To have abilities to use the logical thinking means to have the skills to cope with problems and to use them in all situations of life. The critical thinking stimulates brain work and can be applied to search of alternative decisions in many life situations. So you can imagine how it is important for children to create their primary bases for logical-mathematical development for a good start in their life. Logical abilities are built on basic fundamentals of mathematics and logic which will help your child to practice their sensor experience and allow it to design understanding of the environment.
Carefully plan your home tasks. Thinking over tasks and exercises, you can help the kid to develop his skills of logical thinking which will allow it to experience the environment deeply.
- At this age children start to understand how to use the theory to daily practice.
- Preschool children become capable to keep information in consciousness and to use it for their conclusions.
- Five- and Six-year-olds feel a side between a reality and abstraction.
«Ms.Brown, do you know that this table is eight books long, and a book shelf is nine books long? I am seven books long, and Michael is six. And you are may be 10! ».
This was stated by Yuriy from a preparatory group where 5-6-years old children experimented books as units of measure. In this kindergarten they support a first-hand experience in a natural way of development of abstract thinking and skills of operational thinking. As they are free in a choice and aren't limited to time or way of non-standard measurements, they start understanding of applied value of the theory and potential for its usage.
In this case they investigated similarities and differences between subjects measured. Although the books used for measurement, were not standard by the size, children comprehended the abstract communication between the measured subject and the tool used for these purposes. During this task children develop their ability to keep information in their memory, and then to use it for comparison purposes.
The process of this comparison is an important step of abstract thinking formation. For example, in the autumn this group used apples as a non-standard unit of measure, and children remembered that the tutor's height included most of all apples. They didn't remember, how, but understood that 10 books are more, than seven, and application of this principle in further is really working abstract thinking!
Look for sense in signs and symbols!
From the point of view of development psychology, five - and six years old children cross a side between concrete and abstract experience. They aren't ready to study everything by means of a pencil and paper (as school students) and mechanically to remember tasks, but they are quite capable to see communications between concrete experience and its abstract description.
Try to use the encryption of the different information. Including number of books and transferring this information to a board or in the schedule, displaying it by means of stickers or labels, ciphering in a conventional sign, the child receives key skill of record of a first-hand experience in a type of symbols and pictograms. This is beginning of writing, ability to put information on the table and even planning of the future.
As records are based on a personal first-hand experience, five - and six years old children can also return to the schemes or signs and using them "to read" the information. Their simple symbols and pictograms are similar to the alphabet and reading. Psychologists opened that the preschool children who are independently creating own symbolical records start reading with bigger ease and deeper understanding of the read.
How to teach Children (Age 5 to 6)?
Training through games has to be filled with action and infinite questions. Also give the child opportunities to work with various materials. If the child had an experiment by filling different contents with water, inspire them on repetition of the same actions with the sand, grain, crayons, buttons, etc.
Suggest children to compare the experience in manual skills – hand-made articles, taking care of animals and plants. Schemes, schedules and tables can serve as the bridge between a reality and abstraction. Induce children to do the elementary forecasts based on their last experience. Also don't forget to write down these forecasts, it is so interesting to read these records again when your kids grow up.
Article is prepared by Natalya Zherebilova
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