The process of mastering space occurs in a child in a close unity of action and cognition. A child largely learns about space as he masters it. Therefore, a number of researchers (J.M. Baldwin, V. Stern) distinguish in children “space”, or “oral” space, “close”, or grasping, and “far” space, which the child masters and which also gradually becomes close, as the child learns to move independently.
Distant space is at first little differentiated; the distance estimate is very inaccurate. V. Stern disputes the reliability of V. Preyer's famous observation about how a child reaches for the moon; but he himself comes to a much more radical statement, namely, that due to the immaturity of accommodation and convergence, distant objects are not noticed at all by a one-year-old child, but form only an indefinite background. On this issue, there is testimony from Helmholtz dating back to approximately the 3rd-4th year of his life. In his Physiological Optics, Helmholtz writes: “I myself still remember how, as a child, I walked past the church tower (the garrison church in Potsdam) and saw people in the gallery that seemed like dolls to me, and how I asked my mother to get them for me, that she could have done as I then thought, stretching one hand up.”
Associated with the distance scene is the assessment of the sizes of individual objects. For small distances and simple figures (according to J. Frank), the magnitude is mostly constant by 2 years. However, Helmholtz's observations indicate that it is not conserved over long distances. The development of constancy of magnitude in the child’s perception continues in subsequent years.
Correct assessment of the size of an object at a changing distance is associated with an understanding of the perspective reduction of objects. Understanding perspective images (requiring an understanding of the perspective change not only in the size, but also in the shape of objects) is the most difficult aspect of spatial imagery and develops later.
The most significant feature of direct space, in contrast to geometric space, is that while in geometric space the “zero point”, i.e. the starting point from which the distance is measured in all three dimensions, is freely transferable from one point to any other, the center of immediate space is fixed in the perceiving individual; starting from himself, he initially “experiences” “up and down”, “right and left”, “forward and back”. Each dimension is determined by qualitative, essentially non-spatial characteristics. In the perception of space, the ability to transfer one’s initially fixed point of reference to any other point in space and to translate, “transform” all spatial relationships from one reference system to another is essential.
The core of the general development of understanding of space is the transition from a fixed reference system (coordinates) to a system with a freely movable reference point. Only on the basis of this operation does the unformed experience of extension become a genuine perception of space. It is also a prerequisite for a true understanding of spatial diagram, plan, geographical map.
Shape perception in children
The perception of a specific object form is available to the child very early. Already in the second year, children can recognize familiar objects by their contours. Later, in preschool age, even quite complex contour and silhouette drawings are easily recognized by children. Based on Shabalin’s research conducted under our leadership, it can be stated with certainty that in preschool children, shape is already one of the main factors in recognizing objects.
The perception of an abstract geometric form, unfamiliar to the child, initially presents significant difficulties for him. When preschoolers (3-7 years old) are presented with an abstract geometric shape, they mostly first “objectify” it, that is, give it a naive, objective interpretation: a triangle is a “pocket”; circle - “wheel”; a quadrangle crossed crosswise by perpendicular lines - a “window”; a triangle placed above a quadrangle is a “house”, etc.
Thus, when a geometric form is not yet accessible to a child as such, he, for the most part, when perceiving it, goes to the object, and not to a feeling-like diffuse impression, as was stated in the psychological literature. At the same time, the youngest preschooler is often inclined to directly identify an unknown geometric shape with an object. Subsequently, the child, beginning to master a geometric form, no longer identifies it directly with the specific form of an object familiar to him, but perceives it as similar with this last one (“this as if window, pocket”, etc., say the children): this is how his process of abstraction of form begins.
In the general course of development of the perception of objective and geometric forms, a peculiar dialectic is observed: first, the geometric form is perceived based on the objective one; then, as the child, a little earlier or later, depending on the nature of the educational work that is carried out with him in this direction, masters the geometric form, and vice versa - the specific shape of objects begins to be determined by means of a clearer geometric form.
As the child becomes familiar with at least the simplest geometric properties of bodies during training, he learns to distinguish geometric shapes as such (triangle, square, cube, etc.). In order for a preschool child to master elementary knowledge of geometric forms, special and, moreover, careful work by the teacher is required, but in any case it cannot be considered completely inaccessible to him.
There is no doubt that abstract geometric form is initially less intelligible for preschoolers than, for example, color. A number of observations and studies confirm this. However, it is still impossible to assert, as representatives of the Leipzig school do, that preschool children are generally “form blind.”
Already in the mentioned work by Shabalin, children aged 3-7 years were offered a set in which there were 4 exhibits of different shapes, but of the same color, including one of the same shape as the sample. Not a single preschooler under these conditions superimposed the sample of the presented form onto an exhibit of the same color but a different shape. Since there were 4 exhibits of the same color, but different shapes, in the set, it is obvious that the child took into account not only color; choosing between monochromatic figures the one that had the appropriate shape, he was obviously guided by the form. Thus, there is no need to talk about the “blindness” of preschoolers to form. Much depends, of course, on what kind of work is being done with children on the perception of form.
Since color is intelligible in preschool age, and geometric form is initially not readily accessible, it is obviously necessary to use the effectiveness of color in working with children of this age; at the same time, it is nevertheless important to pay attention to the recognition of shapes, which is necessary when learning to read and in the future, to master the rudiments of geometry.
The different results that were produced by the experiments of a number of foreign authors (Decedre, Katz, etc.), devoted to the issue of preschoolers’ perception of shape and color, are explained to a large extent by the flawed nature of their methodology. This technique was casuistic, “provocative” in nature: the child is asked to find the “same” figure in a set in which there are no exhibits of the same shape and color at all. The child is therefore forced to choose a figure that is not the same - either in terms of shape or color. In some cases - when presented with an abstract planimetric figure - children mostly gave preference to color; in others, when they had to sacrifice similarity either in color or in an object form familiar to them, they mostly gave preference to shape.
In our experiments this technique was modified; the casuistic, provocative character was completely eliminated from it (see above).
In Dekedre's experiments, choosing the "same" figure or a figure that "looks exactly the same" at the experimenter's suggestion, children, when presented with an abstract planimetric form, for the most part (in 69% of cases) were guided by color rather than shape (colored in different colors of the figure). In the second series, in which Decedre compared the importance of color and a concrete, objective, rather than abstract geometric shape, the results were opposite to those given by the first series: children aged 3 to 6 years old were guided predominantly by color in only 38.5% of cases. cases, and in the subject form - in 61.5% of cases. By comparing the first and second series of experiments, Decedre confirms the position that only an abstract geometric form, not yet comprehended by the child, turns out to be of little significance; the objective form, accessible to the child’s understanding, plays a very significant role in his perception.
Volkelt, who tends to tendentiously downplay the importance of the object-semantic content of perception, bypasses these data from the second series of experiments by Dekedr. Unduly generalizing and emphasizing the results of the first series, he speaks of “shape blindness” in preschool children. Volkelt's statements are not supported by actual data even from the experiments to which he refers. In order to extract from them the conclusions he desires, he essentially falsifies their outcome, tendentiously putting forward the results of one part of the experiments and obscuring others.
In the correct perception of form, the development of constancy in the perception of form when changing the angle of view is essential. The development of constancy in a child travels quite a significant path, reaching, according to a number of studies, its maximum at 10-14 years.
It should be noted that the form is first perceived by children in a relatively large independence from provisions.Children often look at picture books upside down, recognizing what is depicted on them when this image is rotated at an angle of 90°, 180°, and sometimes they themselves depict objects upside down. When learning to write, this independence of form from position is manifested in the occurrence of mirror font, in which the shape of the letters itself is reproduced correctly, but their correct arrangement is violated.
Mirror letter. Independence of shape from position
One of the paths along which a child goes to understand number is also connected with the perception of form, or figureiness.
Frenkel's research conducted under our direction (an as yet unpublished dissertation) shows that the widely accepted alternative solution to the question of whether direct perception or counting is the primary basis of the idea of number is incorrect.
The concept of number in a preschooler involves both counting and direct perception of objects. It arises when ideas become psychological components of a single action, the purpose of which is to determine the number (or order) of objects in the perceived set. The development of the perception of plurality proceeds mainly along the following path:
a) At the initial stage, the child perceives and reproduces a group of objects based on taking into account specific qualitative features. The ability to recognize and reproduce a set based on the perception of only its spatial form is, therefore, not a starting point, but a subsequent stage of development.
b) The perception of a group, taking into account only the qualitative features of its objects, passes with the development of abstraction into the perception of a group based on taking into account the spatial arrangement of its objects with partial or complete abstraction from their specific qualitative features.
During this stage, various forms and ways of perceiving and assessing quantity coexist. In some cases, this assessment occurs on the basis of the perception of the spatial form of the set, in others - on the basis of counting. At the same time, it often happens that the child correctly counts the objects of a group, but when comparing it with another group, the objects of which were also correctly counted by the child, the assessment of each group is made on the basis of the perception of spatial magnitude.
c) Finally, with the development of the concept of number and mastery of counting operations, the child moves on to the perception of a group based on taking into account the number of its objects, abstracting from its spatial and qualitative features.
These different stages can coexist to one degree or another: the perception of the qualitative side of phenomena and counting are intertwined with each other in a variety of ways.
Children's perception of time
The significant role of indirect components in the perception of time determines the significant difficulties associated with its awareness in children. The words “now,” “today,” “yesterday,” and “tomorrow,” each time they are used, can indicate a different period of real time. The day that the word “today” denotes at the time I am writing this, and the day that the same word will correspond to when someone reads what I have written are different days. Given the identity of the meanings of these temporary designations, the specific moment of reality to which they point is continuously moving. This is a difficulty that a child cannot immediately cope with.
Stern recorded how his daughter began to cope with this difficulty. In the fourth year, Gilda constantly asked: “Today - tomorrow? Now today? If now is “today,” then didn’t yesterday’s “tomorrow” disappear with yesterday? She still didn’t understand, although she was beginning to understand to herself, that today’s “today” and yesterday’s “tomorrow” were one and the same day. At 3-5 years old, talking about the upcoming return home, she asks: “When we go home, will it be today?” But in 5;1 she dictates a letter to her mother to her absent father: “Today we cook well” and in an explanation of the word “today” she adds: “Today, because, you know, it is today, but father will know that it was yesterday.” . She already understands that today’s “today” and tomorrow’s “yesterday” are one and the same day. She began to master the relativity of temporal concepts and took the first step towards solving a big problem, which is fraught with even serious difficulties. And in this regard, of course, there are significant differences between children. Natasha Sh. (4;3) asks her mother: “Mom, can we do it later - now, and today can we do it yesterday?” On the other hand, little Elda (2;11) has the following conversation with her sick father. Elda asks: “Dad, when will you be healthy?” - Tomorrow. - The next day, the same question and the same answer. Then Elda: “But today is tomorrow (from Mikhailova’s unpublished diary).
In the early stages of development, the child orients himself in time on the basis of essentially timeless, qualitative features.
Sana (2;6), going to bed, washes herself and says to the nanny: “Now I’ll say: “With the finishing duck?” - Nanny: “No, you’ll say this in the morning, but now it’s evening.” Sana: “What’s the difference (difference)?” (We all laugh.) Sana: “We’ll wash ourselves, I must say thoroughly.” Mother: “The difference is that in the morning it’s light and people start working, and in the evening it’s dark and people go to bed. So in the evening you need to say “good night.” Sana: “No, you have to say goodnight when you put on your night skirt. And now I’m washing my toyko. I must say “with all my might.” (No, you should say goodnight when you put on your nightgown. I just washed myself now. You should say “Good morning.”)
And in the future, children are more clearly localized in time, predominantly events with sharply distinctive qualitative characteristics and seasonal features (summer, winter, spring, autumn). Ideas about small periods of time, in relation to which the child has a more or less definite idea of their real capacity based on the experience of personal life, home life, spending time in a preschool institution, etc., are very accurate. Ideas about large periods of time are very inaccurate; Events of any considerable length of time often lose their definite place in time altogether.
However, in this regard, significant individual differences must be taken into account. Although children usually develop temporal concepts relatively late (especially when insufficient attention is paid to their development), their inaccessibility should not be exaggerated.
I give an example from Leushina’s diary:
“We talked about moving to the country. Mother said that this year they will go closer to the Pushkin Mountains. Sana (5;9) expressed great delight. Mother: “We will go to the Pushkin Mountains, to the village of Mikhailovskoye, there you will see Pushkin.” - “Oh, how funny you are, mom. He died." "What are you saying? How long ago?” - “A very long time ago, 100 years.” - “How long has it been; when were you little? - “Well, what are you talking about, mom (laughs). Even you and dad were not there when Pushkin died. You know, mom, if they hadn’t killed him, he would still have died of old age. He probably would have died when I was very, very little."
Further development of the ability to more accurately localize and understand the sequence is associated with the awareness of causal dependencies and mastery of quantitative relationships of temporal quantities.
The problem of time confronts students especially acutely in connection with the study of history; and it is in the process of studying history that children should develop a more in-depth understanding of historical time.
Understanding history includes in condensed form all the above-mentioned problems of time. In historical knowledge it is concentrated in the problem of historical dating and understanding of historical perspective.
Action and perception are the guides through which a child learns everything that surrounds him. These processes allow the child from being an observer of the world around him to becoming a full participant in it. Starting from 2-3 years, children's perception enters the stage of its most intensive development.
Perception of the world in preschool age
Preschoolers are attracted to bright objects, melodic or original sounds, and emotional situations. They perceive the surrounding reality involuntarily, directing their attention to what attracts them most.
A child, seeing an object, is able to evaluate the functions known to him, intuitively analyze his experience and understand what he sees, hears or feels. A little baggage of life experience helps to understand what kind of sensation it is, to recognize an object, sound or smell.
The development of perception in preschool children allows them to move to the next step, when they learn to purposefully study objects, determine their characteristics, and differentially perceive individual properties.
What is a child's perception
Over the course of several preschool years, a child goes from directly perceiving an object through touch to the ability to isolate essential features and form a generalized idea of objects.
The function of cognition works as follows: perception arises as a reflection of a phenomenon or object using vision, hearing or touch.
Perception or perception is the process of receiving and transforming information using the senses, thanks to which a person develops a picture of the real world.
The perception mechanism can be briefly described as follows:
- The world around us consists of many signals: sounds, colors, pictures, tangible objects;
- By inhaling a smell or touching a piece of paper, the baby evaluates the object using one of the senses;
- This information enters the brain, where the sensation is born;
- Sensations add up to a complex “picture”, forming perception.
Perception is also influenced by previous experience. The senses help the child reduce information processing where he sees a familiar environment. Having received an idea of the toy bunny once, he will not need to touch or taste it again.
Perception is the basis for the further formation of cognitive functions necessary for full development and successful study.
Formation of sensation and perception processes
From birth, a child has what is called “sensory perception.” Smells, tactile sensations, and noise reach his brain, but the baby does not yet know how to use these signals. In the first years of life, children master object-related activities and accumulate information about the properties of objects, as a result of which sensory standards are formed.
From the age of three, perception gradually becomes accurate and meaningful. Higher analyzers – visual and auditory – develop.
The child cannot yet comprehensively analyze an object or phenomenon, but he grasps the most noticeable signs, involuntarily comparing them with standards and drawing conclusions.
From a general idea of objects in the younger preschooler, he moves on to more complex forms of interpretation. With the active support of adults, the characteristics of sensations change, the child manages to realize that shape, color, material, size are more abstract characteristics and are not tied to a specific object.
By the senior preschool age, the child becomes familiar with the basic figures of geometry, identifies all the colors, and learns to determine the sizes of objects. He also understands that there is time in the world - morning always turns into day, and then gives way to night. Awareness of space is an achievement - you need to walk from your house to the park, but the houses and trees stretch upward.
The importance of the development of perception in preschool age lies in the fact that with its limited functioning, the development of speech, thinking, and imagination will be significantly hampered. This cognitive process becomes a necessary assistant for the manifestation of various types of thinking, the ability to speak figuratively and come up with vivid stories.
Types of perception in preschoolers based on perceptual systems
The main types of perception in preschoolers are based on various analyzers:
- Visual, allowing you to visually evaluate all the properties of an object;
- Hearing, which helps to learn speech, recognize the native language, feel the sounds of nature, hear music;
- Tactile, providing knowledge of an object through touch.
Auditory
With the help of hearing, the child learns to recognize the sounds of his native language, words and syllables. If in infancy the perception of speech is based on the rhythmic and melodic structure of words and sentences, then already at 1 year the formation of phonemic hearing begins. It takes the baby another year for the acceptance of all the sounds of his native language to take shape and the formation of speech to begin.
Playing with materials of different structures, modeling, natural substances is a great way to develop the sense of touch. With their eyes closed, children enjoy rolling the foil into balls and smoothing it out. Great joy comes from the exercise of identifying bulk material in a cup. The eyes, of course, must also be blindfolded.
Peculiarities of perception in younger preschoolers
In early preschool age, perception is characterized by the following features:
- The inseparability of a property from an object. The big fluffy tiger at the zoo will be called a kitty.
- When studying objects, the most vivid, memorable detail stands out. That is why the wide witch's hat in the picture turns all the elegant old ladies on the street into evil witches.
- A sharp change in the usual surroundings around a familiar object prevents the baby from identifying it. Mom and dad in ballroom dresses become strangers.
Such specificity is typical for children of 3-4 years of age; in the future, perception will become more differentiated, individual functions will be highlighted, and the whole will be fragmented into particulars.
Perception of space by children 3 - 4 years old
The difficulty of understanding space lies in the inability to touch, smell and see it. The first step is to recognize the “close” space, that is, the surrounding world at arm’s length with the toy.
Subsequently, the younger preschooler begins to understand the concepts of “far and close,” but they are not accurate. The small statues on the bridge may appear to be dolls, and the child may well ask the mother to get one of them.
According to research, in order for a preschooler to begin to correctly perceive space, he must first evaluate his own body in this world. Learn to distinguish and name arms and legs, understand which parts of the body are paired. An additional way to master the concept of space is the constant work of an adult aimed at indicating the direction. The more often the words “right”, “left”, “side”, “in front”, “above” are heard, the easier it will be for the baby to master orientation in space.
The next stage is tasks to compare length, width and height. Over time, the child begins to solve such tasks “by eye,” demonstrating an understanding of what space is and how people and objects are located in it.
Color perception
The difference in colors is available to the baby from an early age. Now we are not talking about the finest shades, but it highlights the main tones of the spectrum.
At 3-4 years old, a preschooler clearly distinguishes 4 primary colors:
- Red;
- Yellow;
- Blue;
- Green.
This aspect is associated with the age-related feature of seeing the main thing, discarding the unimportant, that is, incomprehensible and unknown shades. Data and reference shades are learned casually, without special training. But in order for the baby not to suffer from “poverty” of color perception, the names of the remaining tones and shades must be named and shown to him.
Children tend to replace color with the concepts of “beautiful” and “ugly,” which results in pictures where the shades of objects do not closely correspond to reality. In this age period, colors are discarded as an unimportant factor, and form becomes the basis.
Therefore, the development of color perception should consist of exercises where the simplest tasks of adding up an elementary color figure are replaced by more complex ones.
Peculiarities of perception in older preschoolers
Senior preschool age is marked by the presence of formed spatial representations. The child is well oriented in space, perceives distances and relationships between objects, and is able to visually model part of a specific room. He is also able to construct a model of the plot of a story or fairy tale.
The future schoolchild is already able to evaluate such an abstract concept as time, as well as see the world around him from an aesthetic point of view. It is these two areas that require the most attention.
The main features of perception in children of senior preschool age are the awareness of the combination of space and time. However, the inability to hear or touch these quantities leads to their prolonged recognition.
A child of 5-6 years old is able to remember time periods: yesterday, today, tomorrow, minute, hour, but there are no skills in using these concepts. The uniqueness of the perception of time is due to the fact that the child does not have the opportunity to manipulate it in a direction, and the terms are simply words that do not have a visual expression.
At this age, time indicators of the sequence of events are still poorly differentiated - yesterday, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. The future tense is already realized, but the past causes difficulty. Preschoolers are happy to say who they will be when they grow up, what they will have, what they will do. They perceive the past discretely and emerge in the images of remembered events.
Adults will help the child perceive small periods of time if they correlate his activities with the time interval: draw a house with a garden in 10 minutes, sit at the table in 3 minutes, brush your teeth in 1 minute.
Aesthetic perception
But aesthetic perception blossoms “lushly.” In older preschool age, every child is a creator. Children sculpt, draw, design, these activities help them understand the world better.
Much of the credit for this activity goes to visual perception. An older preschooler learns to examine objects holistically, tracing the outline and isolating details.
This information becomes a model that the child follows in his drawing and modeling.
If a five-year-old child’s judgment about aesthetics is determined by appearance, and objects are evaluated according to the “like or dislike” principle, then at 6-7 years old a preschooler pays attention to artistic composition and color compatibility. For example, in a painting he is already able to capture characteristics that are not on the surface, which the artist put into the content.
The task of parents and educators is not just to inform the child about the beauty of this or that object. It is important to explain in clear words what exactly ensures the aesthetics of a phenomenon, the relationship between individual features and the overall result.
Regular activities of this nature help to cultivate a sense of beauty in a little person. He will learn to see beauty in the sound of drops on glass or falling leaves.
Ways to develop the perception of preschoolers
In preschool age it is a game. It is in this form that children learn and develop the necessary functions in the best way.
Didactics presents many games for the development of perception that will help parents or educators engage with their child:
- Droplets – teach how to combine objects based on color criteria. When completing the task, you need to put mugs of the corresponding shades in containers.
- Umbrellas - form an understanding of the shape and color of objects. To play you need 4 umbrellas of primary colors and cardboard geometric shapes. The teacher reports that it is raining, it is urgent to hide the circles and triangles under umbrellas of different colors.
- Bag of secrets - allows you to identify an object based on tactile sensations. An opaque bag is filled with toys. The child, without looking, must describe what came into his hand.
Similar games are played to develop the ability to recognize an object or item by smell or sound.
Regular classes to develop perception in preschoolers will ensure the further formation of a holistic, moral personality. Such a person will most likely have unconventional thinking and a high level of creativity.
Lecture No. 12
FEATURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
PLAN
2. The importance of the development of spatial concepts in preschoolers.
3. Physiological and psychological mechanisms of space perception.
4. Features of the development of spatial orientation in children and methodological recommendations for their formation in preschool educational institutions.
The concept of spatial orientation includes the assessment of distances, sizes, shapes, relative positions of objects and their position relative to the oriented one.
Spatial orientation is carried out on the basis of direct perception of space and verbal designation of spatial categories (location, distance, spatial relationships between objects).
In a narrower sense, the expression “spatial orientation” refers to orientation on the ground:
Definition of “standing point” (“I am to the right of the house”);
Determining the location of objects relative to the oriented one (“The closet is to my left”);
Determining the location of objects relative to each other (“The ball lies under the table”).
Features of the development of spatial representations...
When a person moves, spatial orientation occurs constantly:
Setting a goal and choosing a route (direction);
Maintaining the direction of movement and achieving the goal.
During early childhood, the child orients himself in space on the basis of a sensory frame of reference (along the sides of his own body).
At preschool age, the child masters verbal frame of reference along the main spatial directions: forward - backward, up - down, right - left.
During school years, children master new reference system - on the sides of the horizon: north, south, west, east.
Work system(proposed by T. A. Museyibova) on the development of spatial concepts in preschoolers includes:
1) orientation “on oneself” (knowledge of one’s own body);
2) orientation “on external objects” (highlighting different sides of objects: front, back, top, bottom, side);
3) mastering and using a verbal reference system in the main directions: forward - backward, up - down, right - left;
4) determining the location of objects in space “away from you”;
5) determining one’s own position in space;
6) determining the spatial placement of objects relative to each other;
7) determining the location of objects on a plane.
Work with the youngest children begins with orientation in parts of their body (head, legs, arms, etc.) and their corresponding spatial directions (head at the top, legs at the bottom, arms at the sides, etc.).
Based on knowledge of your body, i.e. orientation “on yourself,” orientation “from yourself” becomes possible: the ability to correctly name and name a direction, move in the right direction, indicate the position of an object relative to oneself.
Older preschoolers are introduced to the rules of the street: which side of the sidewalk they should walk on, how to cross the street, avoid stopped vehicles, enter and exit them, etc.
Kindergarten “graduates” should be able to freely navigate on a sheet of paper (blank and checkered).
During the learning process, children learn the meaning of prepositions and adverbs that reflect spatial relationships.
Assignment to students:
List prepositions and adverbs that reflect spatial relationships between objects and convey directions of movement.
In the development of spatial concepts, a special role is played by walks, excursions, outdoor games, physical education exercises, and practical orientation in the group room and other premises of the kindergarten. Special mathematics classes clarify, organize, expand and systematize children's ideas.
The importance of the development of spatial concepts in preschoolers
· The sensory experience of spatial discrimination is improved.
· Speech is activated and vocabulary increases.
· Orientation to your body makes it possible to recognize the parts of the body as anatomical units.
· Logic, thinking, imagination develops.
· Develops street orientation skills.
· Orientation on a piece of paper prepares for learning at school.
· Promotes the development of gaming, labor, visual, constructive, educational activities.
· Develops horizons, etc.
Physiological and psychological mechanisms of space perception
Spatial representations arise very early; various analyzers (visual, kinesthetic, tactile, auditory, etc.) are involved in their formation. In young children, a special role belongs to the kinesthetic and visual analyzers.
A child aged 4-5 weeks begins to fixate with his eyes an object at a distance of 1-1.5 meters.
Children 2-4 months old move their gaze after moving objects. First, the child perceives an object moving in a horizontal direction, then, as a result of motor intoxication, in a vertical direction and in a circle. This encourages the child to move his own (eyes, head, body, etc.). Already in the first year of life, the child begins to master the depth of space. Walking significantly expands its practical development (the distance from one object to another).
At a young age, the child’s practical experience (play, walk,...) plays a leading role in the knowledge of spatial relationships. As it accumulates, the word begins to acquire more and more meaning.
The child first of all correlates different directions with certain parts of his own body:
At the top is where the head is;
Below is where the legs are;
In front is where the face is;
Behind is where the back is;
On the right is where the right hand is;
Left is where the left hand is, etc.
Orientation on one’s body serves as a support in the child’s mastery of spatial directions. Gradually, children acquire an understanding of the pairing of spatial directions. Initially they may be confused, especially the concepts of “right” and “left”. Usually one direction is highlighted and, based on comparison, another is realized:
under -» over;
right -> left;
above -" below;
behind -> in front.
Stages of perception of spatial relationships between objects:
Stage I: Spatial relationships are not highlighted by the child.
Surrounding objects are perceived separately without spatial relationship.
Stage II: Practical fitting
. (Contact proximity.)
The child leans his back: “The closet is in the back”; touches with his hand: “The table is on the right.” When arranging objects in a row or in a circle, children press them tightly together.
Stage III: Visual assessment.
The technique of contact proximity is replaced by a turn of the body, then an index movement of the hand, then a slight movement of the head and, finally, a gaze.
The word plays a big role.
Practical actions gradually wind down and turn into mental ones.
At the age of 3, children become able to visually assess the location of objects in a limited space. At the age of 5, the degree of distance between objects increases.
Conclusions:
Preschool age is the period of development of a verbal reference system in basic spatial directions.
Orientation on one’s own body serves as the starting point for the child’s mastery of spatial directions.
When learning, it is necessary to form mutually inverse spatial relationships simultaneously.
| Features of the development of spatial orientation in children | Methodological recommendations for the formation of spatial orientations in preschool educational institutions |
| Without orientation to your body, orientation relative to yourself is impossible. | First, we teach how to name and show parts of the body, then navigate it (what is where), then we give other types of orientation |
| It is difficult to perceive the “right-left” relationship, right-sided and left-sided parts of the body | We pay attention to the preferential functions of the right and left hands and constantly train them in their names. (With your right hand, hold a spoon, a pencil; with your left hand, hold bread, hold a sheet of paper. Individual work is required with left-handed people). We connect the left and right side parts of the body with the corresponding hand. |
| Easier to navigate in a confined small space or on a limited plane | First, we artificially limit the space or plane under consideration, then gradually expand the view |
| It is more difficult to navigate in motion than in a static position | First we teach how to navigate in a stationary position, we give orientation in motion as a complication, in stages |
| They don’t see cells and lines on a sheet of paper, which makes it difficult to navigate the cellular and line microspace | First, special exercises are given to distinguish between cells and lines, and only then the main work related to orientation on a sheet of paper in a cell is carried out. |
Assignment for independent work of students
Select outdoor games for preschoolers to help them orient themselves in space.
Topic: Development of children's ideas and practical orientation in space
1. The concept of space and spatial orientation
2. The importance of the formation of spatial concepts in preschoolers
3. Genesis of spatial orientation in preschool children
1. Contents concepts of space and spatial orientation
Spatial representations, although they arise very early, are more more complex process than ability to discriminate quality of the item.
Space - this is a form of existence of matter that does not depend on our consciousness, an objective reality.
Orientation in space is a complex cognitive activity that involves mental functions such as perception, thinking, and memory.
In the formation of spatial representations and methods of orientation in space Various analyzers are involved:
- kinesthetic (motor),
Tactile,
- visual,
Auditory,
Olfactory.
When perceiving space, the main ones are visual and motor (kinesthetic) analyzers, and additional ones are tactile, auditory and olfactory analyzers.
The expression "spatial orientation"- this is orientation on the terrain. In this sense, orientation in space means:
A) definition of the “standing point”, i.e. the location of the subject in relation to the objects surrounding him. For example, “I am to the right of the house,” etc.
B) determining the location of objects relative to a person orienting himself in space. For example, “The closet is on my right and the door is on my left.”
C) determination of the spatial arrangement of objects relative to each other, for example: “To the right of the doll sits a bear, and to the left of it lies a ball.”
Problem of perception space for children of early and preschool age researchedP. F. Lesgaft, M. Yu. Kistyakovskaya, B. G. Ananyev, T. A. Museyibova, E. Ya. Stepanenkova and others. In particular:
Ø - P.F. Lesgaft and M.Yu. Kistyakovskaya studied the features of visual orientation in space based on motor sensations.
Ø - B. G. Ananyev made a psychological analysis of the stage-by-stage development of spatial orientation in children of different ages. He substantiates that at an early age a child perceives space mainly on a sensory basis. In preschool age, learning is based on both a sensory and a logical (verbal) basis. At school age, students orient themselves in space along the main sides of the horizon.
Ø - In a study by T. A. Museyibova, a method was developed for teaching children of early and preschool age spatial orientation: on themselves, from themselves, from any object, based on verbal instructions.
Ø - E. Ya. Stepanenkova studied the development of spatial orientation in connection with the organization of physical education classes and walking walks.
Orientation in space- this is a very capacious concept. It includes orientation to large and small spaces.
The initial stage of orientation in a limited or small space- This:
- orientation on your own body(knowledge of the parts of one’s own body, knowledge of the spatial arrangement of parts of the body, designation of the location of parts of one’s body with appropriate spatial terms, comparison of real spatial relationships with their reflections in the mirror);
- on the table plane(place objects on the table surface from left to right and in the named directions, determine and verbally indicate the spatial arrangement of toys and objects);
- on a piece of paper(right and left, top and bottom sides of the sheet, middle).
Initial orientation in large space- This:
Familiarization with the location of objects that make up the child’s immediate environment in and around the house ( orientation in an apartment, indoors, outdoors, the use of terms right, left, above, below, in front, behind, far, close, etc.).
Peculiarities of space perception by preschoolers
IN early childhood period child orients in space based on the so-called sensory frame of reference, i.e. on the sides of your own body.
- In preschool age child masters the verbal system of reference in the main spatial directions: forward - backward, up - down, right - left.
IN school period children master a new system of reference - along the sides of the horizon: north, south, west, east.
Mastering each subsequent reference system is based on solid knowledge of the previous one.
The child perceives space as an undivided continuity. The baby’s tracking of the movement of an object in space develops gradually:
At first, he follows a horizontally moving object (forward - back, left - right)
Then vertically (up and down).
And finally, behind an object moving in a circle and in a vertical plane.
Then it begins to master the depth of space.
The basic principles for the formation of ideas and concepts about space are:
v gradualism,
v sequence,
v the use of visualization in teaching in combination with the sensory and logical,
v taking into account age and individual characteristics.
The main didactic means of forming orientation in space should be considered:
§ the child’s own motor activity,
§ use of artistic paintings, illustrations, photographs,
§ combination of clarity, image and word in the form of diagrams, tables, models, etc.
The main methods and techniques are:
· organization of active activities of the child;
· observation, looking at pictures, tables;
· explanations, instructions;
· didactic games and exercises.
