Through all the works of D.B. Elkonin, the central problem goes through: what is the nature of human childhood and the deep laws of child development? D.B. Elkonin built his theory of the child's mental development on the foundation of the psychological theory of activity, believing that in different historical epochs childhood has different specific content and different specific patterns. There is no unchanging childhood, childhood "in general."
By building the theory of the historical development of childhood, he substantiated the idea that childhood arose at that period in the development of the animal world, when certain forms of instinctive behavior began to disappear in some of its species. The necessary forms of behavior began to be acquired during their lifetime, for which childhood arose. The peculiarity of human childhood is that a person is born a helpless creature. But this helplessness contains a huge potential force, since, without being bound by rigid instinctive forms of behavior, the child can appropriate precisely those methods of generic human activity that are relevant at a given historical stage in the development of society. D.B. Elkonin described various types of activities of children, in the process of which they acquire the foundations of culture and thereby realize mental development. So, he showed the fundamental role of the direct emotional communication of the infant with adults in the appropriation of needs human communication, general orientation in the world. Investigating the content and structure of the object-manipulative and playful activity of the preschooler, he discovered and described their fundamental significance in the emergence and further development of the child's fundamental object-motor and cognitive abilities: imagination, thinking, speech, symbolic function, orientation in the general senses of human relations. The child's appropriation of the riches of human culture through his purposeful teaching and upbringing appears rather late - they are presented in an expanded form in the school period (for example, in the form of educational activities of younger students). Such training and upbringing are of great importance in the mental development of children (certain moments of training and upbringing are also present in other types of appropriation, which sometimes leads some psychologists to even improper identification of it with training and upbringing).
DB Elkonin's views on the general nature and sources of the child's mental development can be summarized as follows. At first, all kinds of children's activities public in its origin, content and form, therefore, from the moment of birth and from the first stages of its development, the child is a social being.Secondly, the child's appropriation of the achievements of human culture is always active character - the child is not passive in this process, does not adapt to the conditions of his life, but acts as an active subject their transformations, reproducing and creating human abilities in themselves.
Speaking about the development of the child, he formulated the following scientific position: 1) conditions(development) - the growth and maturation of the organism; 2) sources - environment, ideal forms, i.e. what development should come to at the end (everything that should appear in a child already exists in society, including needs, social tasks, motives and even emotions); 3) the form - assimilation; 4) driving forces - the contradiction between the assimilation of the objective and social aspects of action.
D.B. Elkonin shared everything activities child for 2 groups. The first- group communicative activities related to genetically different forms of communication. It is based on the relationships that unfold in the system "Child-social adult".The second- group subject activities related to genetically different forms of objective activity. It is based on relationships in the system "Child is a public subject". According to D. B. Elkonin, the course of development is determined by the movement from the system "Child-social adult" to the system "Child is a public subject", those. first, relations are established with an adult, as a bearer of social experience, and on this basis the corresponding types of activity are assimilated.
Further D.B. Elkonin introduces the division of the psyche into 2 spheres - motivational-need sphere and sphere operational and technical capabilities. Thus, the thesis of the contradiction between the needs of the child and his capabilities as a driving force of development is realized.
According to his hypothesis, in the process of a child's development, at each stage, mastering must first take place. motivational side of activity(otherwise, objective actions do not make sense), and then - operational and technical; in development one can observe the alternation of these types of activity.
According to D.B. Elkonin, human action is two-faced: it contains proper human meaning and the operational side. Strictly speaking, the world of physical objects does not exist in the human world; the world of social objects reigns supreme there, satisfying socially formed human needs in a certain socially developed way. Even objects of nature appear for a person as included in a certain social life, as objects of labor, as humanized, social nature. Man is the bearer of these social ways of using objects. Hence, a person's abilities are the level of mastery of social methods of using social objects. Thus, every object contains “a social object. It is always necessary to see two sides in human action: on the one hand, it is focused on society, on the other, on the method of execution. This microstructure of human action, according to the hypothesis of D.B. Elkonin, is reflected in the macrostructure of periods of mental development.
D.B. Elkonin suggests looking at the relationship between the child and society in a different way. It is much more correct, he believes, to speak about the system “child in society”, and not “child and society”, so as not to oppose it to society. If we consider the formation of a child’s personality in the “child in society” system, then the nature of the relationship and the very content of the “child-thing” and “child-individual adult” systems, identified in European psychology as two spheres of children's existence, change radically. D.B. Elkonin shows that the "child-thing" system is essentially a "child-social object" system, since socially developed actions with it, and not its physical and spatial properties as an object, come to the fore for the child in the object; the latter serve only as guidelines for actions with him. With the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects, the formation of the child as a member of society takes place.
The "child-adult" system is being transformed, according to D. B. Elkonin, into the "child-social adult" system. This happens because for a child, an adult is a carrier of certain types of social activities by their nature. An adult carries out certain tasks in activities, enters into various relationships with other people and himself obeys certain norms. These tasks, motives and norms of relations that exist in the activities of adults are learned by children through their reproduction or modeling in their own activities (for example, in a role-playing game among preschoolers), of course, with the help of adults. In the process of assimilating these norms, the child is faced with the need to master more and more complex, new object-related actions.
D. B. Elkonin shows that the child's activity in the systems "child-social object" and "child-social adult" is a single process in which the personality of the child is formed. It is another matter, he writes, that "this process of a child's life in society, unified by its nature, splits into two in the course of historical development, splits into two sides."
They were open the law of alternation, the frequency of different types of activity: activity of one type, orientation in the system of relations, is followed by activity of another type, in which there is an orientation in the ways of using objects. Every time there are contradictions between these two types of orientation. They become cause of development. Each era of child development is built on the same principle. It opens with an orientation in the field of human relations. An action cannot develop further if it is not inserted into a new system of relations between the child and society. Until the intellect has risen to a certain level, there can be no new motives.
The law of alternation, periodicity in child development allows you to re-imagine the periods (epochs) in the stage of ontogeny of the psyche:
1) period (epoch) early childhood D.B. Elkonin divides into two stages - infancy(with the development of the motivational-need-sphere - M-P), which opens with a crisis of newborns, and early age(with the development of the operational and technical sphere - O-T) with a crisis of the 1st year of life;
2) period childhood he divides by preschool(M-P) crisis-opening age of 3 years, and junior school(O-T) with his crisis for 7 years;
3) period adolescence divided by adolescence(M-P) with a crisis of 11-12 years and early adolescence(O-T) with a crisis for 15 years.
The hypothesis of D.B. Elkonina, taking into account the law of periodicity in child development, explains the content of developmental crises in a new way. So, 3 years and 11 years are crises relationships, after them there is an orientation in human relations; 1 year, 7 years - crises worldview, which open up orientation in the world of things.
Mental development of a child in ontogenesis
- Child development is a constant transition from one age stage to another, associated with a change in the child's personality.
For the child himself, the surrounding reality is, as it were, divided into two spheres: and. And therefore, the child's activity occurs in two systems: and.
The system is really a system. Socially developed ways of dealing with objects are not given directly as some physical characteristics of things. They are not written on social origin and methods of action with them, the means of their reproduction. Therefore, mastery of a thing is impossible through adaptation. A special process of the child's assimilation of social methods of action with each thing and object becomes necessary. With the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects, the formation of the child as a member of society takes place.
In the system, an adult appears in front of a child not only from the side of his individual qualities, but as a bearer of certain social by nature activities, carrying out certain tasks, entering at the same time into various relationships with other people and himself obeying certain norms. But in the very activity of an adult, its tasks and motives are not outwardly indicated. Therefore, a special process of assimilating the tasks and motives of human activity and those norms of relations that people enter in the process of its implementation becomes necessary.
Due to the fact that the individual throughout his life enters into more than one reference community for him and situations of successful or unsuccessful adaptation, individualization and integration in the social environment are reproduced many times, he has a fairly stable personality structure.
The process of personality development is even more complicated due to the fact that the social environment is not really stable and the individual on his life path is consistently and in parallel included in communities that differ in their socio-psychological characteristics. Accepted by one referent group, he turns out to be rejected in another, etc. In addition, the groups themselves referent for him are usually in the process of development, to which he can adapt only on the condition of his own active participation in it.
All this makes it possible to assert that the personality is formed in groups hierarchically located at the stages of ontogenesis, and the character of personality development is determined by the level of development of the group into which the personality is included and in which it is integrated. The most favorable conditions for the active formation of valuable personality traits are created by a group of a high level of development - a collective. Therefore, A.S. Makarenko was right, who argued that the personality develops in a team and through a team.
The periodization of personality development in ontogenesis, based on these criteria, can be represented in the form of the following model.
The first three periods form the era of childhood, which is characterized by the dominance of the adaptation process (Adap.) (Ind.). The period of adolescence - the period of middle school age - is characterized by the dominance of the process of individualization over the process of adaptation. The era of adolescence - the period of senior school age - is characterized by the dominance of the integration process (Int.) over the process of individualization (Int. ~> Ind.).
Social development of the personality in ontogenesis occurs along two related lines: socialization(mastery of social experience, its appropriation), and individualization(acquisition of independence, relative autonomy). But the child becomes a person as a result of the implementation self-government, when he begins to organize his own life and determine in one way or another his own development. At first, he does this with the help of adults, and then on his own.
In the activities organized by society, both substantively practical and aimed at developing relationships, conditions are created for the development of a person as a person. At all inter-age transitions, the starting point is a new level of social development of the child, which determines the tendencies of strengthening one or the other side of the activity, the social position of the individual.
There are two types of boundaries of inter-level social development of the child's personality - intermediate and nodal.
Intermediate boundaries between the periods of ontogenesis (-1, 6, 15 years) are associated with the actualization of the object-practical side of the activity, in the process of which the child masters social experience, develops ways of handling objects, evaluates his actions, and asserts his position among others. The nodal boundaries between the stages of ontogenesis (- 0, 3, 10, 17 years) are associated with the actualization of activities to assimilate the norms of human relationships, the desire to express oneself, gain recognition from others, and take an appropriate place in society.
Intermediate and nodal boundaries arise in the process of social development several times, naturally following one after the other, but they differ qualitatively at different levels of personality development in terms of volume and content. So, in a one-year-old child, it means the emergence of an understanding of what is, and in a six-year-old, it means considering oneself among others, specific people, the desire to be like others. If in a three-year-old child this means, then in a ten-year-old there is already an awareness of society as an objectively existing social organization, where it acts on an equal footing with others.
By the age of 3, the child completes the first cycle of acquaintance ,with the human world. From this nodal point, a new level of social development begins, when not only society determines relations with a child, but he, having isolated his own, begins to increasingly actively enter into relations with other people and society. By the age of 6, the child develops an orientation toward the social functions of people, the norms of their behavior and the meaning of activity. If a 5-year-old child still lacks a subjective attitude to social values, a conscious understanding of their meaning (they are still in a narrow circle of intimate and personal relationships), then six-year-old children already have a broader understanding of social ties, develop the ability to evaluate the behavior of children and adults, awareness of their belonging to the children's team.
A 6-9-year-old child develops a theoretical attitude to reality, the arbitrariness of mental processes, and an internal plan of action. Between the ages of 9 and 10, the third level of social development begins, when the child not only realizes himself as a subject, but feels the need to realize himself as a subject, to enter into a wide range of social relations. From the age of 9 to 10, the number of children motivating their learning activities with a sense of duty increases, and the number of children who are interested and enjoy learning decreases.
At the age of 15, a new intermediate line of social development is singled out (). If in the first half of the year a 14-year-old adolescent is most interested in self-esteem and acceptance by others, then for a 15-year-old the main place is occupied by the development of abilities, the development of skills, and intellectual development. If at the age of 14 only for about a fifth of adolescents the desire to imagine their future is relevant, then at the age of 15 in the first half of the year there are already more than half of such adolescents, and in the second half of the year this desire is manifested in four out of five adolescents.
From 15 to 17 years old, there is the development of abstract and logical thinking, reflection of one's own life path, the desire to realize oneself.
The largest stages of the social development of a personality from birth to maturity are the phases of its formation: at the first (from 0 to 10 years) - in childhood itself - the formation of the personality takes place at the level of still undeveloped self-consciousness; in the second (from 10 to 17 years old) - the adolescence phase - there is an active formation of self-awareness, the social position of a responsible subject.
The development of activity, the basis of personality development, is carried out as a spiral, constantly saturated process, each next moment of which removes and contains the achievements of previous periods, ensuring the formation of new formations.
Here are the most common options for the periodization of child development. In general, periodization can be based on different foundations, although the main and crisis periods are defined by different authors in approximately the same way.
D.B. Elkonin wrote that the problem of the periodization of mental development in childhood is a fundamental problem of child psychology. Its development is of great theoretical importance, because through the definition of periods of mental development and through the identification of patterns of transitions from one period to another, ultimately, the problem of the driving forces of mental development can be solved. The construction of a system of upbringing and teaching children largely depends on the correct solution to the problem of periodization.
D.B. Elkonin identified the main approaches to the problem of periodization:
- a historical approach to the pace of development and to the question of the emergence of individual periods of childhood in the course of the historical development of mankind;
- approach to each age period from the point of view of the place that it occupies in the general cycle of the child's mental development;
- the idea of mental development as a dialectically contradictory process, proceeding not in an evolutionary way, but through interruptions of continuity, the emergence of qualitatively new formations in the course of development;
- highlighting, as obligatory and necessary turning points, critical points in mental development, which are important objective indicators of transitions from one period to another;
- the allocation of transitions that are different in nature and, in connection with this, the distinction in the mental development of eras, stages, phases.
According to D.B. Elkonin, when creating age periodization, it is advisable to operate with the "child in society" system, within which there are the "child - thing" and "child - separate adult" systems. They turn from two independent ones into a single one, significantly changing their content. In the "child - thing" system, things with certain physical and spatial properties begin to open up to the child as social objects, mainly developed by means of actions with them. The system "child - a thing" is in reality a system "child - a social object." Socially developed methods of action with an object are not given directly as some physical characteristics of things. The subject does not indicate its social origin, methods of action with it. Therefore, mastering this subject is impossible by simple "balancing" with its physical properties. A special process of the child's assimilation of social methods of action with this object becomes internally necessary (he eats with a spoon, digs with a spatula, etc.).
With the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects, the child is formed as a member of society, including his intellectual, cognitive and physical powers. For the child himself, this development is presented primarily as an expansion of the sphere and an increase in the level of mastery of actions with objects. It is by this parameter that children compare their level, their capabilities with the level and capabilities of other children and adults. In the process of such a comparison, the adult reveals himself to the child not only as the bearer of social methods of action with objects, but also as a person who solves certain social problems.
In the "child - adult" system, the adult begins to act as the bearer of certain types of activities, entering at the same time into various relationships with other people, subject to certain norms. At the same time, on the very activity of an adult, its motives and tasks are not outwardly indicated. Outwardly, it appears before the child as the production and transformation of objects and things. Therefore, the need arises for the process of assimilating the tasks and motives of human activity and the norms of human relationships. And the adult just appears before the child as the bearer of complex methods of action, standards and measures necessary for free orientation in the world. Thus, according to D.B. Elkonin, the child's activity within the systems "child - social object" and "child - social adult" represents a single process in which his personality is formed. In each age period, this activity is specific.
At the heart of the age periodization of D. B. Elkonin are the leading activities that determine the emergence of psychological neoplasms at a particular stage of development. The relationship between productive activity and communication activity is considered.
This is how the periodization of the mental development of D.B. Elkonin.
PERIODIZATION OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT D.B. ELKONIN
The era of early childhood (up to 3 years).
- Infancy (up to 1 year). Here, the leading activity is emotional communication. At 2-2.5 months, the child has a complex of revitalization on the appearance of an adult: a smile, a motor reaction, etc. By the age of 6 months, this communication activity develops, the child recognizes the mother. Adults develop the child's hand: they give him a toy, include him in communication through the object, leading to actions with the object. By the age of one, the child begins to have a need for verbal communication. On the border of infancy and early age, there is a transition to actual object-related actions, to the beginning of the formation of the so-called practical, or sensorimotor intelligence.
- Early age (actually early childhood) (1-3 years). Here the leading type of activity is subject-manipulative. The child opens and closes the door, pours sand, etc. He masters actions with a spoon, pencil, bucket, handkerchief, etc. This is the operational and technical phase. During this period of time, objective actions serve as a way for the child to establish interpersonal contacts. Communication, in turn, is mediated by the child's objective actions and is practically not separated from them. But by the age of 3, the child begins to compare himself with adults and declare "I", "I myself."
The era of childhood (3-11 years old).
- Preschool childhood (3-7 years old). The desire for independence leads the child to a role-playing game that imitates the relationship of people in the labor process. Thanks to play techniques, the child takes on the role of an adult and models their interpersonal relationships in play. Thus, role play, combining communication and objective activity, ensures their joint influence on the development of the child. He has a need to take a new social position, and by the end of this period the child has a desire to learn something, he wants to get the result of his activity as an assessment, and is drawn to learning.
- Younger school childhood (7-11 years old). This is the phase of operational and technical activities, mainly educational activities. The child learns to read, write. In the process of learning, intellectual and cognitive abilities are formed, a system of relations between the child and others develops - his own practice of relationships with other people. But the time comes, and he wants to imitate the behavior of adults; wants to be treated equally. The next era is coming.
The era of adolescence (11-14 years old).
- Younger adolescence (11-14 years old). A new activity appears - the activity of intimate-personal, emotional communication with peers, an association with children of equal age appears, and leaders appear. There is a "feeling of adulthood" - a special form of new formation of consciousness, through which a teenager compares himself with others, finds role models, rebuilds his activities and relationships. It is important here that the child's social circles do not get out of the control of adults - "difficult age", "turning age".
- Youth - senior adolescence (14-17 years old). The child again has a need for self-knowledge, self-awareness is formed, the tasks of self-development, self-improvement, self-actualization are set. Professional and personal self-determination is carried out, it is important for him to know who he will be. The leading activity is educational and professional (again, the operational and technical phase), in the process of which the worldview, professional interests, ideals are formed.
Periodization D.B. Elkonin is the most common in Russian psychology.
Page 7
The "child-adult" system is being transformed, according to D.B. Elkonin, well, into the "child - social adult" system. This happens because for a child, an adult is a carrier of certain types of social activities by their nature. An adult carries out certain tasks in activities, enters into various relationships with other people and himself obeys certain norms. These tasks, motives and norms of relations that exist in the activities of adults are learned by the children through reproduction or modeling in their own activities (for example, in a role-playing game among preschoolers), of course, with the help of adults. In the process of assimilating these norms, the child is faced with the need to master more and more complex, new object-related actions.
D.B. Elkonin shows that the activity of the child in the systems "child - social object" and "child - social adult" is a single process in which the personality of the child is formed. It is another matter, he writes, that "this process of a child's life in society, unified by its nature, splits into two in the course of historical development, splits into two sides."
D.B. Elkonin discovered the law of alternation, the periodicity of different types of activity: an activity of one type, orientation in the system of relations, is followed by an activity of another type, in which there is an orientation in the ways of using objects. Every time there are contradictions between these two types of orientation. They become the cause of development.
Each era of child development is built on the same principle. It opens with an orientation in the field of human relations. An action cannot develop further if it is not inserted into a new system of relations between the child and society. Until the intellect has risen to a certain level, there can be no new motives.
The law of alternation, periodicity in child development allows sexual representation of periods (epochs) in the stage of psyche ontogenesis (see Table 7).
Developing the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, D.B. Elkonin proposed to consider each psychological age based on the following criteria:
Social situation of development. This is the system of relationships that a child enters into in society. This is how he orients himself in the system of social relations, in which areas of social life he enters the main, or leading type of child's activity during this period. In this case, it is necessary to consider not only the type of activity, but also the structure of activity at the appropriate age and analyze why this type of activity is the leading one.
The main neoplasms of development. It is important to show how new achievements in development outgrow the social situation and lead to its "explosion" - a crisis.
A crisis. Crises are tipping points on the curve of childhood development, separating one age from another. We can say, following L.S. Vygotsky:
"If crises were not discovered empirically, they would have to be invented theoretically." To reveal the psychological essence of the crisis means to understand the internal dynamics of development during this period.
Table 7. Periods of the n stage of child development according to D.B. Elkonnnu Early childhood Childhood Adolescence g Infancy Early age Preschool age Younger school age Adolescence Early adolescence MT
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D.B. Elkonin suggests looking at the relationship between the child and society in a different way. It is much more correct, he believes, to speak of the system "child in society" rather than "child and society", so as not to oppose it to society, as it inevitably happens from the standpoint of the natural scientific paradigm. If we consider the formation of a child's personality in the system "child in society", then the nature of the relationship is radically changing, and the very content of the systems "child - thing" and "child - separate adult", identified in European psychology as two spheres of child life. D.B. Elkonin shows that the system "child - thing" is, in fact, the system "child - social object", since socially developed actions with it, and not the physical and spatial properties of the object, come to the fore for the child in the object; the latter serve only as guidelines for actions with him. With the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects, the formation of the child as a member of society takes place.
The system "child - adult" is being transformed, according to D.B. Elkonin, into the "child - social adult" system. This happens because for a child, an adult is a carrier of certain types of social activities by their nature. An adult carries out certain tasks in activities, enters into various relationships with other people and himself obeys certain norms. These tasks, motives and norms of relations that exist in the activities of adults are learned by children through their reproduction or modeling in their own activities (for example, in a role-playing game among preschoolers), of course, with the help of adults. In the process of assimilating these norms, the child is faced with the need to master more and more complex, new object-related actions.
D.B. Elkonin shows that the child's activity in the systems "child - social object" and "child - social adult" is a single process in which the personality of the child is formed. It is another matter, he writes, that "this process of a child's life in society, unified by its nature, splits into two in the course of historical development, splits into two sides."
Developing the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, D.B. Elkonin suggested considering each stable psychological age
based on the following criteria:
o Social development situation. This is the system of relationships that a child enters into in society. This is how he orients himself in the system of social relations, in which areas of public life he enters.
o The main, or leading, type of child's activity during this period. In this case, it is necessary to consider not only the type of activity, but also the structure of activity at the appropriate age and analyze why this type of activity is the leading one.
o Major neoplasms of development. It is important to show how new achievements in development come into conflict with the old social situation and lead to its "explosion" - a crisis.
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