Dialectical thinking in children
Nikolay Veraksa
Dialectical tradition in philosophy
O
Dialectics and psychology
Sisters
Formal and dialectical logic
J.Piaget
‘Logic is the mirror of thinking.’
Formal logic does not operate with opposites, because it excludes contradictions
Dialectical logic is the logic of creativity.
Dialectical thinking is a system of special mental actions of operating
opposites.
A B
Opposites
Example: players of the soccer match
A + B = m
22 players
m
First
team
Second
team
m
m’
A B
Example
?
What figure do you think is missing here?
Example
What figure do you think is missing here?
?
Example
?
Can a rain be dry?
Can there be rainbow in winter?
Dialectic task
Dry rain is an amazing phenomenon of dry continental climate. Here you can see storm clouds gathering overhead and you can definitely see rain high in the sky, but no matter how long you wait for the drops to appear on the dry weary ground, they never do.
Dialectic action �of transformation
A
B
A
B
We are going for a walk
We are not going for a walk
Method
Wheel spin,
wings move
Wheel do not spin, wings do not move
14 children
between 1.10 and 2.1 years of age,
nursery group of Moscow‘s kindergarten
Characteristic of sampling
First group
Five children acted they are usual
Second group
Five children have noticed that the toy is difficult to play with
Third group
Four children have noted immobility of the toy
Conclusion
Around the age of two a child is able:
A
B
doesn’t
move
move
«A box with a weight»
”What will become to a brick when I let it go? Will it fall off the table or not?”
Will fall
Won’t fall
Two opportunities
A
B
1) Will fall
A
2) Won’t fall
B
3) Will fall
4) Won’t fall...
Cyclic answers
63,6%
Combined answers
AB
B
A
«falls and not falls»
27,3%
Explanatory answers
15,9%
«At first I didn’t see, and then at the last time I got it – I saw you tilt the box. Something rustled inside it I heard. It moves inside. The box is getting heavier»
Conclusion
1. The experiment did create a contradictory situation
2. Contradictory situation brought about a dialectic task and initiated dialectic cognition.
3. The general logic behind children’s process of thinking was as follows:
What can be at the same time:
Alive and not alive?
Black and white?
Heavy and light?
The same and different?
What can be alive and not alive at the same time?
Choose the mediation answer
Dialectic action �of seriation
A
AB
B
Choose the missing element of a row
?
Right answer
Choose the missing element of a row
?
Right answer
Dialectical cycle
Adults only in individual cases demonstrate the level of dialectic cognition comparable to the one of a senior preschooler
Indexes of dialectic cognition tend to decline dramatically when a child starts school.
Dialectical structures
Dialectical thinking is the operation of opposites.
Dialectical structures are universal and can be applied to any content.
Formal and dialectical structures are different dimensions of thinking.
Children and adults operate them not only conceptually, but also figuratively.
Dialectical structure of a play
Role
Visible field
Plot
Rule
Affect
Imaginary situation
Imaginary field
Semantic field
Psyche -
consciousness
(Descartes).
Psyche -
inner world
(Leibniz)
Psyche -
sum of elements
(Democritus)
Associative psychology
Psychoanalysis:
Psyche -
unconsciousness
Behaviourism:
Psyche -
external action
Gestalt
psychology:
Psyche - structure
J.Piaget:
Psyche -
action structure
B
AB
A
Dialectic action �of conversion
“It is not always because the researcher has to go the same way ... it is often advantageous to reverse the path”
AB
A
B
social situation of development
child
social environment
speech
cognition
meaning
“What is word meaning? Speech or thinking? It is speech and thinking in the same time, because it is a unit of verbal thinking”
Inorganic chemistry
Chemical
element
Metals
Alkali
Metalloids
Acid
Salt + water
Model of positional learning
Normative:
Symbolic:
Dialectic:
First international symposium on dialectical psychology – 25 specialists from 7 countries
Vygotsky’s Theory in Early Childhood Education and Research
Thank you!
www.veraksa.ru