LEADING ACTIVITY OF CHILDREN IN DIFFERENT AGE PERIODS
Basic condition mental development the child is his own active activity. A. N. Leontiev introduced the concept of leading activity into developmental psychology. He emphasized that “... the main process that characterizes the mental development of a child is the specific process of assimilation or appropriation of the achievements of previous generations of people. … This process is carried out in the activity of the child in relation to the objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, in which these human achievements are embodied.” It is in the active motivated activity of the child himself that his personality is formed. Moreover, this formation occurs first under the influence of the activity that at this stage of ontogenesis is the leading one, causing the main changes in mental processes in psychological features personality of the child (communication, play, teaching, work).
Leading activity is such an activity, the development of which determines major changes in the mental processes and psychological characteristics of the personality of the child at certain stages of his development. When switching to new level development, the previous activity does not disappear, but its defining role in development is lost. So, the game is the leading activity of a preschooler, but both schoolchildren and adults play. A sign of the transition from one age stage to another is precisely the change in the type of leading activity, the leading attitude of the child to reality.
In an infant, the leading activity is direct emotional contact with an adult, thanks to which he develops a need to communicate with other people (from the first weeks to a year).
In early childhood - business practical cooperation with an adult. The child is busy with the object and actions with it. Intensive mastery of object-tool operations forms practical intellect. Speech is used mainly to establish cooperation with adults within a joint substantive activity. The need for speech arises as a means of business contacts with an adult (from one to three years).
At preschool age, the leading activity is the game. In play activity, for the first time, the child’s need to influence the world is formed and appears. A. M. Gorky wrote: “The game is the way for children to learn about the world in which they live and which they are called to change.” All games usually reproduce certain types of practical non-play activities and thus meet the child's need to take part in the life and activities of adults. But the child becomes an adult only in the imagination, mentally. Various forms Serious activities of adults serve as models that are reproduced in gaming activities: focusing on an adult as a model, but only with substitute objects (toys) in a plot-role-playing game. In the game for the child, not only the properties of objects are essential, but the attitude to the object, hence the possibility of replacing objects, which contributes to the development of imagination. While playing, the child also masters the corresponding actions. Play activity towards the end before school age It is differentiated into such forms as role-playing game, games with rules. The game develops not only cognitive processes, speech, communication, behavior, but also the personality of the child. Game at preschool age is a universal form of development, it creates a zone of proximal development, serves as the basis for the formation of future educational activities (from three to six).
Why play is the leading activity in preschool age? Does it develop qualities that will contribute to the future success of the child in school? Can the game become a "bridge" of continuity between preschool and primary general education?
The very concept of "leader" gives us a clue. The game is an activity that leads to the formation of new qualities of the psyche and personality of the child. It is very important to understand the peculiarity of preschool age: the center of a child's mental work lies not in his intellect, but in his emotions, but this does not weaken the work of thinking, but gives it a different character. All cognitive activity child is directed by the goals that are put forward emotional sphere and area of activity. This combination is optimally represented in the game.
The game is…
A GAME - leading activity. Leads to the development of new qualities of the psyche and personality of a preschooler | A GAME - the main form of organization of a child's life. The game meets the basic needs of the child | A GAME - developing potential. Functions of the game in the pedagogical process: |
v imagination and fantasy v ability to symbolize and transform v arbitrariness of behavior v development of goal setting, the ability to think in the mind v development of "self" | v in learning through toys v in communication v in motion v in joy, pleasure v in need to be like an adult v the need for freedom, self-realization, independence, activity | v is a means of development v means of education v means of communication means of correction v a means of forming a positive "I concept" (success in the game) v means of development (thinking, speech, imagination, creativity, fantasy, etc.) |
Signs of leading activity:
1. New activities arise in it.
2. In this activity, individual mental functions are formed and rebuilt (creative imagination appears in the game).
3. The personality changes observed at this time depend on this activity.
The allocation of the concept of "leading activity" is necessary to understand the essence of its impact on the mental development of a person. The successive change of leading types of activity means that during the transition to a new level of development, the previous activity does not disappear, but its defining role in development is lost. New types of activity are added to the previously formed types of activity, and at the same time, an age-related qualitative restructuring of each type of activity takes place.
With age, some activities come to the fore, and other types of activity are relegated to the second, so that the hierarchy of leading activities changes.
Leading activity and formation mental processes, personal formations.
The development of children occurs only under the condition of his own vigorous activity, therefore, learning and activity are inseparable. The development of children occurs simultaneously in many activities, i.e. this does not mean that only leading activity leads to development. If some activity is especially significant for the child, it will be reflected in the formation of his personality. but there will be no deep developing effect as a leading activity.
Age period | Leading activity | What is the purpose of cognitive activity? | What area of the psyche is predominantly developing | Neoplasms of age |
Infancy 0-1 year | Direct emotional communication with adults (outside joint activities) | For knowledge of relationships | Need for communication. emotional relationship |
|
Early childhood 1-3 years | Object-manipulative activity (with a variety of toys and surrounding objects not in full accordance with their socio-cultural purpose and without active interaction with adults) | For knowledge of the subject | cognitive processes | Speech and visual-effective thinking. The emergence of "I", the emergence of self-consciousness. |
Preschool age 3-7 years | Role-playing game (a combination of gaming activities with communication, imitating a social situation and its characteristic forms of role-playing behavior) | For knowledge of relationships | Personal (need-motivational) | The need for socially significant and socially valued activities. subordination of motives. |
Junior school age 7-10 years | Educational and cognitive activity (a combination of educational activities and interpersonal communication) | On the knowledge of the beginnings of sciences | Intellectual-cognitive | arbitrariness. internal plan actions. Self control. Reflection. |
Adolescence 11-15 years old | Communication with peers in socially useful activities (personal communication and joint group activities of interest) | On the knowledge of the system of relations in different situations | Personal (need-motivational) | Striving for "adulthood". self-esteem, obedience to the norms of collective life. |
Early adolescence 15-17 years | Communication with adults in educational activities (preparation for professional activity, communication on intimate and personal topics) | For knowledge of professions | cognitive | Worldview, professional interests |
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. development of developmental psychology was closely connected with pedology, the science of children, created by the American psychologist S. Hall (1846-1924), a student of Wundt.
Investigating the mental development of the child, Hall came to the conclusion that it is based on Haeckel's biogenetic law. Hall argued that the ontogenetic development of the child's psyche briefly repeats all stages of the phylogenetic development of the human psyche.
In the theory of recapitulation created by Hall, it was argued that the sequence and content of these stages are genetically predetermined, therefore, the child cannot avoid or bypass any stage of his development.
Hall's student K. Getchinson, on the basis of the theory of recapitulation, created a periodization of mental development, the criterion in which was the method of obtaining food.
From birth to 5 years - the stage of digging and digging. At this stage, children love to play in the sand, make cakes and manipulate the bucket and scoop;
From 5 to 11 years - the stage of hunting and capturing. At this stage, children begin to be afraid of strangers, they develop aggressiveness, cruelty, a desire to isolate themselves from adults, especially strangers, and the desire to do many things in secret;
From 8 to 12 years old - the shepherd stage. During this period, children strive to have their own corner, and they usually build their shelters in yards or in a field, in a forest, but not in a house. They also love pets and try to get them so that they have someone to take care of and patronize. Children, especially girls, at this time have a desire for affection and tenderness;
From 11 to 15 years old - the agricultural stage, which is associated not with an interest in the weather, natural phenomena, as well as with a love of gardening, and for girls, floriculture. At this time, children develop observation and discretion;
From 14 to 20 years - the stage of industry and trade, or the stage of modern man. At this time, children begin to realize the role of money, as well as the importance of arithmetic and other exact sciences. In addition, the guys have a desire to change various objects.
Getchinson believed that from the age of 8, i.e. from the pastoral stage, the era of civilized man begins, and it is from this age that children can be systematically taught, which is impossible in the previous stages. At the same time, he proceeded from Hall's idea that learning should be built on certain stage mental development, as the maturation of the organism prepares the basis for learning.
Both Hall and Hutchinson were convinced that the passage of each stage is necessary for normal development, and fixation on one of them leads to the appearance of deviations and anomalies in the psyche. Based on the need for children to live through all stages of the mental development of mankind, Hall developed a mechanism that helps the transition from one stage to another. Since in reality a child cannot be transported into the same situations that humanity has experienced, the transition from one stage to another is carried out in the game, which is such a specific mechanism. And so there are children's games in the war, in the Cossack robbers, etc. Hall emphasized that it is important not to constrain the child in the manifestation of his instincts, which are thus outlived, including children's fears.
Bibliography:
1. Obukhova, L.F. Child (age) psychology. Textbook. - M., Russian Pedagogical Agency. 1996
2. Martsynkovskaya T. History of child psychology.
3. Leontiev A.N. Problems of the development of the psyche. - M., 1972
Introduction.
Primary school age is called the pinnacle of childhood. The child retains many childish qualities - frivolity, naivety, looking at an adult from the bottom up. But he is already beginning to lose his childish spontaneity in behavior, he has a different logic of thinking. Teaching for him is a significant activity. At school, he acquires not only new knowledge and skills, but also a certain social status. The interests, values of the child, the whole way of his life are changing.
Crisis of seven years.
Regardless of when a child starts school, at age 6 or 7, at some point in their development they go through a crisis. This fracture may begin at 7 years of age, or may shift to 6 or 8 years. Like any crisis, the crisis of 7 years is not rigidly connected with an objective change in the situation. It is important how the child experiences the system of relationships in which he is included, whether it is a stable relationship or a relationship that changes dramatically. The perception of one's place in the system of relations has changed, which means that the social situation of development is changing, and the child finds himself on the border of a new age period.
The crisis of 3 years was associated with the awareness of oneself as an active subject in the world of objects. Saying: “I myself,” the child sought to act in this world, to change it. Now he comes to realize his place in the world public relations. He discovers the significance of a new social position - the position of a schoolchild associated with the fulfillment of a highly valued by adults academic work. And even if the desire to take this new place in life appeared in the child not at the very beginning of education, but a year later, the formation of an appropriate internal position still radically changes his self-consciousness. According to L.I. Bozhovich, the crisis of 7 years is the period of the birth of the social "I" of the child.
A change in self-consciousness leads to a reassessment of values. What was important before becomes secondary. Old interests, motives lose their motive power, they are replaced by new ones. Everything related to learning activities (first of all, marks) turns out to be valuable, what is connected with the game is less important. A small schoolboy plays with enthusiasm and will play for a long time, but the game ceases to be the main content of his life.
The restructuring of the emotional-motivational sphere is not limited to the emergence of new motives and shifts, rearrangements in the child's hierarchical motivational system. In a crisis period, there are profound changes in terms of experiences, prepared all the way personal development at preschool age. At the end of preschool childhood, the child began to realize his experiences. Now conscious experiences form stable affective complexes.
Separate emotions and feelings that a child of four years old experienced were fleeting, situational, and did not leave a noticeable trace in his memory. The fact that he periodically encountered failures in some of his affairs or sometimes received unflattering reviews about his appearance and experienced grief, resentment or annoyance about this did not affect the formation of his personality. As you know, only a few preschoolers acquire a high level of anxiety and low self-image; for this to happen, there must be a special atmosphere of discontent and high demands in the family. And, on the contrary, in an atmosphere of praise and admiration, children grow up with an exorbitantly high self-esteem even for preschool age; they are also few. All these cases are the result of the assimilation of the constantly repeated assessment of close adults, and not the generalization of one's own emotional experience.
During the crisis of 7 years, it is manifested that L.S. Vygotsky calls the generalization of experiences. A chain of failures or successes (in school, in broad communication), each time approximately equally experienced by the child, leads to the formation of a stable affective complex - a feeling of inferiority, humiliation, hurt pride or a sense of self-worth, competence, exclusivity. Of course, in the future, these affective formations can change, even disappear, as experience of a different kind is accumulated. But some of them, supported by relevant events and assessments, will be fixed in the personality structure and influence the development of the child's self-esteem, his level of aspirations. Thanks to the generalization of experiences, at the age of 7, the logic of feelings appears. Experiences acquire a new meaning for the child, connections are established between them, the struggle of experiences becomes possible.
This complication of the emotional-motivational sphere leads to the emergence of the inner life of the child. This is not a cast from his outer life. Although external events, situations, relationships constitute the content of experiences, they are refracted in the consciousness in a peculiar way, and emotional ideas about them are formed depending on the logic of the child's feelings, his level of claims, expectations, etc. For example, the same grade received in a lesson by different children will cause them a completely different emotional response: “four” for one is a source of stormy joy, for another - disappointment and resentment, some are perceived as success, others as failure. On the other hand, the inner life - the life of experiences - influences behavior and, thus, the external outline of events in which the child is actively involved.
The beginning of the differentiation of the external and internal life of the child is associated with a change in the structure of his behavior (see Table 2.4). A semantic orienting basis of an act appears - a link between the desire to do something and the unfolding actions. This is an intellectual moment that makes it possible to more or less adequately assess the future act in terms of its results and more distant consequences. But at the same time, this is an emotional moment, since the personal meaning of the act is determined - its place in the system of the child's relations with others, probable feelings about the change in these relations. Semantic orientation in one's own actions becomes an important aspect of inner life. At the same time, it excludes the impulsiveness and immediacy of the child's behavior. Thanks to this mechanism, childish immediacy is lost: the child thinks before acting, begins to hide his feelings and hesitations, tries not to show others that he is ill. The child outwardly is no longer the same as “inwardly”, although during the primary school age, openness will still be largely preserved, the desire to throw out all emotions on children and close adults, to do what you really want.
The leading activity is educational activity.
A child really becomes a schoolboy when he acquires an appropriate inner position. It is included in the educational activity as the most significant for him, and comes from a change in the social situation of the development of the child, guided by the social value of what he does.
The loss of interest in the game and the formation of learning motives are also associated with the developmental features of the game activity itself. According to N.I. Gutkin, children of 3-5 years old enjoy the process of playing, and at 5-6 years old - not only from the process, but also from the result, i.e. win. In games according to the rules, typical for senior preschool and primary school age, the one who has mastered the game better wins. For example, playing hopscotch requires special training to be able to accurately throw the cue ball and jump, coordinating your movements well. The child seeks to work out the movements, to learn how to successfully perform individual, perhaps not very interesting actions in themselves. In game motivation, the emphasis is shifted from the process to the result; in addition, achievement motivation develops. The very course of development of children's play leads to the fact that game motivation is gradually giving way to learning, in which actions are performed for the sake of specific knowledge and skills, which, in turn, makes it possible to obtain approval, recognition from adults and peers, a special status.
So, at primary school age, educational activity becomes the leading one. This is an unusually complex activity, which will be given a lot of time and effort - 10 or 2 years of a child's life. Naturally, it has a certain structure. Let us briefly consider the components of educational activity, in accordance with the ideas of D.B. Elkonin. The first component is motivation. As already known, learning activity is polymotivated - it is motivated and directed by different learning motives. We will get acquainted with the variety of these motives later, in § 4. Now it should be noted that among them there are motives that are most adequate to educational tasks; if they are formed by the student, his educational work becomes meaningful and effective. D.B. Elkonin calls them learning-cognitive motives. They are based on the cognitive need and the need for self-development. This is an interest in the content side of educational activity, in what is being studied, and interest in the process of activity - how, in what ways results are achieved, educational tasks are solved. The child must be motivated not only by the result, but also by the process of learning activities. It is also a motive for one's own growth, self-improvement, development of one's abilities.
The second component is the learning task, i.e. a system of tasks in which the child masters the most common methods of action. The learning task must be distinguished from individual tasks. Usually, children, when solving many specific problems, spontaneously discover for themselves a general way of solving them, and this way turns out to be conscious to varying degrees in children. different students, and they make mistakes while solving similar problems. Developmental learning involves the joint "discovery" and formulation by children and the teacher of a common way to solve a whole class of problems. In this case, the general method is assimilated as a model and is more easily transferred to other tasks of this class, educational work becomes more productive, and errors are less common and disappear faster.
An example of a learning task is morphosemantic analysis in Russian language lessons. The child must establish connections between the form and meaning of the word. To do this, he learns the general methods of action with the word: you need to change the word; compare it with the newly formed one in form and meaning; reveal the relationship between changes in form and meaning. Training operations (the third component) are part of the mode of action. Operations and the learning task are considered to be the main link in the structure of learning activity. In the above example, the operator content will be those specific actions that the child performs when solving particular problems - to find the root, prefix, suffix and ending in given words. What does the student do, knowing the general way of solving these problems? First of all, he changes the word in such a way as to obtain its variant forms (say, “forest” - “forest”, “forest”, “forest”), compares their meanings and highlights the ending in the original word. Then, changing the word, it receives related (single-root) words, compares the meanings, highlights the root and other morphemes: forest-th, forest-th, forest-n-oh, forest-peak, pere-forest-ok, forest.
Each training operation must be worked out. Developmental training programs often provide for a phased development according to the P.Ya. Galperin. The student, having received a complete orientation in the composition of operations (including determining the sequence of his actions), performs operations in a materialized form, under the control of the teacher. Having learned to do this almost without error, he proceeds to pronunciation and, finally, at the stage of reducing the number of operations, quickly solves the problem in his mind, informing the teacher of the finished answer. The fourth component is control. Initially, the teacher supervises the educational work of children. But gradually they begin to control it themselves, learning this partly spontaneously, partly under the guidance of a teacher. Without self-control, a full-fledged deployment of educational activities is impossible, therefore, control training is an important and difficult task. pedagogical task. It is not enough to control the work only by the final result (the task was completed correctly or incorrectly). The child needs the so-called operational control - for the correctness and completeness of the operations, i.e. behind the learning process. To teach a student to control the very process of his educational work means to contribute to the formation of such a mental function as attention. Final stage control - assessment. It can be considered the fifth component of the structure of learning activities. The child, controlling his work, must learn and adequately evaluate it. It is also not enough overall assessment- how correctly and efficiently the task was completed; you need an assessment of your actions - whether a method for solving problems has been mastered or not, what operations have not yet been worked out. The latter is especially difficult for younger students. But the first task also turns out to be difficult at this age, since children usually come to school with somewhat overestimated self-esteem.
The teacher, evaluating the work of students, is not limited to putting a mark. For the development of self-regulation of children, it is not the mark as such that is important, but a meaningful assessment - an explanation of why this mark is set, what are the pros and cons of the answer or paperwork. Meaningfully evaluating the educational activity, its results and process, the teacher sets certain guidelines - evaluation criteria that must be learned by children. But children have their own criteria for evaluation. As shown by A.I. Lipkina, younger students highly appreciate their work if they spent a lot of time on it, invested a lot of effort, effort, regardless of what they got as a result. They are usually more critical of the work of other children than their own. In this regard, students are taught to evaluate not only their own work, but also the work of classmates according to criteria common to all. Techniques such as peer review, collective discussion of answers, etc. are often used. These techniques have a positive effect in elementary school; it is much more difficult to start similar work in the middle classes, since the educational activity is not yet sufficiently formed in this assessment link, and adolescents, focusing more on the opinions of their peers, do not accept the general assessment criteria and methods of using it with such ease as younger students.
Learning activities, having a complex structure, goes a long way of becoming. Its development will continue throughout the years school life but the foundations are laid in the first years of study. A child, becoming a junior schoolchild, despite prior training, more or less experience of training sessions, finds himself in fundamentally new conditions.
Schooling is distinguished not only by the special social significance of the child's activity, but also by the mediation of relations with adult models and assessments, by following the rules common to all, and by acquiring scientific concepts. These moments, as well as the specifics of the child's educational activity itself, affect the development of his mental functions, personality formations and voluntary behavior.
The leading activity in primary school age is educational. In educational activities, assimilation scientific knowledge acts as the main goal and the main result of the activity.
Features of educational activities in primary school age:
general methods of solving practical problems based on them;
* the purpose and result of the activity are the same.
The characteristic of educational activity includes five main
parameters: structure, motives, goal setting, emotions, ability to learn.
For the implementation of activities, formation is necessary motivational sphere. A child often comes to school with the motive of "becoming a schoolboy", having received a new, more adult status. Interest in school exists in almost all children in the first few weeks of school life. To a certain extent, this motivation is based on a reaction to novelty, new living conditions, new people. However, interest in the form of education, new notebooks, books, etc. saturates quickly enough, so it is important to form a new motive associated with the content of knowledge, with interest in the material itself, already in the first days of study.
To the category of external motives (lying outside educational process and related only to its result) refers to social motives. Social motives meet the needs of the child in communicating with other people, in their approval, in occupying a certain place in the system of social relations. There are broad social motives (to study in order to be cultural, developed, to take a worthy place after graduation, to find a good well-paid job, motives of duty and responsibility) and narrow-minded ones, including positional ones (to avoid a deuce, meet the expectations of parents, reduce anxiety, be the best a student in the class, a “five student”). Narrow social motives are more often real. Focusing only on the result (on praise, mark) narrows the content of the student, generates school system coercion. For example, in order to get a good grade (avoid a deuce), you can establish friendly relations with a desk mate so that he gives you to cheat on the control.
For the effective organization of training, it is important that the motive has an internal character, i.e. so that the content of the activity and the motive would correspond to each other.
At primary school age, there is already a fairly pronounced system of subordination of motives. The question is which motive prevails in this hierarchy. Studies of the structure and degree of awareness of the hierarchy of motives among younger schoolchildren have shown that in most cases, despite the appearance of reflection and the development of children's self-awareness, they are mostly unaware of the motivation for their actions. A clear understanding of their aspirations and their individuality comes only at the end of this period, actively developing in adolescence.
The central task of the elementary school is the formation of the “ability to learn”. Only the formation of all components of educational activity and its independent implementation can be a guarantee that the teaching will fulfill its function as a leading activity. A complete learning activity includes the following skills:
select and retain learning task;
Find and assimilate common ways of solving problems independently;
· own reflection and self-regulation of activity;
own and use various forms of generalization, including theoretically;
be able to participate in collectively distributed activities;
Have a high level of independent creative activity.
Difficulties in learning can be caused by: the lack of formation of the necessary elements of educational activity (the position of the student, cognitive, motivation, suitable learning activities, etc.); insufficient development of arbitrariness, low level of memory, attention, dependence on adults; inability or inability to adapt to the pace of school life, personality disorders, focus on other, extracurricular interests.
Learning the ways of writing, counting, reading, etc., the child orients himself to self-change - he masters the necessary methods of service and mental actions inherent in the culture around him. Reflecting, he compares his former self and his present self. Own change is traced and revealed at the level of achievements.
The most essential thing in learning activity is reflection on oneself, tracking new achievements and changes that have taken place. “I didn’t know how” - “I can”, “I couldn’t” - “I can”, “I was” - “I became” - key assessments of the result of in-depth reflection of one's achievements and changes. It is very important that the child becomes for himself at the same time the subject of change and the subject that carries out this change in himself.
Educational activity has its own structure D.B. Elkonin singled out several interrelated components in it:
· the learning task is that the student is to learn the student, the method of action to be learned;
learning actions - what the student must do in order to form a pattern of learned action and reproduce this pattern;
control actions - comparison of the reproduced action with the sample;
assessment actions - determining how much the student has achieved the result, the degree of changes that have occurred in the child himself.
This is the structure of learning activity in its expanded and mature form. However, this structure of learning activity acquires gradually, and for a younger student it is very far from this. It all depends on the organization of educational activities, on the specific content of the material to be learned and on individual features the child himself. So, when teaching a child to read, they teach the learned action of highlighting the main way of reading a syllable. When teaching writing, elements of the control action are distinguished. Various disciplines in the course elementary school contain the need to use different components of educational activities. All disciplines together give the child the opportunity to master the components of educational activity and gradually psychologically enter into it.
The ultimate goal of educational activity is the conscious educational activity of the student, which he himself builds according to the objective laws inherent in it. Learning activity, initially organized by an adult, should turn into an independent activity of the student in which he formulates a learning task, performs learning and control actions, evaluates, i.e. learning activity through the child's reflection on it turns into self-learning.
In educational activities, actions are performed primarily with ideal objects - letters, numbers, sounds. The teacher sets educational actions with objects of educational activity, and the child reproduces these actions, imitating the teacher. Then he masters these actions, turning them into actions of a new higher mental function.
Educational activity is a prerequisite for the “socialization of the individual intellect” that has developed in culture, on the basis of mastering signs, primarily language, new social relations appear that enrich and transform the child’s thinking.
Gradual capacity building of existing in culture mental operations and ways of learning activity - a natural way of development of individual intellect and its socialization. However, in the theory of the content and structure of educational activity, for decades, the idea has crystallized that the basis of developmental learning is its content and methods of organizing learning. This position was developed by L.S. Vygotsky, and then D.B. Elkonin and V.V. Davydov.
In order to master the knowledge offered and the learning activities themselves, the child learns to identify his actions with those that he is to appropriate. At the same time, the child cooperates with peers - after all, the methods of action of a peer are closer to him, since here general synchrony in mastering learning activities.
Based on the above, we can conclude that schooling is a turning point in a child's life. A feature of the position of the student is that his study is a mandatory, socially significant activity. For her, he is responsible to the teacher, school, family. The teacher is not just an adult who arouses or dislikes a child. He is the official bearer of social requirements for the child. The life of a student is subject to a system of strict rules that are the same for all students. Its main content is the assimilation of knowledge common to all children. Therefore, it is necessary to help the child in this difficult period of his life to find himself, to teach him to be responsible for his actions.
Leading activity is a certain direction of activity performed by the child, which determines the most important moments in the formation of the psyche and the development of its processes and features. In the leading activity, there is a transformation, restructuring of mental processes, methods of previously performed activities, and personality development.
Leading activity is a category in psychology, which does not necessarily occupy the main time in a child's life, but it determines the process of development of the main required qualities and new formations in each period. A change in the emphasis of activity occurs with age, but is not limited to strict limits, because. focused on the change of motivation, which changes in the course of the activity.
Psychological age in relation to this concept is considered in a combination of criteria of the social situation and the needs of the main neoplasms, the combination of these points takes into account the leading type of activity. Not only the number of days lived by a person, but also the social situation reveals the typical relationship of a child with people, through which one can trace the features of a personal individual building relationships with reality. The formation of new processes can be accessible to the child only through the activities performed, which establishes contact between him and the elements of reality. In addition to this external property, the leading activity restructures and forms new processes that are basic for a certain age of the child.
The emergence of a new leading type does not cancel the performance of an activity that was important at the previous stage, rather, it is similar to the process of transforming and developing previously performed activities to satisfy a new emerging interest.
Leading activity is a theory in psychology that has many followers as well as critics. Thus, it is emphasized that despite the fact that the activity performed mediates development processes, it is not clearly fixed and defined for age intervals. More than the temporal course of events, the level of development and orientation has an influence social groups where the child is included. Accordingly, the most relevant activity in the current social situation will become the leader. This theory is valid only within the framework of child psychology and does not apply to further existence. The concept is not advisable to use to illustrate and study the mechanisms and components of a holistic and adequate development of the personality, but only for one of its sides - the development of the cognitive component.
Periodization of the leading activity in the development of the child
Periodization and differentiation of the leading activity occurs on the basis of age periodization and change psychological ages. Each such transformation occurs through the passage of a crisis transformation, where a person can get stuck or go through it quickly. The ways of overcoming are also different, for some the change of activity occurs gently and organically, while for others it looks like a local apocalypse. There are varieties of turning points: crises of relations (three and twelve years), resulting from a change in social position and interaction, and crises of the worldview concept (one year, seven and fifteen years), confronting a person with a change in his semantic space.
Periods characterized by a certain type of leading activity are divided into:
- Infancy (2 months - 1 year): the leading type of activity is performed unconsciously, obeying primary instincts, manifested in emotional communication with the environment.
- Early age (1 - 3 years) is distinguished by the predominance of object-tool (manipulative) activity that takes on a social context, i.e. implies a social way of mastering the subject. There are many experiments with the qualities of objects.
— Preschool age (3 — 7 years) — main activity development of mental neoplasms is reduced to the study and internalization of social role-playing interpersonal interactions. It is carried out through role-playing games to understand relationships, tasks, motives for various actions, depending on the accepted social role and the subject used. Norms and rules, peculiarities of culture and society, development of the ability to communicate with peers are immediately assimilated. The formation of this social stratum so early makes it difficult to change these parameters in the future.
- Junior school age (7 - 11 years) - the leading activity is learning, and any activity that allows you to learn new knowledge is considered.
- Adolescence (11-15 years old) - there is a shift in priorities towards intimate and personality-oriented communication, and if at the previous stage communication played a functional role for learning, now learning is becoming a platform for communication.
- Youth (graduation from school) is characterized by educational and professional activities, where new tasks and value systems are established, the necessary skills are honed.
The activity of any stage is multifaceted and it has a motivational and operational side. One of these components may predominate, since their development is not synchronized, and they owe their tempo characteristics to the activity being performed. It is noticed that there is an alternation of activities with a predominance of either a motivational or an operational component. For example, if the motivational side and the emotional aspect of interaction are maximally involved in infancy, then at the next stage, operational interaction with the world and its study begin to prevail. Then again there is a further change and alternation. Such alternations are always focused on being ahead of the curve, thus creating conditions for development in the future. High level motivation leads the child to those conditions where he begins to feel a lack of operational skills, and then the next type of activity is switched on. At the stage of full mastering of the operational moments of a certain period, a lack of motivation begins to be felt, which does not allow to remain at the achieved level and, accordingly, a new phase of development begins, with a predominant motivational component. The conflict of achievement motivation and the level of opportunities present is an internal element of the development trigger.
It is important to understand that such a confrontation between the leading components does not mean the presence of only one of them, rather, their influence is inseparable, it simply changes the focus of attention from the operational side to the motivational side and vice versa.
Leadership at an early age
AT early age, after saturation of the motivational component with emotional communication, the leading activity of the child is isolated object-manipulative. The main task is to learn how to interact with objects of interest, which can occur when repeating the actions of an adult, as well as when inventing new, sometimes original and not practical ways of using. There may be attempts to collect sand in a bucket not with a spatula, but with a strainer, or comb with lipstick, etc. Development occurs better if the child masters as many actions of interest to him (usually by repeated repetition), and also invents a large number of ways to use the object.
The more simple actions the child will work out by repeating after his parents, the more detailed he explores the subject, the better his personal idea will be formed. The number of subjects should increase after one is fully studied, i.e. here the principle of intensive and deep study of one subject operates, instead of a superficial acquaintance with many things. Often this comes down to repeating an action a huge number of times, without a final meaning (rolling a car, wiping all surfaces with a cloth, regardless of pollution, etc.). From the point of view of adults, these repetitions may be meaningless, but they stimulate the child's thinking and the search for new solutions.
Interaction in various ways, and not a theoretical acquaintance with the subject, allows the child to remember it well, form his own idea about it, be able to pronounce its name and many other basic things. If the child is simply shown a new object, called its name and shown how to handle it, then there is no question of memorizing the name at all, and the manipulations will be of a cognitive nature.
Manipulative activity finds its realization in household chores. Allowing the baby to help in such activities as mopping, watering flowers, cooking dinner, cutting cookies, etc., parents simultaneously introduce him to all household items, allow him to learn how to interact with them in an interesting way. In addition, involvement in domestic activities, as a habitual way of life, will help mitigate the crisis of the third year, when the question of one's place in the world and social importance becomes acute.
The use of special games also helps to develop these functions, but their use should be an auxiliary tool. The development of a child in special, artificial conditions immerses him in a fictional world, and learning to interact with reality does not occur. Such children can perfectly navigate the movement of the chips, but be completely helpless before tying their shoelaces. So, leaving household chores to the active phase of the child's day and involving him in the process, parents give him more care than the desire to redo all the cleaning during the child's sleep.
An important rule is to accept mistakes and allow the child to make them and learn from them. Let the plate fall when washing dishes, because it is soapy and slippery, let it be the sixth broken plate, but on the seventh he will understand and everything will work out. If the parents do not understand the ongoing process, then one can meet impatience and the removal of the child from the chosen activity. This is how the formation of a skill stops, the need for development is frustrated, motivation decreases and disappears.
Leading activities in primary school age
Entering this age is characterized by a change in lifestyle and the development of a fundamentally new activity - training. The presence of a child in school lays down new theoretical knowledge and forms a social status, develops interaction with people, which determines the child's own place in this hierarchy of interaction. In addition to cardinal changes in conditions and lifestyle, the difficulties for the child lie in physiological changes and weakening nervous system. In a growing organism, disharmony of development occurs, when at this stage rapid physical growth predominates and most of the body's resources are spent on it. The problems of the nervous system can be manifested by increased excitability, motor activity, anxiety and fatigue. There is an increase in vocabulary, it is possible to invent your own language.
In teaching, not only the theoretical knowledge and experience of previous generations are assimilated, but also systems of control, evaluation and discipline. Through educational activity, interaction with society takes place, the main personal qualities of the child, semantic guidelines, and value preferences are formed.
Assimilated knowledge now represents the theoretical experience accumulated by generations, and not the direct subject study of the subject. The child cannot change the use of the object, the course of biological reactions, history, physical processes, but when interacting with knowledge about it, it changes itself. No other activity, except for educational, puts the object of change in the person himself. This is how the development of internal qualities and processes takes place. At this stage, the cognitive task is still determined by the teacher, attention is directed. In the next stages, the child learns independent search meanings and highlighting needs.
Learning activity is manifested as self-changes and the ability to notice these changes. Here begins to develop, the objectivity of assessing one's skills and needs, the correspondence of existing knowledge to the task. The ability to regulate one's behavior in relation to social norms and not just your own needs.
There is learning in building interpersonal relationships with representatives of various categories. Thus, interactions and friendships with peers are not formed according to interests. personal qualities but by external circumstances. A school friend becomes the one who sits on the next desk or stands next to the physical education. In addition to equal communication, a style of interaction with adults is being formed, which this moment also impersonal. The child learns to obey the hierarchy, and the relationship with the teacher is evaluated through the prism of academic performance.
Leading activities in adolescence
Educational activity in adolescence changes its direction and becomes more professional, with the future as its orientation, and not the unpromising assimilation of absolutely all knowledge. It is at this age that a change in attitude to subjects occurs, those that are directly related to the chosen future profession begin to be more actively studied. It is possible to attend additional courses, transfer to specializing in the chosen activity educational establishments(profile lyceums, colleges, technical schools).
The appearance of this specification does not yet indicate self-determination, but it indicates readiness for it, i.e. a number of areas are selected where a person is ready to try himself or a general direction of development, which will be concretized by further elections (institute, department, scientific work, specialization). But the formation of high indicators of theoretical thinking, social outlook, abilities for self-awareness, self-development, and reflection makes it possible to take the first steps towards self-determination.
Professional self-determination cannot be defined as an instantaneous decision. It is a time-consuming process that began a few years before adolescence and ends a few years after. But if at the previous stages there is an acquaintance with many areas of activity, which allows you to make a choice of the industry, and in the future there is a narrow specialization in the chosen direction, then it is the youthful period that is the transitional moment and the time for making the choice.
The older a person becomes, the stronger the need to make a choice presses on him, all unrealistic ideas recede back. Thus, the majority of those who want to become astronauts and models evaluate their inclinations, skills and abilities and make a choice based on real premises, and not on the basis of an image taken from a magazine. Apart from external factors, stimulating early self-determination, this is facilitated by internal processes personalities, reduced to a motivational need to take the position of an adult in society. The need for self-realization comes to the fore and becomes more relevant than ever. All the accumulated experience and the received development of the personality at this stage already takes place and can be directed to the realization of a dream and gaining independence.
Acceptance of responsibility and willingness to be responsible for one's own life, make choices and contribute to the development of society matures in the youthful period of development. The further life path of the individual and possible successes depend on how conscious the professional self-justification will be. In many ways, the problem of professional choice becomes a problem life path and space, realization not only professional, but also personal. Such a burden of responsibility and the seriousness of the decision made makes the person meet with the next developmental crisis, which affects almost all manifestations and can have a long and pathological course. Disruptions and negative consequences are especially likely if the tasks of the previous stages have not been fully mastered.
There is a further periodization of ages and mental characteristics, which is also accompanied by personality crises. At the same time, time intervals become longer, which is due to the absence of the need to know the world, as well as the slowdown of physiological and psychological processes.
By the age of 7, the child reaches a level of development that determines his readiness for schooling. Physical development, the stock of ideas and concepts, the level of development of thinking and speech, the desire to go to school - all this creates the prerequisites for systematically learning.
With admission to school, the whole structure of a child’s life changes, his regimen, relationships with people around him change. Teaching becomes the main activity. students lower grades, with very rare exceptions, love to study at school. They like the new position of the student, they are attracted by the process of learning itself. This determines the conscientious, responsible attitude of younger students to learning and school. It is no coincidence that at first they perceive the mark as an assessment of their efforts, diligence, and not the quality of the work done. Children believe that if they "try", then they study well. The teacher's approval encourages you to try even harder.
Younger students with readiness and interest master new knowledge, skills and abilities. They want to learn how to read, write correctly and beautifully, and count. True, they are more interested in the process of learning itself, and the younger student shows great activity and diligence in this regard. The games of younger schoolchildren, in which a large place is given to school and learning, also testify to the interest in the school and the process of learning.
Primary schoolchildren continue to manifest the inherent need for preschool children in active play activities, in movements. They are ready to play outdoor games for hours, cannot sit in a frozen position for a long time, they like to run around during recess. Characteristic for younger students and the need for external impressions; a first-grader, like a preschooler, is primarily attracted by the external side of objects or phenomena, activities performed (for example, the attributes of a class orderly - a sanitary bag, a bandage with a red cross, etc.).
From the first days of schooling, the child has new needs: to acquire new knowledge, to accurately fulfill the requirements of the teacher, to come to school on time and with completed assignments, the need for approval from adults (especially teachers), the need to fulfill a certain social role (to be a headman, orderly, commander of the "asterisk", etc.).
Usually the needs of younger students, especially those who were not brought up in kindergarten, are initially personal orientation. A first-grader, for example, often complains to the teacher about his neighbors, allegedly interfering with his listening or writing, which indicates his concern for personal success in learning. Gradually, as a result of the systematic work of the teacher to instill in students a sense of camaraderie and collectivism, their needs acquire a social orientation. Children want the class to be the best, so that everyone is a good student. They begin to help each other on their own initiative. The growing need to win the respect of their comrades and the growing role of public opinion testify to the development and strengthening of collectivism among younger schoolchildren.