The role of games in the development of thinking of high school students. Methods for the development of critical thinking in high school students

Khramtsova Elena Vladimirovna
postgraduate student of the Department of Psychology, Moscow Pedagogical State University, Moscow
lena_ [email protected] mail. en

Research of creative thinking of modern high school students

The social order for a creative person contributed to the fact that the study of creative thinking turned out to be a priority in domestic and foreign psychology. Creative thinking allows a person to successfully apply knowledge in new conditions, modify the surrounding reality, productively adapt to rapidly changing socio-economic conditions of life. Of particular importance is the study of creative thinking in high school students. Because, on the one hand, it becomes possible to talk about the effectiveness of the solution by the modern school of the task of developing the creative thinking of students. On the other hand, high school students are preparing for an independent life, they need to determine the prospects for the future, both professionally and personally. Solving life problems, in real terms, they apply knowledge in new conditions, reveal their new connections, formulate plans that are adequate to their own inner essence.

Currently, concepts, approaches, units of analysis of creative thinking, its types, forms, levels, stages, functions are considered in psychology. Methods for studying creative thinking are determined, criteria for the product of creativity and the main factors determining the dependence of the development of students' creative thinking on the type of education, the nature of the methodological support of the educational process, and ways of organizing the cognitive activity of students are identified. However, despite the fact that the study of creative thinking is carried out widely, many questions remain unresolved. In particular, the conceptual apparatus, the nature of creative thinking, and the features of its development at specific stages of ontogeny and learning are not fully defined.

As part of our study on the study of the determinants of creative thinking in adolescence, one of the main tasks was to identify the characteristics of creative thinking in high school students. Researchers have repeatedly emphasized that at this age, students are most capable of creativity, of formulating heuristic hypotheses. The development of creative thinking acquires new specifics, determined, on the one hand, by age factors, and, on the other hand, by new conditions of life, learning, interpersonal communication and interaction. In the psychological literature, there are conflicting information about the age characteristics of the manifestation of creative abilities: some authors express the opinion that creativity manifests itself unevenly, with an interval of four years - at five, nine, thirteen and seventeen years. Others, however, cite data that the level of development of creative thinking remains relatively stable from 3 to 15 years old, and increases sharply from 15 to 18. But in both the first and second cases, adolescence is marked as sensitive for the development of creative thinking. Thus, one of the peaks in the development of creative thinking falls on the period of high school education, which is characterized by a fairly high degree of awareness and lack of spontaneity.

Studying the features of creative thinking of high school students, we adhered to the theory of thinking put forward and substantiated by O.K. Tikhomirov. He noted that the main feature of creative thinking is the level of generalization, the nature of the means used, their novelty for the subject, the degree of activity of the subject of thinking itself. This approach, in our opinion, makes it expedient to use in an experimental study a complex of verbal and non-verbal subtests from the methods of J. Gilford, E. P. Torrensa , E. de Bono . Verbal tests included six tasks aimed at determining the verbal side of creative thinking: "Distant associations", "Words", "Deduction", "Options for the use of objects", finding a way to complete, the ability to build a task. Non-verbal tests included three tasks aimed at determining the non-verbal side of creative thinking: "Interpreting pictures", "Completing pictures", "Draw". When evaluating the test results, the characteristics of creative thinking - fluency, flexibility, originality, uniqueness - acted as criteria for the process under study. The subjects were 60 high school students of school No. 1269 and Education Center No. 2000 (Moscow).

In the course of processing the obtained results, indicators of descriptive statistics were calculated: the arithmetic mean (M) and standard deviation (σ) of the characteristics of the verbal and non-verbal aspects of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality and uniqueness. When comparing the average indicators (M), it was revealed that the arithmetic mean of the flexibility of verbal creative thinking (0.02) has the highest indicator, followed by the indicators of uniqueness (0.018), fluency (0.015) and the lowest indicator has originality (0.013).

M.V. Glebova notes that in senior school age "the level of productive mental activity is below average." According to her research, the only exception is the indicator of flexibility, which is developed quite strongly. According to the results of our study, the indicator of flexibility of the verbal side of creative thinking in older students is higher than other indicators. This is consistent with the results obtained in and once again indicates a high degree of adaptability of the intellect and the ability to change the personal attitudes, principles, ways of thinking of high school students. When comparing the average indicators (M) of the non-verbal side of creative thinking, it was revealed that the highest value is the arithmetic mean of originality (0.011), followed by the indicators of uniqueness (0.01), fluency (0.008) and, on the contrary, the lowest indicator is found in flexibility (0.007). Analyzing and comparing the indicators of the characteristics of the verbal and non-verbal sides of creative thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality and uniqueness) of the subjects, we can conclude that the indicators of the characteristics of the verbal side are higher on average by (0.01), the characteristics of the non-verbal side of creative thinking. Consequently, the overall indicator of the results of the verbal side of creative thinking (0.017) is higher than the indicator of its non-verbal side by (0.008).

The results obtained are not random, they are due to the traditional system of education (the subjects were trained according to the traditional system), where the educational process is largely focused on verbal methods and the reproductive mental activity of students. The content, forms, teaching methods as a whole are not sufficiently oriented towards the purposeful formation of the intellectual and creative activity of schoolchildren.

In order to identify the presence of relationships between the components of the verbal and non-verbal aspects of creative thinking, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used (since the compared variables belong to the interval scale and their distribution is close to normal). Analysis of correlations showed the presence of significant correlation coefficients. However, it should be noted that the inversely proportional relationship between the components of the two sides of creative thinking is more clearly visible. Correlation coefficients for verbal fluency and non-verbal uniqueness (-0.259); verbal originality and non-verbal uniqueness (-0.256); verbal uniqueness and non-verbal fluency (-0.262). Their significance was at the 5% level and was inversely proportional. This means that the lines of development of the verbal and non-verbal aspects of creative thinking in high school students are not sufficiently integrated, and special means and techniques are needed for their purposeful development during the educational process.

At the next stage of the analysis of the results of the experimental study, the levels of development of creative thinking of the subjects of this sample were identified. Using the method of sigma zones allowed us to classify the indicators as high, medium and low. Average indicators were located within М±σ, indicators above М+σ were considered as high, below М-σ – as low. On the verbal side of thinking: 20% of the subjects had high scores, 68.3% had average scores, and 11.7% had low scores. On the non-verbal side: 13% of the subjects had high results, 80.2% had average results, and 6.8% had low results. The results obtained indicate an insufficiently high level of development of creative thinking of modern high school students, the average indicators turned out to be predominant.

In addition, the results were analyzed and compared separately in the group of boys and girls. The significance of differences in the indicators of the components of creative thinking turned out to be statistically unreliable, which allows us to say that there are no differences in the development of creative thinking among girls and boys in high school.

So, the theoretical generalization of works on the problem of the development of creative thinking makes it possible to characterize the senior school age as sensitive for the development of creative thinking. The characteristic features of the creative thinking of high school students were experimentally revealed. These include a higher level of development of all components of the verbal side of thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality, uniqueness) in comparison with the non-verbal. If the indicators of flexibility, the verbal side are the highest, and the non-verbal the lowest, then the indicators of originality, on the contrary, are higher non-verbal and the lowest - verbal. There is no close relationship in the development of the verbal and non-verbal sides of creative thinking, that is, the development of one of its sides does not contribute to the development of the other side. There are no gender differences, the creative thinking of boys and girls is equally developed. Predominantly modern high school students have an average level of development of creative thinking (74%). This makes it possible to talk about the insufficient level of development of creative thinking and the need for purposeful use of the system of psychological and pedagogical influences to improve its development in older students.

Literature:

1. Bogoyavlenskaya, D.B. Psychology of creative abilities / D.B. Epiphany. - M., 2002 - 320 p.
2. Davydov, V.V. Theory of developing education / V.V. Davydov. - M., 1996. - 544 p.
3. Ponomarev, Ya.A. Psychology of creativity and pedagogy / Ya.A. Ponomarev - M., 1976. - 280 - p.
4.Tikhomirov, O.K. Psychology of thinking / O.K. Tikhomirov - M., 2002. - 288 p.
5.Telegina, E.D. Reproductive and productive components of thinking in pedagogical activity. / Thinking and communication in practice. - Yaroslavl, 1992. - S. 75-76.
6.Amabile, T.M. The Social Psychology of Creativity / T. M . Amabile, N.Y., 1983, 415 p.
7. Glebova, M.V. Psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of productive thinking of high school students in the learning process: dis. … cand. psychol. Sciences / M.V. Glebov. - St. Petersburg, 2000. - 270 p.
8. Obukhov, L.F. Development of divergent thinking in childhood / L.F. Obukhova, S.M. Churbanova - M., 1994. - 80 p.
9. Tunick, E.E. Creative tests (adapted version). - St. Petersburg, 2002. - 82 p.
10. A short test of creative thinking. Figured form. - M., 1995. - 48 p.
11. Bono, Edward de. lateral thinking. - St. Petersburg, 1997. - 320 p.

Recommended for publication:
E.D.Telegina, Doctor of Psychology, scientific supervisor of the work
I.A. Baeva, Doctor of Psychology, Member of the Editorial Board

The term "critical thinking" has been known for a very long time from the works of such well-known psychologists as J. Piaget, J. Brunner, L. S. Vygotsky; in the professional language in Russia, it began to be used relatively recently.

The problem of the development of critical thinking in the modern world is becoming increasingly important. One of the most important tasks of the education system is teaching critical thinking.

Critical thinking is a judgment system that is used to analyze things and events with the formulation of reasonable conclusions and allows you to make reasonable assessments, interpretations, and also correctly apply the results to situations and problems.

Today, in various scientific studies, you can find different definitions of the definition of the term "critical thinking".

R. Paul worked on the problem of substantiating the importance of the development of critical thinking, considered its essential features and social component. In his opinion, critical thinking can be defined in different ways that do not contradict each other. He offered this working definition: "Critical thinking is thinking about thinking when you reason in order to improve your thinking." The decisive importance of two points is noted: 1) critical thinking entails self-improvement; 2) relies on the use of standards for the correct assessment of the mental process. Thus, critical thinking is the self-improvement of thinking based on certain standards. In his book "Critical Thinking" R. Paul offers a broader definition: "Critical thinking is disciplined, self-governing, demonstrating excellence in accordance with a particular way or sphere of thought. It includes two forms: if discipline serves the interests of an individual or group, ignoring other relevant people or groups is sophistical or weak critical thinking; and if discipline takes into account the interests of diverse people or groups, this is perfect or strong critical thinking.

According to M. Lipman, critical thinking is a process of independent and responsible decision-making based on criteria and context using self-correction. Such thinking is necessary to prepare students for independent, fruitful work and life in a democratic society. Otherwise, pupils will not be able to become effective subjects. Critical thinking is made up of skills and dispositions. Dispositions are not skills, but create a willingness to use them. Critical thinking is generated by a problem situation.

Diane Halpern offers the following definition of critical thinking: “The use of such cognitive skills and strategies that increase the likelihood of obtaining the desired result. Differs in balance, logic and purposefulness. Another definition is directed thinking."

First of all, thinking is the highest cognitive process. It is a product of new knowledge, an active form of creative reflection and transformation of reality by a person. Thinking generates such a result, which does not exist either in reality itself or in the subject at a given moment in time. Thinking (animals also have it in elementary forms) can also be understood as the acquisition of new knowledge, the creative transformation of existing ideas.

The difference between thinking and other psychological processes is also that it is almost always associated with the presence of a problem situation, a task that needs to be solved, and an active change in the conditions in which this task is set. Thinking, unlike perception, goes beyond the limits of the sensuously given, expands the boundaries of knowledge. In thinking based on sensory information, certain theoretical and practical conclusions are drawn. It reflects being not only in the form of individual things, phenomena and their properties, but also determines the connections that exist between them, which are most often not given directly, in the very perception of a person. The properties of things and phenomena, the connections between them are reflected in thinking in a generalized form, in the form of laws, entities.

In practice, thinking as a separate mental process does not exist, it is invisibly present in all other cognitive processes: in perception, attention, imagination, memory, speech. The higher forms of these processes are necessarily associated with thinking, and the degree of its participation in these cognitive processes determines their level of development.

Thinking is the movement of ideas, revealing the essence of things. Its result is not an image, but some thought, an idea. The specific result of thinking can be a concept - a generalized reflection of a class of objects in their most general and essential features.

Thinking is a special kind of theoretical and practical activity, involving a system of actions and operations included in it of an orienting-research, transformative and cognitive nature.

Consider the types of thinking:

Theoretical conceptual thinking is such thinking, using which a person, in the process of solving a problem, refers to concepts, performs actions in the mind, without directly dealing with experience obtained with the help of the senses. He discusses and looks for a solution to the problem from beginning to end in his mind, using ready-made knowledge obtained by other people, expressed in a conceptual form, judgments, conclusions. Theoretical conceptual thinking is characteristic of scientific theoretical research.

Theoretical figurative thinking differs from conceptual thinking in that the material that a person uses here to solve a problem is not concepts, judgments or conclusions, but images. They are either directly retrieved from memory or creatively recreated by the imagination. Such thinking is used by workers in literature, art, in general, people of creative work who deal with images. In the course of solving mental problems, the corresponding images are mentally transformed so that a person, as a result of manipulating them, can directly see the solution of the problem of interest to him.

Both considered types of thinking - theoretical conceptual and theoretical figurative - in reality, as a rule, coexist. They complement each other quite well, reveal to a person different, but interconnected aspects of being. Theoretical conceptual thinking provides, although abstract, but at the same time the most accurate, generalized reflection of reality. Theoretical figurative thinking makes it possible to obtain a specific subjective perception of it, which is no less real than the objective-conceptual one. Without this or that kind of thinking, our perception of reality would not be as deep and versatile, accurate and rich in various shades, as it is in reality.

A distinctive feature of the next type of visual-figurative thinking is that the thought process in it is directly connected with the perception of the surrounding reality by a thinking person and cannot be carried out without it. Thinking visually and figuratively, a person is attached to reality, and the images themselves necessary for thinking are presented in his short-term and operative memory (in contrast, images for theoretical figurative thinking are retrieved from long-term memory and then transformed).

The last of the types of thinking is visual-effective. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the process of thinking itself is a practical transformational activity carried out by a person with real objects. The main condition for solving the problem in this case is the correct actions with the appropriate objects. This type of thinking is widely represented among people engaged in real production work, the result of which is the creation of any specific material product.

Note that the listed types of thinking act simultaneously as levels of its development. Theoretical thinking is considered more perfect than practical, and conceptual thinking represents a higher level of development than figurative.

Senior school age is characterized by the continuing development of general and special abilities of children on the basis of the main leading activities: teaching, communication and labor. In teaching, general intellectual abilities are formed, especially conceptual theoretical thinking. This happens due to the assimilation of concepts, improving the ability to use them, to reason logically and abstractly. A significant increase in subject knowledge creates a good basis for the subsequent development of skills and abilities in those types of activities where this knowledge is practically necessary.

In adolescence and early adolescence, the formation of cognitive processes, and above all thinking, is completed. During these years, the thought finally unites with the word, as a result of which inner speech is formed as the main means of organizing thinking and regulating other cognitive processes. Intellect in its highest manifestations becomes speech, and speech becomes intellectualized. There is a full-fledged theoretical thinking. Along with this, there is an active process of formation of scientific concepts that contain the foundations of a person’s scientific worldview within the framework of those sciences that are studied at school. Mental actions and operations with concepts, based on the logic of reasoning and distinguishing verbal-logical, abstract thinking from visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking, acquire final forms. Is it possible to speed up all these processes, and if so, how to do it?

It seems that from the point of view of the psychological and pedagogical development opportunities that middle and high school students have, from the standpoint of improving teaching and learning, this question should be answered in the affirmative. The intellectual development of children can be accelerated in three directions: the conceptual structure of thinking, speech intelligence and the internal plan of action. The development of thinking in high school can be facilitated by this type of lesson, which, unfortunately, is still poorly represented in a general education school, as rhetoric, understood as the ability to plan, compose and deliver public speeches, conduct a discussion, and skillfully answer questions. Of great benefit can be played by various forms of written presentation of thought, used not only in language and literature classes (in the form of a traditional presentation or composition), but also in other school subjects. They may well be used in mathematics classes, in particular in stereometry, when solving a construction problem at the stage of analyzing the conditions of the problem and at the stage of exploring possible solutions. At the same time, it is important to evaluate not only the content, but also the form of presentation of the material.

Accelerated formation of scientific concepts can be achieved in the classroom in special subjects, where the relevant concepts are introduced and studied. When presenting any concept to a student, including a scientific one, it is important to pay attention to the following points:

a) almost every concept, including scientific, has several meanings;

b) ordinary words from everyday language, which is also used to define scientific concepts, are polysemantic and precise enough to determine the scope and containing a non-scientific concept. Therefore, any definitions of concepts through the words of ordinary language can only be approximate;

c) the noted properties allow, as a completely normal phenomenon, the existence of different definitions of the same concepts that completely coincide with each other, and this applies even to the most exact sciences, such as mathematics and physics. A scientist who uses the corresponding concepts is usually clear what is being discussed, and therefore he does not always care that the definitions of all scientific concepts without exception are the same;

d) for the same person as he develops, as well as science and scientists representing it as they penetrate into the essence of the phenomena being studied, the scope and content of concepts naturally change. Pronouncing the same words after a significant period of time, we usually put in them a slightly different meaning that changes over time. It follows from this that in the middle and high school, students should not mechanically learn and repeat the frozen definitions of scientific concepts. Rather, it should be ensured that the students themselves find and define these concepts. This will undoubtedly speed up the process of development of the conceptual structure of thinking in high school students. The formation of an internal plan of action can be helped by special exercises aimed at ensuring that the same actions are performed as often as possible not with real, but with imaginary objects, that is, in the mind. For example, in mathematics classes, students should be encouraged to count more not on paper or using a calculator, but to themselves, to find and clearly formulate the principle and sequential steps in solving a certain problem before they practically begin to implement the solution found. It is necessary to adhere to the rule: until the decision is fully thought out in the mind, until a plan of actions included in it is drawn up and until it is verified for logic, the practical implementation of the decision should not be started. These principles and rules can be used in the classroom in all school subjects without exception, then the internal plan of action will be formed among students faster.

A characteristic feature of adolescence is the readiness and ability for many different types of learning, both in practical terms (labor skills) and theoretically (the ability to think, reason, use concepts). Another trait that is first fully revealed during adolescence is a tendency to experiment, manifested, in particular, in the unwillingness to take everything for granted. Adolescents discover broad cognitive interests associated with the desire to double-check everything on their own, to personally verify the truth. By the beginning of adolescence, this desire is somewhat reduced, and instead of it there is more trust in someone else's experience, based on a reasonable attitude towards its source.

Adolescence is characterized by increased intellectual activity, which is stimulated not only by the natural age-related curiosity of adolescents, but also by the desire to develop, demonstrate their abilities to others, and receive high praise from them. In this regard, adolescents in public tend to take on the most complex and prestigious tasks, often showing not only a highly developed intellect, but also outstanding abilities. They are characterized by an emotionally negative affective reaction to tasks that are too simple. Such tasks do not attract them, and they refuse to perform them due to considerations of prestige.

At the heart of the increased intellectual and labor activity of adolescents are not only the above motives. Behind all this, one can also see a natural interest, an increased curiosity of children of this age. The questions that a teenager asks adult children, teachers and parents are often quite deep and touch the very essence of things.

Adolescents can formulate hypotheses, reason presumptively, explore and compare different alternatives in solving the same problems. The sphere of cognitive, including educational, interests of adolescents goes beyond the school and takes the form of cognitive amateur activity - the desire to search for and acquire knowledge, to form useful skills and abilities. Teenagers find activities and books that suit their interests and can provide intellectual satisfaction. The desire for self-education is a characteristic feature of both adolescence and early adolescence.

The thinking of a teenager is characterized by a desire for broad generalizations. Independence of thinking is manifested in the independence of the choice of the way of behavior. Adolescents and especially young men accept only what they personally think is reasonable, expedient and useful.

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Sergunina Svetlana Valentinovna Features of social thinking of high school students: Dis. ... cand. psychol. Sciences: 19.00.07: Moscow, 2001 172 p. RSL OD, 61:02-19/33-2

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

1.1. The problem of social thinking in psychology. nine

1.2. Psychological features of thinking of high school students and the problem of its transformation in modern society 41

CHAPTER 2. ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 59

2.1. Organization and specific objectives of the study 59

2.2. Methods and techniques of experimental research 60

CHAPTER 3

3.1. Features of thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation 74

3.1.1. Study of the motivation of social thinking of high school students 74

3.1.2. Characteristics of the mental activity of high school students at the stage of setting tasks 87

3.2.1. Features of mental activity of high school students in the process of solving life problems 97

3.2.2. Study of life path forecasting processes 117

3.2.3. Features of the processes of choosing by high school students their position in society 123

Conclusion 133

Bibliography 138

Applications 157

Introduction to work

The successful solution of life problems, the achievement of high results in one’s personal and professional development largely depends on the level of activity and the adequacy of the subject’s reflection of reality, on the ability to navigate well in it, fix

ШІ to take into account all the main connections and occurring in natural and social action

the validity of the change. The development of this ability is based on productive
working intellect (A.A. Bodalev). An essential aspect of development and
functioning of the intellect are the processes of goal formation and
predicting. These processes are of particular importance precisely in the
» transitional periods of social development. Formation of life and pro-

Professional goals are not abstract in people. They, as A.A. Bodalev "are most often concretized depending on the characteristics of the community that is positively subjectively significant for a person" (21, p. 71), noting further that such a community is not only a small group to which a person belongs, but also a country,

Шї/ of which he is a citizen, and all spheres of his life - politics, economic

mika, technology, science, education and others. Currently, significant changes are taking place in all these areas that affect the development

social thinking, designed to solve social problems of specific
_, ny subject. Thinking about social reality

solving its problems, different from thinking, solving the problem of the subject
foot world. The subject of social thinking is "relationships
people, social processes in which social relations are realized
decisions, the people themselves (features of their behavior) and, finally, the way of life
personality” (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya). In many aspects, the problem
development and functioning of social thinking in the new reality
^ the hundred remains underdeveloped. In particular, this applies to

leniation of the features of social thinking of people in different age periods.

The importance of studying the features of social thinking that affect the processes of adequate reflection by a person of a new reality, adaptation to it, and the achievement of success in the civil and professional fields determines the relevance of this study, which is even more aggravated in relation to the study of the features of social thinking in early adolescence.

Early adolescence is the age when personal and professional self-determination takes place, when one has to choose value orientations and make important decisions for the rest of one's life. The reforms taking place in society have accelerated the process of maturation of adolescents and youth.

necks, who are more and more actively involved in the process of solving various kinds of life problems.

Currently, in the psychology of thinking, a direction is being formed
studies in which the problem of thinking is included in a wide social
context (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, E.D. Telegina, O.K. Tikhomi-
Sh" 1 ditch, O.M. Krasnoryadtsev and others). The emphasis is shifted from the study of pro-

processes for solving laboratory problems for solving problems that arise in real human life.

The thinking of high school students has traditionally been studied to a greater extent within the framework of educational activities, while in reality it is included in the solution of a wider class of problems.

The psychological and social significance of studying the characteristics of the social thinking of high school students, as well as the insufficient development of this problem, determined the choice of the research topic and determined its purpose.

Purpose of the study is to identify the features of the social thinking of modern high school students in its involvement in their real life.

Object of study: social thinking of the subject.

Subject of study: features of the content and structure of social thinking of modern high school students.

Research hypotheses:

The peculiarities of the social thinking of high school students are due to their interaction with the sociocultural environment, which determines the specific characteristics of its main structural elements - the stage of initiation, including the formation of specific motives and the formulation of problems, the choice of alternatives in life situations, the processes of predicting the life path, the interpretation of the phenomena of modern reality, and others.

the formation of the characteristic features of the psychological structure of social thinking depends on the type of schooling and gender and age differences among students.

In accordance with the purpose and hypotheses of the study, the following tasks.

1. Conduct a theoretical analysis of the problem of social thinking of modern high school students.

2. Reveal the features of social thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation.

3. Reveal the peculiarities of thinking of high school students in the process of solving life problems, predicting the life path and choosing a position in society.

4. Determine the features of the social thinking of high school students depending on the type of schooling and gender and age differences.

Research methods: theoretical analysis of the literature on the research problem; a set of psychodiagnostic methods for studying the characteristics of social thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation, vision and problem setting, goal setting, life path forecasting, orientation towards search activities, attitude to innovations; methods of questioning, testing, survey; qualitative and quantitative analysis of empirical data.

Methodological basis of the study is: an activity approach, recognition of the active activity nature of thinking (A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinshtein, O.K. Tikhomirov, etc.); studies of the influence of social instability on human behavior and psychology (B.A. Sosnovsky, A.K. Bolotova, E.P. Krupnik, E.D. Telegina, etc.); the concept of consciousness as a social thinking of the individual (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A.V. Brushlinsky, S. Moskovichi, etc.); studies of the influence of the social environment on the development of personality and thinking in early adolescence (D.I. Feldshtein, M.R. Ginzburg, I.S. Kon, etc.)

Experimental research base: senior classes of school-lyceum No. 26 of the city of Saransk. The study involved 142 schoolchildren.

Reliability and validity the results of the study are provided with a multilateral analysis of the problem when highlighting the initial theoretical and methodological positions; a set of standard, tested

nyh test and experimental tasks adequate to the goals and objectives of the study; a significant number of subjects; a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained with the use of methods of statistical processing of the results.

Scientific novelty and theoretical significance of the work are that it reveals the main features of the social thinking of high school students in modern society: positive - orientation to the future, communication, professional and personal development and negative - low level of problematicness, the predominance of the living level of understanding problems, low indicators of the complexity of decision making , the frequent predominance of random choices. It has been established that, on the one hand, these features are formed spontaneously, reflecting the influence on the subjects of the entire diverse spectrum of changes occurring in the world and in their lives, on the other hand, they are the result of purposeful formation of thinking in real life, carried out in the processes of training and education. It is shown that innovative forms of education increase in high school students such indicators of social thinking as the level of problematicness, the social orientation of interests in the vision and formulation of problems, their own activity in posing problems, taking into account alternatives when making a decision. The results obtained in the work deepen the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of functioning and the structure of the social thinking of high school students and open up new ways to manage its development in the direction of forming social values ​​and creating conditions for an active independent search for solutions to life problems.

Practical significance The research lies in the fact that the results obtained can be used in educational and career guidance work with high school students, in providing them with psychological support in choosing their place in life and planning the future.

Basic provisions for defense.

1. The social thinking of high school students, aimed at posing and solving problems in the field of social phenomena, relationships between people and choosing their own life path, is characterized by features determined by the specifics of the relationship between the individual and society and manifested at all main stages and structural elements of thinking: the stage of initiation, problematic, choice alternative solutions, forecasting and interpretation.

2. The peculiarities of the motivation that regulates the processes of vision and problem setting at the stage of social thinking initiation is the high intensity of the interests of high school students in the current problems of our time, as well as in the field of leisure, while reducing the intensity of interests in the educational and professional sphere. The factor of increasing the role of the regulatory influence of motives on increasing the level of problematicity (vision and formulation of problems in various areas of social reality) is the training of high school students in the conditions of innovative technologies and new sociocultural programs.

3. A feature of solving problems by high school students in the field of social processes is the predominance of everyday and empirical knowledge with a lack of mechanisms for analyzing complex life situations. An increase in indicators characterizing the level of assessment of actual life situations and the choice of alternative solutions takes place when high school students are included in personally significant activities, such as choosing a social position and predicting a life path.

4. The influence of the living environment on the social thinking of high school students
kov is manifested in an increase in the number of students with high
*shki mi of the level of problematic, adequate interpretation of social phenomena

ny, increasing the focus on independent search activity in

learning conditions according to new educational standards, taking into account gender differences.

Approbation of the research results. The materials and results of the study were discussed at scientific conferences of teachers and students of the Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute. M.E. Evsevyeva (1997, 1998), at the scientific and practical conference at the Moscow State Pedagogical University (1997); at the interregional scientific and practical conference "Psychology and Practice" (Saransk, 1999); at the pedagogical and methodological councils of the lyceum school No. 26 in Saransk (1999); at the postgraduate association of the Department of Psychology of the Moscow State Pedagogical University (2000), at the meeting of the Department of Psychology of the Moscow State Pedagogical University (2001).

The problem of social thinking in psychology

Currently, in the psychology of thinking, one of the trends in its development is the shift of researchers' interest from studying the process of solving laboratory problems to studying their formulation and solution in real life conditions. In line with this trend, the problem of social thinking of the individual as thinking about social reality has been formed. The study of social thinking is included in a wide range of sociological and socio-psychological problems. In this regard, the development of the problem of the features of social thinking of people of various age categories, including high school students, includes an analysis of such issues as determining their place in the system of social

I relationships, interaction with the people around them, involvement in various social processes, connection with leading activities, and a number of others. Currently, our society is undergoing significant economic, political and social transformations that have an impact on human psychology. The problem of the influence of social conditions on the psyche and behavior of a person is studied by representatives of almost all human sciences - psychology, sociology, acmeology and others. In a general form, this problem was developed in philosophy, both in the history of the development of philosophical knowledge, and in the studies of modern authors.

In domestic psychology, the problem of the influence of society on the personality and thinking of the subject was developed by K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsiferova, A.G. Asmolov, P.P. Blonsky, A.V. Brushlinsky, L.S. Vygotsky, I.S. Kohn, AN. Leontiev, A.R. Luria, S.L. Rubinstein, D.I. Feldstein, E.V. Shorokhova and others. The convincing conclusions of these works are: the determinism of the development of the personality of society M \ vein-historical conditions; interdependence of personality development

and social environment; the conditionality of personality development by activity and a variety of relationships that manifest themselves primarily in the process of human interaction in society and a social group.

The real historical process includes, along with periods of relatively stable existence, periods of acute destabilization associated with wars, revolutions, catastrophes, which makes it necessary to specifically investigate questions about how a person changes, his behavior, psyche, consciousness, thinking during these periods. In this regard, I.S. Kohn specifically posed as one of the most pressing problems of modern reality (the need to study a developing individual in a changing world ”(88, p. 75). In developing this problem, he sees a new methodological perspective for studying a person in specific historical conditions. This can be fully attributed to the development of the problem of social thinking.

As part of our study, we will consider works in which the social environment does not appear as a static environment, in the form of a set of specified conditions, but as a changeable, dynamic formation and its impact on personal development.

The idea of ​​a connection between cognitive processes and culture was first proposed by Lucien Levy-Bruhl in his monograph on primitive thinking (101). He noted the fundamental differences in primitive thinking and the thinking of modern man. The main position of the work is that when studying the thinking of an individual, it is necessary to analyze the culture to which this individual belongs. Culture itself is characterized by a set of common views existing in it, or "collective ideas", which determine the thinking of individuals belonging to this culture. In the 30s A.R. Luria conducted a study in Central Asia, the purpose of which was to study the cognitive processes in people who underwent a rapid and radical change in socio-historical forms of life. It was on the transition from illiteracy to rapid inclusion in culture that a study was conducted, the conclusion of which is as follows: “It is worth changing the socio-historical conditions so that the features of cognitive processes also change.” (111, p.53)

Organization and specific objectives of the study

In order to study the features of the social thinking of modern high school students, an experimental psychological study was carried out.

During the experiment, the following specific tasks were solved: 1. To reveal the peculiarities of the motivation of thinking of high school students in modern society.

2. Reveal the features of the mental activity of high school students at the stage of problem setting (problematic social thinking). 3. Reveal the features of the mental activity of students in the process of solving life problems.

4. To reveal the mechanisms of mental activity of students in grades 10-11 in

life path prediction.

5. To reveal the place and role of mental activity in the process of choosing by high school students their position in society.

6. Reveal the peculiarities of students' thinking depending on the type of schooling and gender differences.

Stages of experimental psychological research:

1. The study of the features of social thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation.

2. The study of the content and structure of the mental activity of high school students in the process of solving life problems.

The research was carried out in school-lyceum No. 26 in Saransk during the 1998-1999 academic year. The experiment involved 142 people. The object of the study was students of 10th, linear (97 people) and general education (45 people) classes. LL

Methods and techniques of experimental research.

To conduct an experimental psychological study, the following methods were used: questioning, testing, methods of statistical processing of experimental data.

To identify the peculiarities of the thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation, experimental methods were applied that reflect the motive-forming component of thinking - a questionnaire by D.V. Oborina (163) and the peculiarities of the mental activity of students at the stage of setting the task - the “Composition” technique by G.E. Belitskaya (16).

Questionnaire D.V. Oborina to study the attitude of high school students to some topical problems of our time allows us to obtain information about the interests of the respondents in the light of today's reality. It makes it possible to reveal the peculiarities of the interests of high school students (consciousness, difference in strength, consistency) in the field of leisure (what they like to do in their free time, what literature they read, what music they listen to, what films and TV shows they prefer to watch), educational and professional activities (in which educational institution would like to study at the moment, whether the school is considered capable of preparing for independent life, what professions are considered the most prestigious), the attitude of students to "new" social problems (drug addiction, racketeering, prostitution, early sexual activity, early pregnancy, abortion). These data are especially significant for the study of thinking included in a broad social context.

The questionnaire contains 21 questions, its fragment reflecting the nature of the interests of students (questions 1 to 5) is presented in Appendix 1. All questions of the questionnaire are set as semi-open (each question has an “other” item), which allows students to supplement the proposed answers with others types; this contributes to obtaining more complete information and gives the student the right to express his own opinion. The proposed questionnaire is preceded by the following instruction: “For each question, choose one (or no more than three) answer options that you consider the most acceptable for yourself. If the list does not contain the answer to the question that you think is correct, you can write your own answer (the “other” item is provided for this). Processing of results. The number of responses for each item of the question is counted and preferences are determined. Then the coefficient of interest (Ki) is calculated for each student and for each selected group of students (lyceum students, students of general education classes, boys and girls) according to content blocks (interests of high school students, attitude to problems, educational and professional activities). The described research method, together with the method of processing the results, makes it possible to judge the structure of the system of students' interests, and after it, the structure of the motivational-need sphere.

Features of thinking of high school students at the stage of initiation

Of the 21 questions of the questionnaire, there are fifteen such, where a statistically significant difference in the distribution of students, depending on the chosen answer, is present in each selected group. These are questions from the category of interests of high school students (favorite activities in their free time, preferred movies, TV shows, musical preferences, favorite literary genres), attitudes to problems (healthy lifestyle, racketeering, prostitution, early sexual life, early pregnancy, abortion, dangers and fears , help and support) and educational and professional motives (the most prestigious and worthy professions, preparation for a future life).

Of the 21 questions in the questionnaire, there are three where a statistically significant difference in the distribution of students occurs when comparing the answers of boys and girls from lyceum and general education classes. These are questions from the category of attitude to problems (the need to adhere to the principles of a healthy lifestyle, a sense of security, the desire to have weapons).

Of the 21 questions of the questionnaire, there is one where a statistically significant difference in the distribution is present when comparing the answers of students of lyceum and general education classes and students of general education classes of boys and girls. This is a question from the category of attitude to problems (drug addiction).

Of the 21 questions of the questionnaire, there is one where a statistically significant difference occurs when comparing the answers of students of lyceum and general education classes and lyceum students boys and girls. This is a question from the category of attitude to problems (awareness about the means and methods of safe sex).

Of the 21 questions of the questionnaire, there is one where a statistically significant difference occurs when comparing the answers of boys and girls from lyceum classes. This is a question from the category of educational and professional activities (in which educational institution would you like to study at the moment).

Significant changes in the content and distribution of interests of high school students (in the field of leisure and educational and professional activities), their attitude to various social problems can be traced by comparing our data with the results of previous studies. According to our study, in their free time, high school students prefer communication with friends, which plays a leading role in shaping the life orientation and value orientations of the individual.

In 1978-79. (185) the leading place in the structure of leisure among young people was occupied by reading books - more than 50% of men and 41% of women and visiting cinemas - 32% of men and 25% of women. The high attendance of cinemas is also noted in the study by Ch.A. Shakeyeva in 1980-84. (217).

Judging by the results of our study and others (217, 163), visits to entertainment institutions (cinemas, theaters, exhibitions) have decreased. The reason may be the lack of good interesting films, performances that meet the modern tastes of young people, monotonous content, themes of films and theatrical productions; as a result of the development of video technology; purely material reasons.

A modern high school student is characterized by a decrease in interest in reading books, serious literature; preference is given to magazines and newspapers, perhaps because in a relatively short period of time necessary for reading them, you can get a fairly large amount of information from different areas (politics, culture, economics), and young men and women tend to be aware of all occurring events.

When we start talking about any pedagogical element, a natural question arises - is it necessary to introduce it at once in the entire course of study, or is it worth determining the framework in which it will work. In this section, we will try to show that the psychological characteristics of the senior school age allow us to easily teach them the basics of mathematical logic.

First of all, let's try to understand what is logical thinking. Modern Russian psychologist V.P. Zinchenko wrote that “the classification of types of thinking is still rather blurry due to the fact that there are no clear lines between them and in fact there is only a living process of thinking, in which all its varieties are represented in different proportions.” According to his classification, thinking is divided into: concrete-figurative thinking, a variation of which is visual; verbal intelligence or verbal-logical, discursive thinking; sign-symbolic and mythological thinking.

In this paper, we consider verbal-logical thinking, which is otherwise called simply logical.

At different times, various aspects of the mental activity of schoolchildren were studied. This was done by such researchers as, for example, S.L. Rubinstein (1946), P.P. Blonsky (1979), Ya.A. Ponomarev (1967), Yu.A. Samarin (1962), M.N. Shardakov (1963). Abroad, the same question was raised by J. Piaget (1969), G.A. Austin (1956), M.I. Goldschmid (1976), K.W. Fischer (1980), R.J. Sternberg (1982).

One of the researchers, Russian psychologist R.S. Nemov, wrote that thinking, unlike other processes, takes place in accordance with a certain logic. Thus, in the structure of thinking, he singled out the following logical operations: comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization.

In addition to these types and operations, R.S. Nemov also singled out the processes of thinking. He referred to them judgment, inference, definition of concepts, induction, deduction. Judgment is a statement that contains a certain thought. inference is a series of logically connected statements from which new knowledge is derived. Definition of concepts is considered as a system of judgments about a certain class of objects (phenomena), highlighting their most common features. Induction and deduction are ways of producing inferences that reflect the direction of thought from the particular to the general or vice versa. Induction implies the derivation of a particular judgment from a general one, and deduction- the conclusion of the general judgment from the particular.

In general, the question of the psychological characteristics of the development of the child's thinking has been analyzed by many researchers. Soviet sociologist I.S. Cohn wrote, following the well-known foreign researcher J. Piaget, that during adolescence, the ability to abstract mental operations from the objects on which these operations are performed matures in a teenager. The tendency to theorizing becomes, to some extent, an age feature. The general decisively prevails over the particular. Another feature of the youthful psyche according to I.S. Konu is a change in the relationship between the categories of possibility and reality. The child thinks first of all about reality; in the young man, the category of possibility comes to the fore. Logical thinking operates not only with real, but also with imaginary objects, mastering this style of thinking inevitably gives rise to intellectual experimentation, a kind of game of concepts, formulas, etc. themselves as if the world had to obey systems, and not systems - reality.

R.S. Nemov confirmed this hypothesis, considering the ability to operate with hypotheses as the most important intellectual acquisition of older adolescence. He wrote that by the senior school age, students learn many scientific concepts, learn to use them in the process of solving various problems. This means the formation of their theoretical or verbal-logical thinking.

R.S. Nemov also argued that a person masters logical processes and operations as he grows up. In the lower grades, many of the thinking processes are still inaccessible to the child, while in the older grades the development of cognitive processes reaches such a level that high school students are practically ready to perform all types of mental work of an adult, including the most complex ones. The cognitive processes of high school students acquire qualities that make them perfect and flexible, and the development of the means of cognition is somewhat ahead of the personal development of boys and girls.

In general, following a fairly detailed generalization by R.S. Nemov regarding the thinking of high school students, we can say that young men can already think logically, engage in theoretical reasoning and introspection. They have the ability to draw general conclusions on the basis of private premises and, on the contrary, to proceed to private conclusions on the basis of general premises, i.e., the ability to induction and deduction.

Adolescence is different increased intellectual activity, which is stimulated not only by the natural age-related curiosity of adolescents, but also by the desire to develop, demonstrate to others their abilities, and be highly appreciated by them. In this regard, young men tend to take on the most complex and prestigious tasks in public, often showing not only a highly developed intellect, but also outstanding abilities. They are characterized by an emotionally negative affective reaction to tasks that are too simple. Such tasks do not attract them, and they refuse to perform them due to considerations of prestige. Behind all this, one can also see a natural interest, an increased curiosity of students of this age. The questions that a high school student asks to adult children, teachers and parents are often quite deep and touch the very essence of things.

Young men can formulate hypotheses, reason presumptively, explore and compare different alternatives in solving the same problems. V.A. Krutetsky argued that this ability of older students means the formation of their logical thinking, which is a significant difference between high school students and middle and junior students.

Thus, based on the work of various researchers, we can say that it is the senior school age that is best suited for the development of logical thinking. First of all, this is due to the fact that at this age logical thinking has already been formed, and development as a process of improving skills and abilities is impossible without the formation of the fundamental principle. As noted in the paragraph, younger students do not have the proper level of abstract thinking, so mathematical logic is not the best tool for instilling a logical culture in them. Only at senior school age does the student begin to think on an equal footing with an adult, so teaching him logical constructions is fully justified.