CREATIVE THINKING AND IMAGINATION IN THE STRUCTURE OF JUNIOR SCHOOLCHILDREN CREATIVITY

Abstract

This article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of the problem of psychological features of the development of creative thinking of children of primary school age. Thinking is characterized as a cognitive process in which objects and phenomena of reality are reflected in their essential features, connections and relationships. Thinking arises on the basis of practical activities of sensory cognition. The difference between thinking and other mental processes is that it is almost always associated with the presence of a problem situation, the task to be solved and the active change of the conditions in which the task is set. The paper reveals the essence of the concept of “creative thinking” and analyzes its criteria.
 Creative thinking is seen as a type of thinking characterized by the creation of a subjectively new product and new formations in the cognitive activity on the way to its formation. The theory of creative thinking is substantiated, which contains many different approaches to determining its mechanisms and patterns: dialogic, dialectical, critical, reflexive, lateral, positive thinking. The peculiarities of the formation of creative thinking in primary school students are substantiated and the methods of its development are analyzed, namely: the development of students’ independence, their ability to move independently from one stage to another, mastering the ability to find the most rational way to solve non-standard problems.
 The main methods of research of psychological features of development of creative thinking of junior schoolchildren are analyzed: the technique “Drawing of figures” (modification of the technique of E. Torrens, developed by O. Dyachenko), which is aimed at assessing the abilities of junior schoolchildren to productive imagination (figurative creativity); the method “Invent a game” (according to R. Nemov) is aimed at assessing the flexibility, non-standard, originality of the child in the field of verbal creativity; Renzulli's creativity questionnaire (modified by O. Tunik) allows to diagnose the level of development of creative thinking (creativity) of primary school children by identifying the creative initiative of primary school students by the method of experts.The sample, stages of research are characterized and the received results of studying of psychological features of development of creative thinking of pupils of elementary school are analyzed.