There are slightly more children living on our planet than adults. A childless society is a degenerate society. The correct development of the child is a prerequisite for the spiritual and practical activities of an adult.
The UN Declaration defines the survival conditions and social rights of the child - the right to protection, guardianship, assistance, upbringing and education.
At the present stage of development of the world community, issues related to the concept of the psyche of a small child are problematic. There is a need to appeal to the science of child and developmental psychology.
A logical qualitative change in material and ideal objects, necessary and directed, is development. The definition of development presupposes the simultaneous presence of these two properties, namely they distinguish it from other ongoing changes.
The concept of development is considered in various approaches in psychology. According to the cultural-historical theory developed and proposed by Russian psychologists, the source of development is the environment in which the individual exists. It is in the struggle of the emerging contradictions, learning and the child’s own actions that his ontogenesis occurs. L. S. Vygotsky introduced the definition of “zone of proximal development, ” meaning the discrepancy between how a child is developing at a given moment and his potential.
Developing new educational standards, scientists relied on activity theory. Never before has the Law on Education and the standards of training and education been so deeply saturated with psychology. Speaking about the fact that the child should know and be able to mean the actual development zone.
It is represented by already formed skills that developed in a child without the help of an adult. And when talking about the achievements of students, this means a zone of proximal development. An active approach to education and training presupposes that children have cognitive motivation, the ability to plan and predict their activities, the formation of control and self-control.
The zone of proximal development is expanding thanks to the help of an adult, since independent skills are in the process of formation. The bottom line is that, performing tasks with the help of a teacher, teacher today, tomorrow, the child will be able to do the same on his own. By creating a problem situation for a preschooler and encouraging him to choose the ways to solve it, adults thus stimulate his development.
The zone of proximal development is most clearly seen in preschool age, since it is at this stage of development that a large number of sensitive periods occur. Many scientists are inclined to the idea that if you limit the independence of the child, do not let him develop his own behavior strategy, do not provide the opportunity to try and make mistakes, this can lead to a delay in development. If all actions are performed instead of the child, and not with him, then there is a risk of the absence of skills that are characteristic of a particular sensitive period.
