Development of dialectical thinking in education

Abstract

Background. The article presented as a discussion brings up the variety of relevant topics on the dialectical thinking formation: “Why is the modern education not interested in developing the dialectical thinking?”; “If based on the dialectical and formal logic, will educ programs be marked with internal inconsistencies?”; “Can psychology define the operational structure of dialectical thinking as well as in the theory of formal-logical thinking?” The discussion emphasises that digitization calls for new didactic methods to build a mind able to find flexible solutions in contradictory situations. Objective. The discussion advocate for using both the dialectical and formal logic in the modern education. Results. The discussion explores the highlights of N. E. Veraksa dialectical thinking concept. The discussion also demonstrates the operational structure presented by the dialectical mental actions of unification, transformation, reversal or change of alternative. The article considers the preferable age to start training dialectical thinking in a child: despite Jean Piaget’s thesis that a preschool child’s mind is insensitive to contradictions, the study recommends to start teaching children to solve contradictory situations at an early age. The article analyses the opportunities and prospects of implementing dialectical thinking concepts in the modern education. Conclusions. The main conclusion of the article is that digitization of childhood featuring information-dense social situations of development encourages the psychological science to come up with methods of developing thinking in new cultural environment. One of such children’s cognitive deve­lopment methods is dialectical thinking in solving contradictory problems.

Keywords

• dialectical thinking
• preschooler
• contradiction
• socratic method