
Most children do not like very naturalistic toys, preferring symbolic, home-made, imaginative toys. Parents who so love to give their children huge bears and dolls often unwittingly hinder their development. They deprive them of the joy of independent discoveries in games. Children tend to like small, unimpressive toys - they are easier to adapt to different games. Large or “just like real” dolls and animals do little to stimulate the imagination. Children develop more intensively and get much more pleasure if the same stick plays the role of a gun, the role of a horse, and many other functions in various games. Thus, in L. Kassil’s book “Konduit and Shvambrania” a vivid description of the attitude of children to toys is given: “Turned lacquered figures represented unlimited possibilities of using them for the most diverse and tempting games ... Both queens were especially comfortable: the blonde and the brunette. Each queen could work for a Christmas tree, a cab driver, a Chinese pagoda, a flower pot on a stand, and a bishop.”
Gradually, the need for an external support (even in a symbolic figure) disappears and internalization occurs - a transition to a game action with an object that does not really exist, to a game transformation of an object, to giving it a new meaning and representing actions with it in the mind, without real action. This is the origin of imagination as a special mental process. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.
In children of primary school age, the imagination has its own characteristics. The younger school age is characterized by the activation of the first recreating imagination, and then the creative one. The main line in its development lies in the subordination of the imagination to conscious intentions, i.e. it becomes arbitrary.
Here it should be noted that for a long time in psychology there was an assumption according to which the imagination is inherent in the child "initially" and is more productive in childhood, and with age it obeys the intellect and fades away. However, L.S. Vygotsky shows the untenability of such positions. All images of the imagination, no matter how bizarre they may seem, are based on ideas and impressions received in real life. And so the experience of a child is poorer than that of an adult. And one can hardly say that the child's imagination is richer. It's just that sometimes, not having enough experience, the child explains in his own way what he encounters in life, and these explanations often seem unexpected and original. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.
The younger school age is qualified as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasy. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories and conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and the images of the imagination can, by virtue of the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real.
A feature of the imagination of younger students, manifested in educational activities, is initially based on perception (primary image), and not on representation (secondary image). For example, a teacher offers a task to children in a lesson that requires them to imagine a situation. It can be such a task: “A barge was sailing along the Volga and carried in holds ... kg of watermelons. There was pitching, and ... kg of watermelons burst. How many watermelons are left? Of course, such tasks start the process of imagination, but they need special tools (real objects, graphic images, layouts, diagrams), otherwise the child finds it difficult to advance in arbitrary actions of the imagination. In order to understand what happened in the watermelon holds, it is useful to give a sectional drawing of a barge.
According to L.F. Berzfai, a productive imagination must have the following features in order for the child to painlessly enter the school learning environment:
with the help of imagination, he must be able to reproduce the principles of the structure and development of things;
have the ability to see the whole before its parts, i.e. the ability to create a holistic image of any object;
the productive imagination of a child is characterized by “above situationality”, i.e. a tendency to constantly go beyond these conditions, to set new goals (which is the basis of the future ability and desire to learn, i.e. the basis of learning motivation);
mental experimentation with a thing and the ability to include an object in new contexts, and, consequently, the ability to find a method or principle of action.
The creativity of the child is determined by two factors: Subbotina L.Yu. Children's fantasies: Development of children's imagination.
subjective (development of anatomical and physiological features);
objective (the impact of the phenomena of the surrounding life).
The most vivid and free manifestation of the imagination of younger students can be observed in the game, in drawing, writing stories and fairy tales. In children's creativity, the manifestations of the imagination are diverse: some recreate reality, others create new fantastic images and situations. When writing stories, children can borrow plots known to them, stanzas of poems, graphic images, sometimes without noticing it at all. However, they often deliberately combine well-known plots, create new images, exaggerating certain aspects and qualities of their characters.
The tireless work of the imagination - effective method knowledge and assimilation of the world around the child, the ability to go beyond personal practical experience, the most important psychological prerequisite for the development of a creative approach to the world.
2. Practical aspects of the study of imagination in children of primary school age
2.1 Methods for studying the imagination of younger students
To assess the development of imagination in primary school age, diagnostic techniques are used: Torrens Circles, Two Lines, Think of a Story, Unfinished Drawing, etc.
Method "Circles of Torrance" Khudik V.A. Psychological diagnostics child development: research methods.
For children from 5 years old
(Evaluation of the ability of creative visual imagination)
A variant of the E. Torrens test may be a proposal to draw as many images as possible, using only circles or only triangles as their initial basis, etc.
Children are offered a sheet of paper, A4 format, where 25 circles are drawn, located on the sides of a 55 cm square. The subjects need to complete each circle to a complete image. Test time is limited to 5 minutes.
1. Fluency (number of images created) -- each drawing -- 1 point.
2. Flexibility (the number of used categories (classes) of depicted objects: nature, household items, science and technology, sports, decorative items (have no practical use), man, economy, universe) - 1 point for each category.
Standards: For 8-year-old children, the fluency of identifying groups of objects was 3.6 points; flexibility -14.6 points.
For children aged 10, the fluency of identifying groups of objects was 4.3--4.6 points; flexibility - 11.7 (boys), 14.3 (girls).
Technique "Verbal fantasy" (speech imagination) Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old.
The child is invited to come up with a story (story, fairy tale) about some living creature (person, animal) or about something else of the child's choice and present it orally within 5 minutes. Up to one minute is allotted for inventing a theme or plot of a story (story, fairy tale), and after that the child starts the story.
In the course of the story, the child's fantasy is evaluated on the following grounds:
speed of imagination processes;
unusualness, originality of images of the imagination;
richness of imagination;
depth and elaboration (detailing) of images;
impressionability, emotionality of images.
For each of these features, the story is evaluated from 0 to 2 points.
0 points are given when this feature is practically absent in the story. The story receives 1 point if this feature is present, but is relatively weakly expressed. The story earns 2 points when the corresponding feature is not only present, but also expressed quite strongly.
If within one minute the child did not come up with the plot of the story, then the experimenter himself prompts him to some plot and 0 points are put for the speed of imagination. If the child himself came up with the plot of the story by the end of the allotted time (1 minute), then according to the speed of imagination, he gets a score of 1 point. Finally, if the child managed to come up with the plot of the story very quickly, within the first 30 seconds, or if within one minute he came up with not one, but at least two different plots, then the child is given 2 points on the basis of “speed of imagination processes”.
Unusualness, originality of images of the imagination is regarded in the following way:
If the child simply retold what he once heard from someone or saw somewhere, then on this basis he gets 0 points. If the child retells the known, but at the same time introduced something new from himself, then the originality of his imagination is estimated at 1 point. In the event that the child came up with something that he could not see or hear somewhere before, then the originality of his imagination gets a score of 2 points.
The richness of the child's fantasy is also manifested in the variety of images he uses. When evaluating this quality of imagination processes, the total number of different living beings, objects, situations and actions, various characteristics and signs attributed to all this in the child's story is fixed. If the total number of the named exceeds ten, then the child receives 2 points for the richness of fantasy. If the total number of parts of the specified type is between 6 and 9, then the child receives 1 point. If there are few signs in the story, but in general not less than five, then the richness of the child's fantasy is estimated at 0 points.
The depth and elaboration of images is determined by how varied the details and characteristics are presented in the story related to the image that plays a key role or occupies a central place in the story. It also gives marks in a three-point system.
The child receives 0 points when the central object of the story is depicted very schematically.
1 point - if, when describing the central object, its detailing is moderate.
2 points - if the main image of his story is described in sufficient detail, with many different details characterizing it.
The impressionability or emotionality of images of the imagination is assessed by whether it arouses interest and emotions in the listener.
0 points - the images are of little interest, banal, do not impress the listener.
1 point - the images of the story cause some interest on the part of the listener and some emotional response, but this interest, together with the corresponding reaction, soon fades away.
2 points - the child used bright, very interesting images, the listener's attention to which, once having arisen, did not fade away, accompanied by emotional reactions such as surprise, admiration, fear, etc.
Thus, the maximum number of points that a child in this technique can receive for his imagination is 10, and the minimum is 0.
Methodology “Drawing” Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work.
In this technique, the child is offered a standard sheet of paper and felt-tip pens (at least 6 different colors). The child is given the task to come up with and draw a picture. This takes 5 minutes.
The analysis of the picture and the evaluation of the child's fantasy in points were carried out in the same way as the analysis of oral creativity in the previous method, according to the same parameters and using the same protocol.
Sculpture technique. Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work.
The child is offered a set of plasticine and the task, using it, in 5 minutes, to make some kind of craft, to mold it from plasticine.
The child's fantasies are evaluated according to approximately the same parameters as in the previous methods from 0 to 10 points.
0-1 point - for the 5 minutes allotted for work, the child could not think of anything and do it with his hands;
2-3 points - the child came up with and fashioned something very simple from plasticine, for example, a cube, a ball, a stick, a ring;
4-5 points - the child made a relatively simple craft, in which there are a small number of simple details, no more than two or three;
6-7 points - the child came up with something unusual, but at the same time not distinguished by the richness of fantasy;
8-9 points - the thing invented by the child is quite original, but not worked out in detail;
10 points - a child can get only if the thing invented by him is original enough, and worked out in detail, and has a good artistic taste.
Technique "Finishing Figures" Khudik VA Psychological diagnostics of child development: research methods.
Purpose: to study the originality of solving problems on the imagination.
Equipment: a set of twenty cards with figures drawn on them: an outline drawing of parts of objects, for example, a trunk with one branch, a circle-head with two ears, etc., simple geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle, etc. ), colored pencils, paper. Research order. The student needs to finish each of their figures so that a beautiful picture is obtained.
Processing and analysis of results. A quantitative assessment of the degree of originality is made by counting the number of images that were not repeated in the child and were not repeated in any of the children in the group. The same drawings are those in which different reference figures turned into the same element of the drawing.
The calculated coefficient of originality is correlated with one of the six types of problem solving on the imagination. Null type. It is characterized by the fact that the child has not yet accepted the task of building an image of the imagination using a given element. He does not finish drawing it, but draws something of his own side by side (free fantasy).
Type 1 - the child draws a figure on the card so that an image of a separate object (tree) is obtained, but the image is contour, schematic, devoid of details.
Type 2 - a separate object is also depicted, but with various details.
Type 3 - depicting a separate object, the child already includes it in some imaginary plot (not just a girl, but a girl doing exercises).
Type 4 - the child depicts several objects according to an imaginary plot (a girl walks with a dog).
Type 5 - a given figure is used in a qualitatively new way.
If in types 1-4 it acts as the main part of the picture that the child drew (circle-head), now the figure is included as one of the secondary elements to create an image of the imagination (the triangle is no longer a roof, but a pencil lead with which the boy draws a picture) .
The "As many names as possible" technique. Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents.
Children are offered various pictures, which depict not individual characters, but pictures containing plots. They can depict people, animals, plants, etc. It is possible to use the work of famous artists to develop the horizons of children. The child should carefully consider the picture, and come up with as many names as possible for it.
Methodology "Derivation of Consequences" Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents. (This game is used both in the development of creative imagination and verbal-logical thinking.) Children are asked a series of questions starting with the words "What happens if ...". The task of the child is to give as complete and original answers to the questions as possible.
List of sample questions:
“What will happen if the rain keeps on pouring?”
"What would happen if all the animals started to speak with a human voice?"
“What happens if all the mountains suddenly turn into sugar?”
“What will happen if all fairy tale characters come to life?”
“What would happen if people at a distance could read each other’s minds?”
"What happens if you grow wings?"
“What would happen if all the people on Earth became as light as feathers?” and etc.
Method "Wizards". Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents.
When evaluating a task, when it is proposed to draw "wizards" on their own, turning one into a good one into an evil one, the realism of the image (the degree of similarity to a given object) and its completeness (are all the given objects depicted, are distinctive features used when depicting individual objects) taken into account), his originality. It is necessary to evaluate each parameter and identify the level of development.
Evaluation of results.
Evaluation of the results of the child's drawing is made in points according to the following parameters:
10 points - in the allotted time, the child came up with and drew something original, unusual, clearly indicating an extraordinary fantasy, a rich imagination. Images and details are carefully worked out. The images are used in an original and witty combination.
8-9 points - the child came up with and drew something quite original, imaginative, emotional and colorful, although the image is not completely new. The details of the painting are well done. The image of the figures is used in a harmonious combination.
5-7 points - the child came up with something that, in general, is not new, but carries obvious elements of creative imagination. The details of the images of the drawing are worked out medium. An interesting image of both figures, the distinctive points are clear.
3-4 points - the child drew something simple, unoriginal, the fantasy is poorly visible and the details are not very well worked out. At least one required object is shown.
0-2 points - the child was able to draw only separate strokes and lines, or could not draw even one object.
Conclusions about the level of development:
10 points - very high.
8-9 points - high.
5-7 points - average.
3-4 points - low.
0-2 points - very low.
3. Formative stage.
The methods for assessing the development of the imagination of a child of primary school age through his stories, drawings, crafts were not chosen by chance. This choice corresponds to the three main types of thinking that a child of this age has: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical. The child's fantasy is most fully manifested precisely in the corresponding types of creative activity.
Having carried out the appropriate methods and determined the level of development of imagination in children, we can distinguish 3 groups:
Group 1 - children whose imagination is poorly developed
Group 2 - children with an average level of imagination
Group 3 - children with a high level of imagination.
Based on this, children will be offered games and exercises in order to develop their imagination. These exercises can be carried out and applied both in the classroom and at home with parents.
For the experiment, you can take two classes, for example, 2 "a" and 2 "b", in the "a" and "b" classes, conduct a diagnosis to determine the level of development of the imagination. Calculate results. In the “b” class, leave everything as it is, and in the “a” class, conduct games and exercises aimed at developing the imagination for 2 months. At the end of the experiment, conduct a diagnostic test common to the two classes and determine how the exercises and games have affected, whether there have been changes.
Getting down to exercises and games for the development of imagination, we will define the principles for the development of creative thinking in younger students:
1. Before proceeding with the development of creative activity in children, they should form the necessary speech and thinking skills for this.
2. New concepts should be introduced only in familiar content.
4. The focus should be on mastering the meaning of the concept, and not the rules of grammar.
5. The child should be taught to look for a solution, considering, first of all, possible consequences, and not absolute merits.
6. Encourage children to express their own ideas about the problem being solved. Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old.
3. Formative stage
3.1 Exercises and games aimed at developing the imagination of children of primary school age
Various games and exercises can be used to develop imagination. Without developed ability to the imagination there can be no real creativity. It follows that the imagination must be developed.
Exercise number 1 "Fantastic image" L.Yu. Subbotina Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old.
Purpose: used to develop imagination, thinking.
Age: Suggested for all ages.
Stimulus material: cards with depicted elements.
The course of the exercise:
The child is offered cards with the image of individual elements. Instruction: “Your task is to build a fantastic image (creature, object) from these elements. Then describe what properties it has and how it can be used.
The more elements the created image includes, the more original it is, the brighter the child's imagination functions.
Exercise number 2 "Unfinished stories" L.Yu. Subbotina Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old.
Purpose: This exercise develops creative imagination.
Age: Recommended for children from 5 to 11 years old.
Stimulus material: text "Tricks of the squirrel"
Time: 10-15 minutes.
The course of the exercise behavior:
Instruction: “Now I will read you a very interesting story, but it will not have an ending. You must complete the story you started. The story is called "Squirrel Tricks".
Two girlfriends went into the forest and picked a basket full of nuts. They walk through the forest, and around the flowers, apparently - invisibly.
“Let's hang a basket on a tree, and pick flowers ourselves,” says one friend. " Okay!" - answers the other.
A basket is hanging on a tree, and the girls are picking flowers. She looked out of the hollow of a squirrel and saw a basket of nuts. Here, he thinks…”
The child must not only bring the plot to the end, but also take into account the title of the story.
Game No. 3 "Pantomime" L.Yu. Subbotina Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old.
Purpose: used to develop the imagination.
Age: 5 to 11 years old.
Time: 10-15 minutes.
Game progress:
A group of children become in a circle.
Instruction: “Children, now in turn, each of you will go to the middle of the circle and, with the help of pantomime, will show some action.
For example, imagine picking imaginary pears from a tree and putting them in a basket. At the same time, it is impossible to speak, everything is depicted only by movements.
The winners are determined by those children who most correctly depicted the pantomimic picture.
Game No. 4 "Internal cartoon" M.I. Bityanova Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents.
Stimulus material: the text of the story.
Running time: 10 minutes.
Game progress:
Instruction: “Now I will tell you a story, you listen carefully and imagine that you are watching a cartoon. When I stop, you will continue the story. Then you will stop and I will continue again. Summer. Morning. We are at the cottage. We left the house and went to the river. The sun is shining brightly, a pleasant light breeze is blowing"
Game number 5 "Draw the mood" M.I. Bityanova Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents.
Purpose: used to develop creative imagination.
Stimulus material: landscape sheet, watercolors, brushes.
Running time: 20 minutes.
Progress:
Instruction: “In front of you is paper and paints, draw your mood. Think about how sad or vice versa it is funny, or maybe something else? Draw it on paper in any way you like."
Game No. 6 "Tale in reverse" I.V. Vachkov Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work. M.
Purpose: used to develop creative imagination.
Age: Used for children from 5 to 11 years old.
Stimulus material: heroes of favorite fairy tales.
Time: 10-15 minutes.
Progress:
Instructions: “Remember what is your favorite fairy tale? Tell it so that everything in it was “on the contrary”. The good hero became evil, and the evil hero became good-natured. The little one turned into a giant, and the giant into a dwarf."
Game number 7 "Combine the sentences" I.V. Vachkov Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work. M.
Age: Used for children from 5 to 11 years old.
Stimulus material: unfinished sentences.
Time: 15-20 minutes.
Progress:
The child is offered three tasks in turn, in which it is necessary to combine two sentences into a coherent story.
Instruction: “Listen to two sentences, they need to be combined into a story. “There was a volcanic eruption far away on the island…” - “…that's why our cat was hungry today.”
"A truck drove down the street ..." - "... so Santa Claus had a green beard."
"Mom bought fish in the store ..." - "... so I had to light candles in the evening."
Game number 8 "Transformations" I.V. Vachkov Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work. M
Purpose: used to develop a recreative imagination.
Age: Used for children from 5 to 13 years old.
Stimulus material: game images.
Time: 10-15 minutes.
Progress:
Children are invited to depict game images in motion.
Instructions: “Imagine that you have become a tiger wading through the jungle. Picture it in motion." After completing the task, the following is given: "robot", "eagle", "queen", "boiling pot".
Enough methods and techniques have been developed for the study of imagination. For each age, a certain set of psychological and diagnostic methods is used. To study the imagination of children of primary school age, you can use such techniques as: "Finishing figures", "Deriving consequences", "As many names as possible", etc.
Imagination can be developed using specially selected exercises and games: “Pantomime”, “Unfinished stories”, “Fantastic image” by L.Yu. Subbotina; "Inner Cartoon", "Draw the Mood", "What Does It Look Like?" M.I. Bityanova; “Tales on the contrary”, “Combine the sentences” by I.V. Vachkov.
Conclusion
Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn. Imagination is the main driving force of the creative process of a person and plays a huge role in his entire life, since all human life is associated with creativity, from cooking to creating literary works or inventions. Imagination significantly expands and deepens the process of cognition. It plays a huge role in the transformation of the objective world.
As a result of the work, the goal of the study was achieved - we studied imagination as a psychological process. It was noted that imagination is a special form of the human psyche, thanks to which a person creates, intelligently plans his activity and manages it. Based on the study of psychological literature, the types of imagination were characterized:
1) arbitrary and involuntary;
2) recreative and creative;
3) dreams and fantasies.
We explored the functions that the imagination performs:
1) gnostic-heuristic;
2) protective;
3) communicative;
4) prognostic.
They noted that the activity of the imagination is carried out with the help of certain mechanisms: combination, emphasis, agglutination, hyperbolization, schematization, reconstruction.
Studied the stages of development of the imagination from an early age to senior school age. Conducted studies on the development of the imagination have found the dependence of the imagination on the accumulated experience, the impressions received, as well as games and exercises.
We selected psychological methods for diagnosing the level of development of the imagination (on the example of primary school age), used the developments of E.P. Torrens, L.Yu. Subbotina, R.S. Nemov.
Described exercises, games that contribute to the development of the imagination of children of primary school age. Authors of games and exercises: I.V. Vachkov, M.I. Bityanova, L.Yu. Saturday.
Thus, the purpose of the work is achieved, the tasks are solved.
Bibliography
imagination learning student
1. Bityanova M.I. Workshop on psychological games with children and adolescents. M.: Genesis, 2001. 352 p.
2. Borovik O.V. The development of the imagination. M.: TsGL Ron LLC, 2002. 112 p.
3. Vachkov I.V. Psychology of training work. Moscow: Eksmo, 2007 416 p.
4. Vygotsky L.S. Pedagogical psychology M.: AST, Astrel, 2005. 672 p.
5. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood. St. Petersburg: Soyuz 1999, 305 p.
6. Gamezo M.V., Domashenko I.A. Atlas of Psychology: Inform.-Method. Manual for the course "Human Psychology". M.: Pedagogical Society of Russia, 2007. 276 p.
7. Kudryavtsev V.T. Imagination of a child: nature and development, // Psychological journal. 2001. No. 5.s. 57.
8. Nemov R.S. Psychology. In 3 books. Book 2. M.: Vlados, 2008. 107 p.
9. Poluyanov Yu.A. Imagination and ability. Moscow: Knowledge, 2003. 50 p.
10. Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. St. Petersburg: Piter, 2003. 712 p.
11. Subbotina L.Yu. Children's fantasies: Development of children's imagination. Yekaterinburg: U-Factoriya, 2005. 192 p.
12. Subbotina L.Yu. We learn by playing. Educational games for children 5-10 years old. Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 2005. 144 p.
13. Khudik V.A. Psychological diagnostics of child development: research methods. Kyiv: Ukraine, 2002. 423 p.
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The problem of imagination is one of the most significant in pedagogy and psychology. And this is understandable, the importance of the process of imagination in human activity is very great. Many researchers (L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinshtein, T. Ribot, V.V. Davydov, A.V. Brushlinsky, I.M. Rozet, K. Taylor, etc.) note his role in the artistic, literary, scientific creativity, as well as in other types of human activity. However, despite the fact that in recent years interest in the problem of imagination has increased markedly, it remains insufficiently studied. It is no coincidence that in the interpretation of the imagination we are faced with both a complete denial of its specificity and identification with other functions (for example, with figurative thinking), and with its recognition as independent activity productive and creative nature. The existence of polar points of view on the essence of one and the same process indicates the need for further study of this phenomenon. So far, educators and psychologists can say very little about the natural mechanisms of imagination, the possibilities of its formation, and connections with other functions.
An analysis of the literature shows that the process of developing children's imagination is poorly studied, although many teachers and psychologists (N.I. Nepomnyashchaya, D. Rodari, V. Levin, Z.N. Novlyanskaya, G.D. Kirillova, L.N. Galiguzov , O.M. Dyachenko, M.E. Kanevskaya, N.N. Palagina) note the importance of its study due to the fact that imagination plays a significant role in the formation of the ability to self-realization. In the scientific and pedagogical literature it is rightly pointed out that in psychological science especially little research is devoted to the development of imagination in primary school age. But the primary school age is such a period of development of the child, during which the main psychological neoplasms of the personality and the characteristics of cognitive processes are formed.
Imagination (fantasy) is a mental process that consists in creating new ideas and thoughts based on existing experience. Like all mental processes, imagination reflects objective reality, although it represents, as it were, the departure of thought from the immediate given, penetration into the future in the form of a plan for technical inventions, scientific discoveries, new images of art, new life situations, etc.
Extracurricular activities are an integral part of the educational process and one of the forms of organization of students' free time. Extracurricular activities are understood today mainly as activities organized outside of school hours to meet the needs of students in meaningful leisure, their participation in self-government and socially useful activities. One of the current trends in the activities of educational institutions is the improvement of extracurricular activities.
The purpose of extracurricular activities: the creation of conditions for the manifestation and development of their interests by the child on the basis of free choice, comprehension of spiritual and moral values and cultural traditions.
In extracurricular activities, a kind of emotionally filled environment of enthusiastic children and teachers is created, in which future specialists are trained in various fields of sports, art, science, and technology.
When organizing extracurricular activities within the framework of the Federal State Educational Standard, two mandatory conditions must be met:
- variability;
- taking into account the street needs of students.
We conducted an experiment during which we studied the levels of development of the imagination of younger students. The following techniques were used: "Draw something" technique of psychologist T.D. Martsinkowska, methodology "Research of the individual characteristics of the imagination", the test "circles". The study was conducted in 2014 on the basis of the MBOU "Gymnasium No. 40" in Barnaul on the basis of the 2nd grade. The study involved 25 students.
During the experiment. We have obtained the following results.
"Draw something" technique
The technique is aimed at identifying the level of imagination of younger students.
The work was carried out as follows. Each student is given a sheet of paper, a set of felt-tip pens or colored pencils and is invited to draw whatever they want. You have 4-5 minutes to complete the task. The generalized results of the methodology are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Results of the "Draw something" technique
Let's present the obtained data using a diagram (Fig. 1).
Analysis of the data obtained shows that the majority of students (40%) have a low level of imagination development. The students drew something very simple and unoriginal, the fantasy is poorly visible. Many of the children drew the sun, flowers. 20% of the subjects have a high level of imagination, the children came up with and drew something quite original, with well-designed details. For example. Children drew stories from fairy tales or films they saw. 20% of students have an average level of imagination development. Children came up with and drew something that is not new, but carries an element of creative imagination. For example, there are drawings of unusual flowers, scenes of nature. 16% of the subjects have a very low level of imagination development. The children could not cope with the task and drew only separate strokes and lines. For example, there are unfinished and unfinished drawings of nature, flowers, houses. And only 4% of students have a very high level of imagination development. In the allotted time, the children came up with and drew something unusual, which indicates a rich imagination. For example, such drawings as the starry sky with a telescope.
Methodology for the study of individual characteristics of the imagination
The technique determines the levels of complexity of the imagination, the degree of fixation of ideas, the flexibility or rigidity of the imagination, and the degree of its stereotype or originality.
Since this technique is carried out in three stages, before each stage, the instruction is repeated: “Using the outline of a geometric figure depicted on this sheet, draw what you want. The quality of the drawing does not matter. Choose how you want to use the outline. At the signal "Stop!" stop drawing."
Then the results are processed.
Determination of the level of complexity of the imagination. The complexity of the imagination is ascertained by the most complex of the three drawings. You can use the scale, which makes it possible to set five levels of difficulty.
The generalized results of the methodology are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Results of the methodology for studying the individual characteristics of imagination: the level of complexity of imagination
Let's present the obtained data using a diagram (Fig. 2).
Analysis of the data obtained shows that the majority of students (68%) have the second level of imagination complexity. Children used the outline of the figures as part of the drawing, but with additions. For example, children drew houses, wheels, the sun. 24% of students have the third level of imagination complexity. There are such drawings as snowflakes, patterns, animals were drawn using the contour of the figures: hares, bears. And 8% of students have the first level of imagination complexity. The drawings are simple, represent one figure. For example, some of the children duplicated the figures.
Determination of the flexibility of the imagination and the degree of fixation of images and ideas. The flexibility of the imagination depends on the fixedness of ideas. The degree of fixation of images is determined by the number of drawings for the same plot.
The imagination will be flexible when the fixedness of the images in the representation is not reflected in the drawings, that is, all the drawings are on different subjects and cover both the inner and outer parts of the outline of a geometric figure.
The fixity of representations is weak and the flexibility of the imagination is average if two drawings are made on the same subject.
The strong fixation of images in the representation and the inflexibility or rigidity of the imagination are characterized by drawings on the same plot, regardless of their level of complexity - this is a rigid imagination. The rigidity of the imagination can also be in the absence or weak fixation of images in the representation, when the drawings are made strictly within the contours of a geometric figure. In this case, the subject's attention is fixed on the inner space of the circuit.
The generalized results of the methodology are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. The results of the methodology for studying the individual characteristics of the imagination: the degree of fixation of the imagination
Let's present the obtained data using a diagram (Fig. 3).
The majority (72%) of students have a flexible imagination. All drawings on different topics. For example, flowers or the sun are drawn in a circle, houses are most often drawn in a square, and traffic signs are drawn in a triangle. 16% of students have an average flexibility of imagination. Two drawings are made on the same theme. For example, children drew a house in a square and a triangle, and an animal (a hare, a bear) in a circle.
Determination of the degree of stereotyped imagination. Stereotyping is determined by the content of the drawings. If the content of the drawing is typical, then the imagination, like the drawing itself, is considered stereotypical, if not typical, original, then creative. Typical drawings include drawings on the following subjects. Circle outline drawings: sun, flower, human, human or hare face, dial and clock, wheel, globe, snowman. Triangle outline drawings: triangle and prism, house roof and house, pyramid, man with triangular head or torso, letter, road sign. Drawing with a square outline: a person with a square head or torso, a robot, a TV set, a house, a window, a complemented geometric figure of a square or a cube, an aquarium, a napkin, a letter.
The generalized results of the methodology are presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Results of the methodology for studying the individual characteristics of imagination: the level of stereotyping of imagination
Let's present the obtained data using a diagram (Fig. 4).
Analysis of the obtained results shows that the majority of students have a high level of imagination stereotyping (64%). The drawings are made on typical subjects. For example, with a circle outline - the sun, with a triangle outline - houses, and with a square outline - a TV. And only 36% of the students' drawing can be considered original, the subjects made drawings on atypical subjects. For example, patterns are drawn in a square, a snowflake is drawn in the outline of a circle, and a triangle outline is used as a frame for a picture in which nature is depicted. Therefore, we can assume that in this class a low level of development of individual characteristics of the imagination.
Test "Circles"
With the help of this technique, the individual characteristics of the non-verbal components of creative imagination are determined.
Students are offered forms with circles and are given the task to draw as many objects or phenomena as possible, using circles as a basis. The instruction is discussed: "20 circles are drawn on the form. Your task is to draw as many objects or phenomena as possible, using circles as a basis. You can draw both outside and inside the circle, use one, two or more circles for one drawing "Draw from left to right. You have 5 minutes to complete the task. Do not forget that the results of your work will be judged by the degree of originality of the drawings."
Three indicators are used to process the test results: speed, flexibility and originality of creative imagination.
All drawings of the subjects are distributed into the indicated groups, then the number of transitions between groups is counted. This is an indicator of the flexibility of figurative thinking and imagination.
The analysis of drawings by subject gives an idea of the saturation of memory with images and concepts from certain areas, as well as the degree of ease of actualization of various images.
Only those drawings that are found in the group 1 - 2 times can be accepted as original. The original drawings can be divided into 3 groups.
The generalized results of the methodology are presented in Table 5.
Table 5. Results of the test "Circles"
Let's present the obtained data using a diagram (Fig. 5).
An analysis of the data obtained shows that only 12% of students have a high level of creative imagination, and the drawings of these children are original. For example, in the nature group, which depicts phenomena that exist without human intervention, children with a high level of imagination development depicted the stars and the starry sky. While the majority of students (52%) have an average level of imagination. Children depicted a landscape or animals. A low level is present in 36% of students. For example, a typical pattern in children was a dial, glasses, and faces with different emotions.
Thus, the results of diagnostics indicate low rates of imagination development in children of primary school age. Most of the children in the experimental class have an average and low level of imagination, as well as a high level of stereotyping.
To solve this problem, we offer several games and exercises aimed at developing the imagination, which the teacher can use in extracurricular activities.
Exercise "Magic Mosaic"
Purpose: to teach children to create objects in their imagination, based on a schematic representation of the details of these objects.
Sets of geometric shapes cut out of thick cardboard (the same for each child) are used: several circles, squares, triangles, rectangles of different sizes.
The teacher distributes sets and says that this is a magical mosaic from which you can add a lot of interesting things. To do this, you need different figures, whoever wants to, attach to each other so that some kind of image is obtained. Suggest a competition: who can add more from their mosaic different items and come up with a story about one or more items.
Game "Help the artist"
Purpose: to teach children to imagine objects based on a scheme given to them.
Material: A large piece of paper attached to a blackboard with a sketch of a person drawn on it. Colored pencils or paints.
The teacher says that one artist did not have time to finish the picture and asked the guys to help him finish the picture. Together with the teacher, the children discuss what and what color is better to draw. The most interesting proposals are embodied in the picture. Gradually, the scheme is completed, turning into a drawing.
Then invite the children to come up with a story about a drawn person.
The game "Magic Pictures"
Purpose: to teach to imagine objects and situations based on schematic representations of individual details of objects.
The children are given cards. On each card is a schematic representation of some details of objects and geometric shapes. Each image is located on the card so that there is free space for drawing the picture. Children use colored pencils.
Each figure shown on the card, the children can turn into a picture they want. To do this, you need to add anything to the figure. At the end of the drawing, the children compose stories based on their paintings.
Game "Wonderful Transformations"
Purpose: to teach children to create objects and situations in their imagination based on visual models.
The teacher gives the children pictures with images of substitute objects, each has three strips of different lengths, three circles of different colors. Children are invited to look at the pictures, come up with what they mean, draw the corresponding picture on their sheet with colored pencils (you can have several). The teacher analyzes the finished drawings together with the children: notes their correspondence to the depicted substitute objects (in shape, color, size, quantity), originality of content and composition.
Game "Wonderful Forest"
Purpose: to teach to create situations in the imagination based on their schematic representation.
Children are given identical sheets, several trees are drawn on them, and unfinished, unformed images are located in different places. The teacher offers to draw a forest full of miracles with colored pencils and tell a fairy tale about it. Unfinished images can be turned into real or fictional objects.
For the task, you can use material on other topics: “Wonderful Sea”, “Wonderful Glade”, “Wonderful Park” and others.
Game "Changeling"
Purpose: to teach to create images of objects in the imagination based on the perception of schematic images of individual details of these objects.
Children are given sets of 4 identical cards, on the cards there are abstract schematic images. Task for children: each card can be turned into any picture. Stick the card on a piece of paper and draw whatever you want with colored pencils to make a picture. Then take another card, stick it on the next sheet, draw again, but on the other side of the card, that is, turn the figure into another picture. You can flip the card and sheet of paper as you want when drawing! Thus, you can turn a card with the same figure into different pictures. The game continues until all the children finish drawing the figures. Then the children talk about their drawings.
Game "Different Tales"
Purpose: to teach children to imagine different situations, using a visual model as a plan.
The teacher builds any sequence of images on the demonstration board (two standing men, two running men, three trees, a house, a bear, a fox, a princess, etc.). Children are invited to come up with a fairy tale from the pictures, following their sequence.
You can use various options: the child composes the whole fairy tale on his own, the next kid should not repeat his story. If it is difficult for children, you can compose a fairy tale for everyone at the same time: the first one starts, the next one continues. Then the images change places and a new fairy tale is composed.
Exercise "Come up with your own end of the fairy tale"
Purpose: development of creative imagination.
Invite children to change and compose their own end of familiar fairy tales.
"Kolobok did not sit on the fox's tongue, but rolled on and met ...".
“The wolf failed to eat the goats because…” and so on.
Bibliography
- Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood. M., 1991.-93 p.
- Galiguzov L.N. Creative manifestations in the play of children of early age / / Questions of Psychology, 1993. No. 2. pp. 17-26.
- Zelenkova T.V. Activation of creative imagination in younger schoolchildren / Primary school, 1995. No. 10. P.4-8.
- Korshunova L.S. Imagination and its role in cognition. M., 1979.- 145 p.
The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception and his play activity. A one and a half year old child is still not interested in listening to stories (fairy tales) of adults, since he still lacks the experience that generates perception processes. At the same time, one can observe how, in the imagination of a playing child, a suitcase, for example, turns into a train, a silent, indifferent to everything that happens, a doll into a crying little man offended by someone, a pillow into an affectionate friend. During the period of speech formation, the child uses his imagination even more actively in his games, because his life observations are sharply expanded. However, all this happens as if by itself, unintentionally.
Arbitrary forms of imagination “grow up” from 3 to 5 years. Imagination images can appear either as a reaction to an external stimulus (for example, at the request of others), or initiated by the child himself, while imaginary situations are often purposeful, with an ultimate goal and a pre-thought-out scenario.
The school period is characterized by the rapid development of the imagination, due to the intensive process of acquiring versatile knowledge and using it in practice.
Individual features of the imagination are clearly manifested in the process of creativity. In this sphere of human activity, imagination about significance is placed on a par with thinking. It is important that for the development of imagination it is necessary to create conditions for a person under which freedom of action, independence, initiative, and looseness are manifested.
It has been proven that imagination is closely connected with other mental processes (memory, thinking, attention, perception) that serve learning activities. Thus, not paying enough attention to the development of imagination, primary teachers reduce the quality of education.
In general, primary schoolchildren usually do not have any problems associated with the development of children's imagination, so almost all children who play a lot and in a variety of ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that in this area may still arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, the ability to regulate figurative representations through voluntary attention, as well as the assimilation of abstract concepts that can be imagined and presented to the child, as well as to an adult, hard enough.
Senior preschool and junior school age are qualified as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasies. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories and conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and the images of the imagination can, by virtue of the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. Such fantasies (they are also found in adolescents) are often perceived by others as lies.
At primary school age, in addition, there is an active development of the recreative imagination.
In children of primary school age, several types of imagination are distinguished. It can be recreative (creating an image of an object according to its description) and creative (creating new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the plan).
The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in children to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all forms of activity available to him: in play, in visual activity, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age.
Observations show that the child strives to depict well-known events truthfully, as happens in life. In many cases, the change in reality is caused by ignorance, the inability to coherently, consistently portray the events of life. The realism of the younger schoolchild's imagination is especially evident in the selection of game attributes. For a younger preschooler in the game, everything can be everything. Older preschoolers are already selecting material for the game according to the principles of external similarity.
The obligatory and main protagonist of the game for schoolchildren in grades 1-2 is a doll. With it, you can perform any necessary "real" actions. She can be fed, dressed, she can express her feelings. It is even better to use a live kitten for this purpose, since you can already really feed it, put it to bed, etc.
The corrections to the situation and images made during the game by children of primary school age give the game and the images themselves imaginary features that bring them closer and closer to reality.
The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life.
The imagination of a younger schoolchild is also characterized by another feature: the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction. This feature of children's imagination is expressed in the fact that in their games, for example, they repeat the actions and situations that they observed in adults, play out stories that they experienced, which they saw in the cinema, reproducing the life of the school, family, etc. without changes. The theme of the game is the reproduction of impressions that took place in the lives of children; the storyline of the game is a reproduction of what was seen, experienced, and necessarily in the same sequence in which it took place in life.
However, with age, the elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student become less and less, and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.
V.S. Mukhina notes that at primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination also passes into other types of activity.
In the process of educational activity of schoolchildren, which starts from living contemplation in the primary grades, the level of development of cognitive processes plays an important role, as psychologists note: attention, memory, perception, observation, imagination, memory, thinking. The development and improvement of the imagination will be more effective with purposeful work in this direction, which will entail the expansion of the cognitive abilities of children.
At primary school age, for the first time, there is a division of play and labor, that is, activities carried out for the sake of pleasure that the child will receive in the process of the activity itself and activities aimed at achieving an objectively significant and socially assessed result. This distinction between play and work, including educational work, is an important feature of school age.
The importance of imagination in primary school age is the highest and necessary human ability. However, it is this ability that needs special care in terms of development. And it develops especially intensively at the age of 5 to 15 years. And if this period of imagination is not specially developed, in the future there will be a rapid decrease in the activity of this function.
Along with a decrease in a person’s ability to fantasize, a person becomes impoverished, the possibilities of creative thinking decrease, interest in art, science, and so on goes out.
However, fantasy, like any form of mental reflection, must have a positive direction of development. It should contribute to a better knowledge of the world around self-disclosure and self-improvement of the individual, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life with dreams. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to help the child use his imagination in the direction of progressive self-development, to enhance the cognitive activity of schoolchildren, in particular the development of theoretical, abstract thinking, attention, speech and creativity in general. Children of primary school age are very fond of doing art. It allows the child to reveal his personality in the most complete free form. All artistic activity is based on active imagination, creative thinking. These features provide the child with a new, unusual view of the world.
Thus, one cannot but agree with the conclusions of psychologists and researchers that imagination is one of the most important mental processes and the level of its development, especially in children of primary school age, largely depends on the success of mastering the school curriculum.
