Children’s Narratives as a Space for Manifestation and Way of Diagnostics of Creative Abilities of Senior Preschoolers

Abstract

This paper discusses the approbation of an assessment tool for the creative abilities of preschoolers — dialectical structures and symbolic images — on the basis of children's narratives. Fifty-seven preschoolers of 6—7 years old from two preschool groups in Moscow took part in the approbation of the “Three Stories” technique. The groups contrasted in the quality of education, The significance of differences between the classrooms was defined using ECERS-3 and CASRS (Creative Ability Support Rating Scale). We analyzed whether there is a connection between the success of creating narratives and the results of diagnosing dialectical thinking, symbolic realism of imagination and creativity. In the approbation of the “Three Stories” technique, significant correlations were revealed between successful use of dialectical structures in a story-making and the results of diagnostics of dialectical thinking. The latter was executed with two corresponding tools: "What can be simultaneously?" (p=0,01) and "Dialectical stories" (p=0,05). Both dialectical structures and symbolic images in children's narratives demonstrated significant differences in contrasting groups (p=0,05). This approbation substantiated the validity of the technique for the study of creative abilities on the ground of children's narratives. The study allows us to consider children's narratives in terms of their resource for understanding and diagnosing (and, in the future, developing) the creative abilities of preschoolers.