knitting
Imagination as an age feature of younger students. Development of imagination in younger students

Imagination as an age feature of younger students. Development of imagination in younger students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

FGBOU VO "Togliatti State University»

INSTITUTEHUMANITARIAN-PEDAGOGICAL INSTITUTE

CHAIRPEDAGOGY AND TEACHING METHODS

DIRECTION44.03.02 "PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL EDUCATION"

PROFILEPEDAGOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

Test

Discipline: "Theories and technologies of familiarization elementary school student with the outside world."

Topic: "The development of the imagination of younger students in the process of studying the world around us."

Completed by a student:

Khokhlova E.S.

Group:

PPobz-1231

Teacher:

Emelyanova Tatyana Vitalievna

Tolyatti 2017

Content

………………………………...

1.2.

……...

1.3.

Development of imagination in young children school age in the process of creative activity at the lessons of the world around……………………………………………………………………

Conclusion………………………………………………………….

List of used literature……………………………

Introduction

It has long been found that every child is naturally inquisitive and full of desire to learn, and it is at the initial stage of education that he strives for creativity, knowledge and active work. In this aspect, research activity is one of the most important ways for a child to get an idea about the world around him.

Not so long ago, all Russian schools made the transition to the new Federal state standard elementary general education, in which one of the central places, undoubtedly, is the problem of developing research skills among students. Under these conditions, there is an increasing interest in a person who has the foundations and skills of a research nature, is able to fulfill himself, create something new or transform.

Imagination is a mental process of creating images of objects, situations, circumstances by bringing a person's knowledge into a new combination. Imagination cannot unfold in an empty place. In order to begin to fantasize, a person must see, hear, receive impressions and keep them in memory. The more knowledge, the richer the experience of a person, the more diverse his impressions, the more opportunities for combining images.

Daily activities pose a lot of tasks for a person. To solve them, the necessary knowledge is not always available. Imagination fills this gap: it combines, creates a new combination of existing information and thus, although temporarily, but fills in the gap in knowledge. Many scientists of the past tried to explain the nature and essence of imagination.

There are several points of view both on the imagination as a whole and on its individual aspects.

Idealistic concept fantasy is reduced to the fact that its complete spontaneity (spontaneity) is affirmed. According to idealists, fantasy is not reflective. She is not associated with environment and thus free from it. Fantasy, according to idealists, is the result of self-development, it is born in a person as a spiritual force, as a manifestation of his energy, state of mind.

Chance finding hypothesis . According to this hypothesis, all discoveries were made as a result of an accidental coincidence of several images of perception or an accidental collision of a person with some external circumstance. The practical conclusion from it follows: in order to create a new, original, you need to passively wait for a happy occasion.

Recombination hypothesis . The main content of this point of view is the following: imagination is aimed at rearranging sensations, ideas, principles, rules through trial and error.

Like all mental processes, imagination is due to the activity of the brain, its cortex. Imagination is a necessary element of human creative activity, which is expressed in the construction of the image of the products of labor, and ensures the creation of a program of behavior in cases where the problem situation is also characterized by uncertainty. Depending on the various circumstances that characterize the problem situation, the same task can be solved both with the help of imagination and with the help of thinking. From this we can conclude that the imagination works at that stage of cognition, when the uncertainty of the situation is very high. Fantasy allows you to “jump” over some stages of thinking and still imagine the final result.

Imagination is unique to man. According to E.V. Ilyenkov: “Taken in itself, fantasy, or the power of imagination, is one of not only the most 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, unless, of course, it is a step on the spot. Without the power of imagination it would be impossible even to recognize an old friend if he suddenly grew a beard, it would be impossible even to cross the street through the stream of cars. Humanity, devoid of imagination, would never launch rockets into space.

Imagination processes have an analytic-synthetic character. Its main tendency is the transformation of representations (images), which ultimately ensures the creation of a model of a situation that is obviously new, which has not previously arisen. Analyzing the mechanism of imagination, it must be emphasized that its essence is the process of transforming ideas, creating new images based on existing ones. Imagination, fantasy is a reflection of reality in new, unexpected, unusual combinations and connections. Even if you come up with something completely extraordinary, then upon careful consideration it turns out that all the elements that made up the fiction are taken from life, gleaned from past experience, are the results of a deliberate analysis of an innumerable set of facts. No wonder L. S. Vygotsky said: “The creative activity of the imagination is directly dependent on the richness and diversity of a person’s previous experience, because experience is the material from which fantasy constructions are created. The richer the experience of a person, the more material that his imagination has at his disposal.

The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception of the surrounding world and its gaming activity. 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.

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 development 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. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. 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. At primary school age, in addition, there is an active development of the recreative imagination.There are several types of imagination in children of primary school age:

Recreating imagination - creating an image of an object according to its description

Creative imagination - the creation of new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the plan.

The main trend that occurs 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. 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. The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum closeness, from the point of view of the child, of 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 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, more and more bringing them 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.). "Fantasying of this kind still plays a significant role and occupies a certain place in the life of a younger student. 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 "conventionality" of one's 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 children'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 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; story line games - there is a reproduction of what is 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.

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 imagination in the worldly, "cultural sense of the word, i.e. something that is real, However, not only is the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in the child than in the adult, but the nature of the combinations that are added to this material, their quality and variety, are much inferior to the combinations Of all the forms of connection with reality that we have listed above, the child's imagination, to the same extent as the adult's imagination, possesses only the first, namely, 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 progress learning activities schoolchildren who goes to 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, 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.

Younger students carry out most of their vigorous activity with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the wild work of fantasy, they enthusiastically engage in creative activity. The psychological basis of the latter is also creative imagination. When in the process of learning children are faced with the need to understand abstract material and they need analogies, supports in general lack life experience, imagination also comes to the aid of the child. Thus, the significance of the function of imagination in mental development is great. However, fantasy, like any form of mental reflection, must have a positive direction of development. It should contribute to a better knowledge of the surrounding world, self-disclosure and self-improvement of the individual, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life dreams. Primary school children love to play artistic creativity. 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 around them.

Thus 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.

1.3 The development of imagination in children of primary school age in the process of creative activity in the lessons of the world around

Modern pedagogy no longer doubts that it is possible to teach creativity. Through creativity, the child develops thinking. But this teaching is special, it is not the same as they usually teach knowledge and skills. The starting point for the development of the imagination should be directed activity, that is, the inclusion of children's fantasies in specific practical problems. A.A. Volkova states: “Education of creativity is a versatile and complex impact on a child.

The mind (knowledge, thinking, imagination), character (courage, perseverance), feeling (love of beauty, passion for image, thought) take part in creative activity. We must educate the same aspects of the personality in the child in order to more successfully develop creativity in him. Enriching the child's mind with a variety of ideas, some knowledge - means to provide abundant food for creativity. AND I. Lerner identified the following features of creative activity:

Independent transfer of knowledge and skills to a new situation; seeing new problems in familiar, standard conditions; - vision of a new function of a familiar object;

The ability to see an alternative solution;

Ability to combine earlier known ways problem solving in new way;

The ability to create original solutions in the presence of already known ones.

Recreating imagination is of great importance in the learning process, because without it it is impossible to perceive and understand educational material. Teaching promotes the development of this kind of imagination. In addition, the younger schoolchild's imagination is more and more closely connected with his life experience, and it does not remain a fruitless fantasy, but gradually becomes an incentive to activity. The child seeks to translate the thoughts and images that have arisen into real objects. Most effective remedy for this - the visual activity of children of primary school students. In the process of drawing, the child experiences a variety of feelings: he rejoices at the beautiful image that he created himself, upset if something does not work out. But the most important thing: by creating an image, the child acquires various knowledge; his ideas about the objects of the surrounding world are refined and deepened; in the process of work, he begins to comprehend the qualities of objects, memorize their characteristic features and details, master fine skills and abilities, learns to use them consciously.

There are many methods for developing the imagination. Conventionally, we divided the applied methods into several groups:

1. Writing fairy tales and stories.

An important role in the development of creativity belongs to such techniques as writing a fairy tale, the theme of which was suggested by the teacher, inventing a continuation of a familiar fairy tale, writing a fairy tale from a picture.

2. Director's game-improvisation.

For the development of creative abilities in the game, the children were offered two roles of fairy-tale characters, unrelated by a common plot. The students had to act out their stories. It could be a telephone conversation, a skit or a whole dramatization, the inclusion of fantasy and imagination was important. The rest of the children watched the action, then there was a change of participants in the game. Everything ended with a discussion - the reflective moment was the most important during each lesson.

3. Tasks for transformative imagination.

In tasks of this type, the ability to merge with an object is trained, mentally transforming it into a new image, the agglutination mechanism is often used. Transformative imagination is an important stage in the development of creativity. By completing these tasks, children learn to see common features in objects that are very distant in essence, but similar in some special external manifestations, and already on this basis to create figurative (not conceptual) generalizations. Tasks for the development of recreative imagination. These include: verbal drawing, musical drawing (creating a verbal portrait of the hero of music), drawing your mood, the image of music, drawing the whole in fragments, inventing the end of a story or sentence. The tasks develop the ability to quickly and easily generate the most unexpected images of fantasies and boldly connect them with everyday events. Particularly interesting are the tasks for conveying by means of painting (color, graphic,) or verbal drawing the general mood of the work, certain character traits of the character. The purpose of such tasks is to draw the attention of children to the connection between the means of musical expression, artistic solution and the nature of the musical image.

4. Training the fluency of associations.

Such tasks serve the development of associative thinking and imagination. They teach to think and imagine, improve the speed and controllability of the associative flow, which are important components of many types of creativity. These include: creating associative chains, inventing comparisons and synonyms or antonyms for words, concepts and states.

5. Creative modeling. Children are taught to use their imagination to anticipate consequences and make decisions. Here, various options for tasks are possible: searching for a cause by two consequences, inventing consequences based on a cause, and so on. Such universal characteristics of the imagination are trained as the ability to easily and quickly see various cause-and-effect relationships, accurately establish the causes of events, and also find relationships between several completely unrelated, at first glance, events, building their own logical chain.

6. Assignments for the actualization of subjective experience (freely discuss, compare, convey impressions).

Children were asked to talk about the feelings, emotions that they experience or have experienced, to express these feelings in the form of images (drawing, bodily, music). Tasks form the ability to reflect own feelings and experiences in contact with music, find images and metaphors of their states, freely express their opinions, build emotional generalizations.

7. Assignments for the formulation of creative questions.

So, the child's imagination develops gradually, as he acquires real life experience. The richer the experience of the child, the more he saw, heard, experienced, learned, the more impressions about the surrounding reality he accumulated, the richer material his imagination has, the more scope opens up for his imagination and creativity. Creativity arises when there is surprise and question. The above tasks develop search activity, teach to perceive the world without restrictions, to perceive objects in a new way, to capture and designate unrealized functions and meanings. Of course, they are good and accessible when developing the imagination of younger students.

8. Creative modeling

The use of the method of creative modeling contributes to the development of imagination, teaches to reason, consistently present the material, increases the visibility and practical orientation of teaching natural science.

The construction of the model by students provides visibility of essential properties, hidden connections and relationships, all other properties that are not essential in this case are discarded. The same model is used as proof of the correctness of the hypothesis. In this case, it is a means to substantiate a point of view.

Often this is beyond the power of one student, so it is advisable to carry out such work in groups. Within the group, children themselves organize their actions: either on the principle of role distribution, or on the principle of individual contributions (“brainstorming”). If the task is to clarify a concept on the basis of a model, then the teacher is invited to divide the children within the group into two subgroups that would defend opposite positions. The organization of group work is based on the following algorithm:

repetition by children of a task for group work in order to check whether it is understood equally by all participants in group cooperation;

clarification of the method of future work;

development of a single solution (model);

finding out who will answer from the group;

signs to show the readiness of the group;

carry out intergroup discussion of the results.

Working in a group, children finally understand the new way of acting, actively participate in the task, and control each other's work. At the same time, the responsibility for the correct execution of the task does not lie with one person, but is distributed among all participants in the group work. This allows children to learn new things in comfortable conditions and move on to individual work understanding and gaining experience.

Here are examples of working with models in the lessons of the world around us:

1. Learning creative modeling can start with a finished model - a globe. Explain to children that a model is an object, a reduced copy of a real object of nature (if it is not available for research, for example, it has big sizes). Then the children describe the object under the guidance of the teacher, i.e. highlight its essential features. (Earth has the shape of a ball, most of the planet is occupied by water, the smaller one by land.)

2. At the next stage of learning creative modeling, children practice comparing, generalizing objects of the same class. Students learn to recognize signs of similarities and differences, to highlight the main ones, according to which several objects can be combined into one group.

3. After the students are able to identify the general features of an object (for example, parts of plants, feathers of birds, scales of fish), they learn to depict it with a symbol or diagram.

Symbolic drawings play the role of a transitional bridge from concrete-figurative to abstract thinking, and also make the modeling process concrete, visual and creative. In this case, the use of reference cards is effective. On each separate card, a picture is depicted - a symbol representing one of the elements of the modeled object.

The leading components of the imagination of younger students are past experience, object environment, which depend on the internal position of the child, and the internal position from supra-situational becomes extra-situational.

The following conditions contribute to the development of creative imagination:

Involving students in various activities

The use of non-traditional forms of conducting lessons - creating problem situations

Application of role-playing games

Independent performance of work

Usage various materials- the use of various types of tasks, including psychological ones.

Such aspects of educational and cognitive activity as content, organizational, subject should be activated.

Conclusion

Imagination is 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. 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. Imagination, due to the characteristics of the physiological systems responsible for it, is to a certain extent associated with the regulation organic processes and movement. Creative abilities are defined as the individual characteristics of a person's quality, which determine the success of his performance of various creative activities.

The study of imagination as a creative process has been carried out. Imagination is 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 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 the imagination. Imagination, due to the peculiarities of the physiological systems responsible for it, is to a certain extent associated with the regulation of organic processes and movement.

List of used literature

Vygotsky, L.S. Thinking and speech. Sobr. op. / L.S. Vygotsky. - M.: Pedagogy, 2014.

Lyublinskaya, A.A. To the teacher about the psychology of the junior schoolchild / A.A. Lyublinskaya. - M., 2011.

Mamardashvili, M.K. Forms and content of thinking / M.K. Mamardashvili - M.: Higher school, 2010.

General psychology / Ed. IN AND. Petrov. - M., 2006.

Olshanskaya E.V. Development of thinking, attention, memory, perception, imagination, speech. Game tasks / E.V. Olshanskaya - Primary School– 2013, No. 5, p. 45-57.

Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. / S.L. Rubinstein - M., 2009.

Tikhomirov O. K. Psychology of thinking: textbook. allowance for students of higher educational institutions. 3rd ed., / O.K. Tikhomirov - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2007.

Features of the imagination of younger students are determined, on the one hand, by age patterns, and on the other, by individual characteristics. Individual features of the imagination are determined by mental properties and previous life experience of a person. To understand the nature of the imagination of a younger student, it is important to take into account how it developed at previous age stages. The first manifestations of imagination in children are closely related to the process of perception. This is indicated by the fact that children at the beginning of early childhood (1-1.5 years) are not yet able to listen to even the simplest fairy tales, being constantly distracted, but they can listen with relative attention to stories that they themselves have experienced.

In this case, the child is listening because he can clearly imagine the images in question. Further, the connection between imagination and perception is preserved, but gradually the child begins to process the received life impressions in his psyche. This is manifested, for example, in endowing surrounding objects with fictitious functions in accordance with the plot of the game (a chair can become a car; a closet can become a house, etc.). A feature of the imagination at this age stage is that its images are always mediated by the play activity performed.

The subsequent development of the imagination is determined by the mastery of speech. Speech allows the child to designate images with corresponding concepts and to operate in the psyche not only with concrete ideas, but also with the simplest abstract concepts. Given that the attention of a preschooler is often involuntary, this is also reflected in the development of his imagination: images arise spontaneously, are determined by the situation.

A significant qualitative leap in the development of the imagination is associated with the development of the arbitrariness of the higher mental functions of the child (L. S. Vygotsky) But this leap does not occur on its own, but thanks to the active assistance of adults (the creation of optimal conditions for development, taking into account the so-called "zone of proximal development "). Specifically, this is expressed in the organization of play, art and other activities of the child. The setting of a feasible task requires the child to activate internal processes, create new images, taking into account his experience, existing conditions, etc. Subsequently, the child himself arbitrarily begins to set such tasks for himself, model their solutions, and implement what he has planned in actions. In this case, we have the right to speak about the manifestation of the active imagination of younger students.

The development of imagination at primary school age is largely related to how the educational activities of children will be organized. The teacher should stimulate the cognitive activity of students through the creation of problem situations in the classroom, taking into account the individual characteristics of children's activities. Great importance for the development of the imagination has a pictorial activity, reading works of art, holding unusual educational activities that require children to fantasize and internal liberation.

Speaking about the development of the imagination, it is important to keep in mind that we are talking not just about a qualitative change in one of the cognitive processes, but the entire cognitive sphere of a person and some of his personal characteristics. This is due to the fact that imagination is directly related to the creative activity of a person. The role of imagination in the creative process is great. Creativity is closely connected with all spheres of personality: the creation of a new object, finding a solution, writing a work, etc. is mediated by the available knowledge, the level of development of the relevant abilities, strong-willed character traits, emotional mood, experiences, etc.

Despite the recognition that creativity is basically unique, the English scientist G. Wallace distinguishes 4 main stages of the creative process:

1. Preparation - the birth of an idea.

2. Maturation - concentration on the problem, collection of the necessary information, its mental processing (we can conditionally say that at this stage there is a kind of "loading" of the subconscious).

3. Illumination - seeing the whole problem, the whole situation and generating ideas on this basis.

4. Verification - testing the found solution in practice, obtaining feedback.

It is important that this algorithm be internally perceived, internalized by children, so that they see and feel that the teaching is not only “important” and “necessary”, but also “interesting” and “fascinating”. It is the creative component in the educational activity and throughout the life of younger students that can become the basis for revealing their individuality. This will allow in the future to choose the area of educational and professional interests, the implementation of which will make the future life rich, meaningful and meaningful both for the person himself and for society.

Polenichko Anastasia Vasilievna, bachelor, student
Altai State Pedagogical University

DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMAGINATION
EXTRA COURSE ACTIVITIES
IMAGINATION

The article deals with the problems of the development of imagination in children of primary school age. An analysis of the levels of development of imagination in children is also presented and guidelines on the development of imagination in extracurricular activities.

Relationship between imagination and stress resistance in adolescents
Formation of achievement motivation in adolescents in extracurricular activities
Activities of the Department of Education of the city district of Degtyarsk on the development of the system of educational institutions
Technologies for the development of interpersonal relationships in children of primary school age in extracurricular activities

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 last 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 the recognition of it as an independent activity of a 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 integral part 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, drawings such as starry sky with a telescope.

Methodology for the study of individual characteristics of the imagination

The methodology 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 contour 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 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 contour.

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 topic gives an idea of the saturation of memory with images and concepts from certain areas, as well as the degree of ease of updating 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. Offer a competition: who can put together more different objects from their mosaic and come up with some kind of story about one or more objects.

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 figures. 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 independently composes a fairy tale in its entirety, 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.

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 necessary condition 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 the 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" at different times, which 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 complete picture peace. 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 identifies and describes the following psychological mechanisms imagination: 1) variation is the desire to change the images and ideas 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 created image some part, detail stands out, is especially emphasized (for example, a cartoon; caricature).

In the images that appear in the imagination, there are always features already known to man images. 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 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 of abstract concepts that are 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. 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 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.

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, a child of preschool and primary school age can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore the 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.

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, 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 significance of the function of imagination in the mental development of a younger 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 enhance cognitive activity, in particular, the development of 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 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. Creative abilities must be developed in a person from 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.

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.

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.

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. 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 happens that way), then we 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.

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 main trend that occurs 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 an airplane with two sticks laid crosswise, then at 7-8 years old he already needs an external resemblance to an airplane (“so that there are wings and a propeller”). A schoolboy at the age of 11-12 often designs a model himself and demands from it an even more complete resemblance to a real aircraft ("so that it would be just like a real one and would fly").

The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum closeness, from the point of view of the child, of 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 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.

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 children'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 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.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, a child of preschool and primary school age can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore imagination in the everyday, "cultural sense of the word, i.e. something like what is real, imaginary, in a child, of course, more than in an adult.However, not only the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in a child than in an adult, but also the nature of the combinations that are added to this material, their quality and the variety is considerably inferior to the combinations of an adult.Of all the forms of connection with reality that we have listed above, the child's imagination, to the same extent as the adult's imagination, has only the first, namely, the reality of the elements from which it is built.

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.

Younger students carry out most of their vigorous activity with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the wild work of fantasy, they are enthusiastically engaged in creative activities. The psychological basis of the latter is also creative

imagination. When, in the process of learning, children are faced with the need to comprehend abstract material and they need analogies, support with a general lack of life experience, imagination also comes to the aid of the child. Thus, the significance of the function of imagination in mental development is great.

However, fantasy, like any form of mental reflection, must have a positive direction of development. It should contribute to a better knowledge of the surrounding world, 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.

Chapter summary: so, we examined the concept of imagination, the types and features of its development in primary school age. In this regard, the following conclusions can be drawn:

The definition of imagination and the identification of the specifics of its development is one of the most difficult problems in psychology.

Imagination is 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.

Imagination can be of four main types:

Active imagination - is characterized by the fact that, using it, a person, at his own request, by an effort of will, causes appropriate images in himself.

Passive imagination lies in the fact that its images arise spontaneously, in addition to the will and desire of a person. Passive imagination can be unintentional and intentional.

There is also a distinction between the reproducing, or reproductive, and the transforming, or productive imagination.

Diagnostics of children of primary school age showed that the level of imagination development can be divided into three levels: high, medium and low.