Dialectical thinking as a mechanism of construction of cyclic representations and possible relations for

pre-school children.

Igor Shiyan, Olga ShiyanMoscow City University

Dialectical thinking as a way of contradictive

situations solving

J. Piaget

«Logic is the mirror of thinking».

Formal logic: opposites exclude each other.

A+A’=B A=B-A’

A=A A-A=0

Dialectical thinking as a way of contradictive

situations solving

Is formal logic the only one?

Can opposites exist together in the same time?

How can we manage the contradictive situation?

What is the logic of creativity ?

What is the mental mechanism of representing the idea of development in the mind?

Dialectical thinking as a system of

the special mental actions (N.Veraksa)

Dialectical thinking as a way of contradictive

situations solving

Winnie the Pooh story

Dialectical thinking as a way of contradictive

situations solving

Is the tail a gift or it’s not a gift?

Dialectical thinking as a way of creativity

Mollie Faustman

“The girl in the fishing net”

Dressed or not dressed?

Ability to invent the object,

uniting the oppositions as

the mechanism of creativity.

Solving of contradictive situations and mental representation of development

Is solving of contradictive situations the necessary condition of representing the of process of

development?• Development can be described as a transition from one

extreme to the other. • The model of development is a spiral in which the

beginning and end are the same and different (identical and non-identical at the same time).

• Adequate representation of reality requires special mental structures

Development and it’s mental representation: cyclic representation (N.Veraksa, S.Zadadaev)

А/not-А

not-А

not-А/ А

А

Theoretical assumption: cyclic representation includes solving of 4 types of dialectical tasks:•- seeing of the opposites = the structure of the situation (it’s much more easy to next step but not opposite);•- seeing of  the mediating point connecting opposites;•- reversing of the process: to see oppositions of the direction of transformation;•- seeing of the identity and not identity of the beginning and the end of the process.

The task: to create the story about the Snowman.

Liza: “Snowman was made in winter, in the spring he was melting, in the summer he completely melted. Only sticks and a bucket were left”.

Kristina: “It was a day. There is snow here, the Snowman was glad. The sun is shining brightly,

the Snowman melted”.

Varya: “There was a Snowman, he met an owl, and they became friends”.

How do we understand the idea of reversing the process?

What’s going on here?

How do we understand the idea of development?

How do we understand the idea of development?

How do we understand the idea of development?

So, what’s going on here?

What’s possible here?

Dialectical thinking as a mechanism of construction of cyclic representations

• The child is immersed in the processes of development (diurnal and annual cycles, dressing cycles and other activities),

• Cyclic representations are rather fragmentary

than holistic• Dialectical thinking (mental actions) is a

mechanism of construction of cyclic representations

Hypothesis of research:

solution of dialectical tasks and visual modeling leads to development of cyclic representations

Design of the research

•Experimental group: 19 preschool children (5-6 years)•Control group: 44 preschool children (5-6 years)•Intervention: special classes “Solving of dialectical problems” during three months, three times a week

The example of the task: what will happen here in the night?

The examples of answers:

Results of the study

The significant differences between changes in the control and experimental groups were found.

Conclusion: solution of dialectical tasks and visual modeling leads to development of cyclic

representations.

Thank you!

Olga Shiyanolgablues@gmail.com

Igor Shiyanigor.bogdanovich@gmail.com

Moscow City University