Pedagogical tools for the development of the fundamentals of critical thinking in preschool children in the process of getting to know the natural environment

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Zhytomyr Ivan Franko state university

Pedagogical tools for the development of the fundamentals of critical thinking in preschool children in the process of getting to know the natural environment

O.A. Sorochynska, PhD in Pedagogy,

Ass. Professor

I.O. Hohola, аssistant

Annotation

The purpose of the study is to update the problem of the development of the basics of critical thinking in preschool children in the process of familiarization with the natural environment; to systematize and characterize the pedagogical techniques for the development of the mentioned phenomenon in preschoolers.

Research material and methods: theoretical analysis of scientific literature and normative documents, comparison, observation, methods of mathematical statistics. Research results. Differences in the concepts of "ecological competence" and "natural-ecological competence" are defined. The main characteristics of a person with developed critical thinking are highlighted. Techniques for developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children during familiarization with the natural environment are systematized and characterized. A study was conducted among educators in the city of Zhytomyr and the region regarding the effectiveness of techniques for developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children and the list of techniques that practicing teachers use in the educational process. The practical significance of the study is that innovative methods ("Colored words”, "Picture gallery", "Prediction tree", "Geocoder", "Fishbone") have been identified and described, which can be used to develop the basics of critical thinking in preschool children in the process of familiarization with the natural environment. The use of innovative methods in the educational process of a preschool institution contributes to increasing motivation to learn new things and stimulating thinking.

Conclusions. The organization of the educational process in the preschool education institution with the introduction of pedagogical methods will allow to develop the basics of critical thinking in children, which will contribute to increasing their motivation to learn new things, analysis of events and their evaluation, making thoughtful, balanced decisions, choosing an active life position.

Key words: development, natural and ecological competence, critical thinking, critical thinking of older preschool children, critical thinking development technology, natural environment, preschool children.

Introduction of the issue

In the 21st century, an extremely rapid and dynamic development of all spheres of social life is observed. In all eras of its development, society paid special attention to education and training. The value of modern education is a socially competent personality, versatilely developed and one that successfully adapts in a world in which the volume of information and the number of sources of its receipt are growing rapidly. Accordingly, "yesterday's" complex of knowledge and skills is unable to fully meet the social demand for the development of the young generation. It is gradually supplemented, and sometimes replaced by soft skills, including critical thinking, which is one of the basic human abilities of the 21st century. This was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos (2016), where these aspects ranked second among the ten most important skills. Thus, today it is considered quite necessary for the successful construction of a career and, in general, for the realization of a person's life potential.

Current state of the issue. The problem of natural and ecological competence of a preschooler is revealed in the works of N. Lysenko, V. Semenchuk, and N. Yarysheva. Attempts to develop practical recommendations are highlighted in recent studies by H. Belenko, C. Bondar, O. Konenka, N. Kot, N. Lytsenko, L. Lepikhova, L. Khoruzhoa, C. Shmalei, and others.

Latiana); experimental methods based on the environment (Ch. Anggreani) and others. Among domestic scientists, the mentioned problem was studied by: N. Vukina, O. Pometun, I. Sushchenko, K.Prykhodchenko, S. Rykova.

Aim of research is to reveal the essence of the concepts of natural and ecological competence and critical thinking; justification of pedagogical tools for the development of the basics of critical thinking in preschool children in the process of familiarization with the natural environment.

Results and discussion

The new edition of the Basic Component of Preschool Education outlines the key competencies of preschool children and the conditions for their formation. One of them is natural and ecological competence. During the theoretical analysis of the scientific literature, it turned out that along with the concept of "environmental and environmental competence” such terms as "environmental competence"and"environmental competence" are also used [3].

The scientific achievements of H. Belenkoi, N. Bibik, I. Bekha, A. Bogush, N. Gavrish, T. Naumenko, N. Pustovit, etc., contain a clear definition and essential features that allow "ecological competence" to be differentiated against the background of adjacent definitions However, we consider it necessary to clarify its essence based on the analysis, comparison, and generalization of approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "ecological competence".

The results of the analysis show that most scientists, in particular L. Tytarenko, V. Marshytska, S. Shmalei and O. Prutsakova, interpret the concept of ecological competence as the ability to understand and evaluate ecological processes, make decisions and apply experience in life situations.

In the work of G. Skirko and G. Chornaya, the ecological competence of a preschooler is interpreted as a manifestation of ecological culture in its "zone of responsibility", the ability to perform situational activities in everyday life and the natural environment through the application of acquired knowledge, skills and experience in the ability to make decisions and perform adequate actions, realizing their consequences for the natural environment [4]. From the point of view of scientistsA. Bobro, L. Bobro, T. Naumenko, environmental competence of a preschooler is specific knowledge about nature, a positive emotional and value attitude towards its components, awareness of the rules of nature use and their observance [3].

Such a concept as "environmental and natural competence of preschool children" turned out to be quite close to this concept - it is a component of their life competence, which consists of specific knowledge about nature, a positive emotional and value attitude towards its components, awareness of the rules of nature use, their observance and includes three components: intellectual (cognitive), emotional-value and activity-practical [9]. The basic component of preschool education uses the concept of natural and ecological competence, which is understood as a child's ability to behave appropriately in various life situations, which is based on an emotional and valuable attitude to nature, knowledge of its laws, and is formed in the space of cognitive, research, work and play activity [1].

Therefore, in view of the above, there are certain differences in the concepts of "ecological competence" and "natural and ecological competence" of a preschooler. In particular, environmental competence involves children's awareness of the state of the ecological situation on planet Earth, in Ukraine, in their hometown, awareness of the relevance of these problems and their negative impact on the natural environment. At the same time, the natural and ecological competence of a preschooler is a broader concept aimed at forming preschoolers' knowledge, ideas about the natural environment, interdependence and changes in it, awareness of the impact of various factors on the natural environment (human activity, industry, etc.), as well as the formation appropriate behavior of a preschooler in the natural environment.

Natural and ecological competence is a concept related to such categories as: ecological awareness, ecological thinking, ecological culture and ecological values, norms of behavior. Accordingly, natural and ecological competence accumulates ecological values, motivation for ecologically appropriate activities, ecological education and own experience of active activities in various situations to solve specific problems. Also, natural and ecological competence has an activitynature and involves the child's ability to mobilize knowledge, his attitude to nature, readiness to implement this knowledge in a specific environmental situation.

The main opinion of the researchers is that the processof forming the environmental competence of a preschooler should be conscious and take place during the child's direct acquaintance with the natural environment. Also, the effectiveness of the formation of natural and ecological competence of preschool children largely depends on the environment in which the child grows up, the ability of the teaching staff to organize a comfortable ecological and developmental environment for the child. In order to form natural and ecological competence, the teacher must orientate himself in environmental problems (local, regional, global), have an already formed sense of public responsibility for the state of nature at the present time, and have a great desire and effective readiness to preserve it. In addition, an effective tool for the formation of natural and ecological competence is the ability to think critically.

The term critical thinking comes from the Greek word krine in - to decide, judge and does not aim to find mistakes. From the standpoint of A. Johnson's approach critical thinking includes 11 skills, in particular: reasoning, finding similarities, comparing, analyzing, arguing, making decisions, organizing, evaluating, grouping, searching for information, experimenting [7]. According to Jenny Melo Leon, critical thinking means holding valuable, useful knowledge and beliefs; have independent opinions and recognize that they are subject to evaluation or criticism; present own ideas and ideas of others; build arguments that ensure the consistency of one's views; show tolerance, flexibility and respect [6].

Accordingto N. Vukina, N. Dementievska, and I. Sushchenko, critical thinking does not mean negativity of judgments or criticism, but a reasonable consideration of a variety of approaches in order to make well-founded judgments and decisions. "Critical", in this case, means "analytical" [10]. Also, critical thinking is understood as the ability of a person to realize his own position on this or that issue, the ability to find new ideas, analyze events and evaluate them, make a carefully thought-out, balanced decision regarding any thought and action.

So, the analysis of the semantic units of the concept of "critical thinking" made it possible to single out the key semantic units, in particular: analyze, look for various approaches, solutions (N. Vukina, N. Dementievska, I. Sushchenko) [10]; interpret, analyze, evaluate ideas and arguments; update knowledge by analyzing differences and comparisons, including establishing similarities and differences, observing and identifying causal relationships (Jenny Melo Leon) (Jenny Melo Leon) [6]; the ability to objectively evaluate one's own thoughts and meticulously check one's decisions, the ability to see and take into account all the arguments "for" and "against" (O. Harmaty) [5].

1) independence (individual nature of thinking, own view of the problem);

2) inquisitiveness (interest in everything that surrounds her - asking questions and solving problems);

3) the presence of convincing argumentation (searching for one's own solution to the problem and supporting it with substantiated evidence);

4) sociability (arguing with others, exchanging opinions, with the aim of clarifying, strengthening and strengthening one's own position);

5) perseverance (spending a significant amount of time on searching for information and solving a problem).

Based on the proposed taxonomy of B. Bloom, the organization of the educational process closely depends on the hierarchy of mental processes, which are the basis of the development of critical thinking. Conditionally thinking processes, and accordingly the levels of human thinking can be divided into 2 levels: low- level thinking (knowledge, memorization, application) and high-level thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). According to Benjamin Bloom, there is a close relationship between the level of human thinking and the answers to the questions asked. Thus, questions to identify knowledge, the level of memorization and application form a low level of thinking, which is inherent to all people and ensures the realization of household needs in everyday life. Accordingly, in order to develop critical thinking, it is necessary to formulate questions for the analysis, evaluation and interpretation of information, put forward hypotheses, and defend one's point of view. pedagogic critical thinking preschooler natural environment

So, taking into account the main criteria for the formation of critical thinking, it is possible to distinguish several types of personalities with different types of thinking (types of thinkers): naive - does not think about how he thinks and does not worry about decisions "I believe everything that I hear and see on television. For me, the main thing is to find someone who will decide for me"; selfish - thinks well, but is focused on himself, does not worry about others "I know how to find solutions and the most important thing for me is my wishes"; dispassionate - a good thinker and focused on others "I want to improve my thinking to make them better". Among the identified types, the first naive and egoistic) by their nature do not belong to the level of critical thinking, because all the constituent components inherent in it are missing. Only the third type of people - dispassionate - is characterized by the formation of a high level of thinking, namely critical thinking, which is capable of subjecting information to analysis, putting forward hypotheses and finding new ways to solve a problem.

From the standpoint of age psychology, it is necessary to start the process of developing the basics of critical thinking from preschool childhood, and in particular from the age of 5-6. It is during this period that preschoolers develop basic mental processes, in particular, the ability to abstract, generalize, establish interdependencies between the structure of a living organism and the conditions in which it lives, the nature of nutrition; conditions of plant growth and development. Also, one of the important components, prerequisites for the development of the basics of critical thinking is self-esteem. Preschoolers strive to compare their work with the work of another child, analyze their successes and failures, think about how they can perform work at an even higher level.

1. Allocate time and provide opportunities for the application of critical thinking.

2. Allow children to think freely.

3. To perceive various ideas and thoughts.

4. Appreciate children's critical thinking.

5. To create a favorable atmosphere for children, in which ridicule would become impossible.

6. Promote the active involvement of children in the educational process.

7. To express faith in the ability of each child to continue critical judgments.

• Consolidation phase (reflection, reflection). The purpose of the lesson phase: children's reasoning about what they have learned and how to include new concepts in their ideas; discuss how it changed their thoughts, vision, behavior; expression of ways of using what has been learned; application in practice; interpretation, discussion.

The analysis of methodical literature made it possible to systematize pedagogical techniques that are most effective in developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children at each of the individual phases of the lesson. In particular, in the process of acquainting children with the natural environment during the actualization phase of the lesson, the most appropriate techniques are: logbook, cluster, basket of ideas, correct and incorrect judgments, color words, picture gallery, tree of assumptions, brainstorming, know - want to know - learned and others During the second phase, comprehension, techniques can be used: assumption tree, geocoder, thin and thick questions, 6 thinking hats, fishbone, mental map, Elverman circles, etc. Techniques for the development of the basics of critical thinking in preschoolers in the third phase of the lesson can be techniques: cluster, senkan, logbook, take a position, plus-minus is interesting, etc. [8].

However, as evidenced by the results of the survey of practicing educators, most often in their pedagogical activities they use the following techniques:"senkan", "basket of ideas" (72,7%), "cluster" (64,9%), "brainstorming" (35,8%), as well as techniques such as "Elverman circles", "flight log".

So, analyzing the responses of preschool teachers regarding the effectiveness of techniques for developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children during familiarization with the natural environment and the frequency of their use in practice, we found a certain inconsistency. The most effective educators are those who promote the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships, team work, and hypothesis testing through practical activities. This fact can be explained by the insufficient level of theoretical and methodical training of educators for the implementation of the mentioned methods in pedagogical activities, the lack of time during the educational process, the oversaturation of information in the educational direction "The child in the natural environment”, the lack of motivation to implement the mentioned methods due to insufficient awareness of their importance.

However, taking into account the expediency and importance of developing the basics of critical thinking of preschool children, we want to focus on the methodical aspects of their implementation. For example, when studying topics related to the variety of natural objects, it is appropriate to use the pedagogical method "Color Words", the purpose of whichisto createan association, establishing connections between color and external features of natural objects. The method of application of the specified method may vary depending on the level of development of the children. At the initial (first) level, the teacher shows a picture of a certain color, and children from the set of pictures proposed by the teacher must choose as many objects of nature that have this color as possible. For example, a picture of yellow color in children causes associations with the sun, the Great Tit bird, banana, wheat, sunflower, chicken, etc. At the second level, the teacher, naming the color, asks the children to independently recall and name the objects of nature that correspond to a certain characteristic.

In addition, in order to develop the fundamentals of critical thinking in preschool children, the "Picture Gallery" technique can be used at the beginning of the lesson during familiarization with the natural environment. The teacher offers children a number of reproductions, drawings or photographs with natural phenomena or objects that are meaningfully combined. This technique allows you to formulate the problem, the topic of the future class, express expectations from this class, what the children would like to learn through analysis. In particular, when studying the topic "Properties of water”, children formulate assumptions that they will study what the water cycle is, what properties water has, in what states it occurs in nature, and what is its importance in human life and nature.

One of the effective techniques for developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children is the "Geocoder", the purpose of which is to: identify the level of knowledge assimilation; establishment of regularities in nature, historical events; comparison of theoretical information with location. This technique can be used when studying topics related to the flora and fauna of continents, seas and oceans; scientific discoveries (surnames of famous figures science and art, historical events). The method of using the "Geocoder" method requires the teacher's prior preparation, in particular for each child or group of children to print out a contour map of Ukraine or the world and pictures with images of animals or plants. At the initial stage of developing the basics of critical thinking, children can be offered a simpler version of the reception method. The teacher calls the name of the animal and offers the children to put a picture with its image on the contour map where it lives. For example, a polar bear - the North Pole, a camel - America, a kangaroo - Australia, a moose - Europe, etc. A more complicated version of this technique, when the teacher reads out certain facts about the object or event, avoiding the name itself, and in this case the children themselves have to guess what or who it is about and put the corresponding picture with the image on the outline map or place a game chip. For example, white, big, fluffy, eats fish, lives in a lot of snow (white bear); a sea in which it is impossible to drown (Dead Sea), etc.

The "Fishbone" or "Fishbone" or "Ishikawa Diagram" technique is effective in developing the fundamentals of critical thinking of preschool children because it allows establishing cause-and-effect relationships, making informed choices, developing skills for working with information, teaching how to solve problems and others The "Fishbone" technique is a graphical way of researching and establishing the most significant cause-and-effect relationships between factors (factors) and consequences in the investigated situation or problem. This technique can be used both separately, to analyze a certain situation or problem, and to make it a strategy for studying the entire topic of the lesson. This technique will be most effective during generalization and systematization of knowledge, when children have already studied the entire topic. To work with this technique, you need to prepare a schematic image (photo) of the skeleton of a fish, which consists of four blocks: the head - symbolizes the topic or problem that needs to be solved; upper bones, ribs - the main concepts of the topic being studied or the causes of the problem that needs to be solved; lower bones, ribs - facts or consequences of causes; tail - conclusions or an answer to the question, problem. A mandatory condition for working with this technique is to be aware of the problem and alternately put forward first one cause and immediately the consequence to which this cause or phenomenon leads. This mechanism allows children to establish a relationship between cause and effect. After completing the work, the child presents its results and argues the conclusions. For example, the problem is a person's lifestyle, cause 1 is the consumption of a large number of sweets, the consequence is tooth decay; reason 2 - consumption of a large number of buns, cookies, consequence - obesity, excess weight, etc.

Conclusions and research perspectives

The analysis of scientific sources and educational normative documents made it possible to clarify the essence of the concepts of ecological competence, natural-ecological competence and critical thinking. Also, our own research has confirmed the importance of developing the basics of critical thinking in preschool children during familiarization with the natural environment. Further research of the specified problem will be aimed at studying the level of development of the basics of critical thinking in children of older preschool age based on the results of the introduction of educational methods in the educational process of children of older preschool age.

References (Translated & transliterated)

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