A folk tale as a way of developing ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world of preschoolers

Bochkina Elena Valeryevna ORCID: 0000-0003-1099-0047 Lecturer Moscow Financial-Industrial University "Synergy" 143530, Russia, Moscow region, Dedovsk, Voykova str., 14 bochkina.elena@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Introduction

The problem of the development of ideas about time and space is one of the most studied in the framework of pedagogy, linguistics, sociology, psychology and philosophy. This is due to several aspects: on the one hand, the complexity of understanding and the need for purposeful learning to develop ideas about time and space; on the other hand, the fragmentation of knowledge about the outside world and the lack of orientation skills in it. Most of the training sessions are aimed at developing only one side of this skill, which does not contribute to the formation of a single, holistic view, which will later become one of the parts of systemic knowledge – a holistic picture of the world.

The main part

In modern Russian and foreign studies, the worldview is considered as a pedagogical category that reflects the degree of understanding of the world and the events taking place in it at the level of systematization and generalization of knowledge previously acquired by a person. This knowledge can be divided according to the degree of generalization into general and individual or private. General knowledge reflects the social idea of the surrounding world or a separate phenomenon in it, stored in the culture of the people, and private knowledge reflects the individual image formed by each individual. Individual or private representations are a tool for understanding reality. They are formed through the comprehension and reflection of an object or phenomenon in the consciousness of a person as an image based on the fusion of objective and subjective perception.

An analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature has shown that the concept of a picture of the world has been considered by several scientific approaches. L.G. Buzunova understands a picture of the world as "an integral dynamic system in the human mind that combines volitional, emotional and cognitive components" ^{[5, p. 5]}. A.I. Khudyakov believes that the picture of the world is "a system in a state of continuous self-formation" ^{[28, p. 7]}. The process of self-formation is accompanied by a continuous change in the structure of the worldview due to a person's perception of new information from the outside world. From the point of view of pedagogical science, the picture of the world is "an integral system of ideas about the properties and patterns of reality, which provide a holistic understanding of it" ^{[30, p. 28]}. In the Works of K.D. Ushinsky, the worldview is "a systematic and holistic view of the world around us, acting as a basic system of human reference points" ^{[30, p.22]}. It is worth emphasizing that the majority of teachers and psychologists (L.S. Vygotsky, P.Ya. Galperin, S.A. Kozlova, M.V. Krulekht, S.L. Rubinstein, K.D. Ushinsky, etc.) adhere to the opinion that the picture of the world is an integral system of images (representations).

In Russian science, the features, methods and principles of forming a picture of the world have been studied by a number of scientists (B.G. Ananyev, M.M. Bakhtin, L.M. Bosova, V.I. Vernadsky, L.S. Vygotsky, P.Ya. Galperin, V.V. Davydov, V.P. Zinchenko, S. A. Kozlova, V.V. Komleva, T.A. Kulikova, I.E. Kulikovskaya, E.F. Kupetskova, A.N., Leontiev, M. I. Lisina, N.G. Medvedeva, S.L. Rubinstein, R. Schroeder, and others). Within the framework of these studies, several scientific areas were identified, which are divided into age-wide and research devoted to the study of the process of forming a picture of the world in preschool and preschool children. primary school age. Three scientific trends have formed within the age-wide field:1) knowledge; 2) value; 3) cultural.

In line with the first (B.G. Afanasyev, B.G. Kuznetsov, A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein, and others), the worldview was studied from the perspective of the process of understanding the surrounding reality, depending on the level of human knowledge about the world and culture, scientific understanding of it, and the degree of generalization of knowledge gained.

The second direction studied this phenomenon from the perspective of a value approach (L.M. Bosova, V.I. Vernadsky, V.P. Zinchenko, Yu.M. Lotman, N.G. Medvedeva, V.S. Stepina, and others). Representatives of this direction identified the principles of its formation, the basic of which are consistency, accessibility, and systematicity.

The third direction (M.M. Bakhtin, G.D. Gachev, T.F. Kuznetsov, and others) is based on the identification of invariant (for all representatives of society) and variable (for individuals) components of the worldview. Within the framework of this approach, the relationship between the personal picture of the world and its cultural projection was determined, which is reflected in the mutual influence of the religious, artistic or scientific model of the world and the personal experience of the subject.

In children of preschool and primary school age, the process of forming a picture of the world has been studied within the framework of several approaches. These include:

1) the picture of the world as an integral education, all the components of which are interconnected (L.S. Vygotsky, P.Ya. Galperin, V.V. Davydov, N.N. Poddyakov, D.B. Elkonin, etc.). The process of forming a child's picture of the world should be based on the gradual expansion and deepening of acquired knowledge about the world. This is due to the fact that the worldview of a preschool-age child is formed on the basis of his ideas about himself and their inclusion in the process of his activity.;

2) the picture of the world as a system of interrelated components - the idea of the family, the idea of nature, the ethno-cultural idea, the initial ideas about astronomy and scientific knowledge of the world (I.E. Kulikovskaya, E.F. Kupetskaya, N.G. Medvedeva, K.D., etc.);

3) theatrical activity as a tool for developing a picture of the world (S.V. Batueva, I.E. Kiseleva, A.A. Leontiev, etc.). This type of activity is a socio-cultural phenomenon that promotes the moral, cognitive, aesthetic, emotional, creative, communicative and personal development of a child;

4) modeling of the educational space as a tool for forming a picture of the world (S.A. Kozlova, V.V. Komleva, T.A. Kulikova, etc.);

5) game activity as a tool for forming a picture of the world (S.V. Batueva, I.E. Kiseleva, etc.);

6) fiction as a tool for forming a picture of the world (K. McColgan, T. McCormack, etc.). This type of art implies "immersing a child in the cultural context of the country in which he lives" ^{[32, p. 1485]};

7) spatial and temporal orientation as a means of forming a picture of the world (M. Carelli, H. Forman, etc.);

8) the worldview "as a process of formation of social and communicative competence" ^{[17, p. 13]} (M.V. Krulekht);

9) the formation of a picture of the world "through the formation of ideas about the social world, a value attitude to its phenomena" ^{[16, p.27]} (R.H. Hasanova).

The variety of scientific psychological, pedagogical and philosophical approaches to the study of the process of forming a picture of the world shows the importance of this phenomenon and allows us to identify its main constituent characteristics, which include personal perception and social (public) knowledge.

The worldview is a system representation and can be divided into several interconnected subsystems. These include: the linguistic worldview, the objective world, the living world, and the social world. At the same time, the social world or social representation is a prism for reflecting all other subsystems of the worldview. At the same time, the social world or social representation is a prism for reflecting all other subsystems of the worldview. One type of social representation is that of space and time.

Based on the definition in the Large Psychological Dictionary, "spatial and temporal representations are commonly understood to mean representations of spatial and temporal relations and properties of objects: their size, shape, relative location of objects, their translational and rotational phenomena, etc." ^{[2, p.308]}.

L.M. Vekker described the mechanisms of formation of spatiotemporal representations (Fig. 1). In the scientist's opinion, these representations represent the relationship between space and time and their main components. L.M. Vekker attributed to the main components of space: spatial panoramicity (the integrity of reproduction of the spatial structure of an object or phenomenon does not depend on the volume of the perceptual field) topological scheme (this scheme is based on the transformation of geometric shapes into a schematic image that can be read in various spatial objects); topographic elements (highlighting significant components of the background in the representation); perceptual image (this "image consists of highlighting a figure and background in an ongoing action. The figure and the background can be separated from each other, in which case an empty background appears") ^{[7, p. 86]}.

Fig.1 The mechanisms of formation of spatial and temporal representations according to L.M. Vekker

L.M. Vekker referred to the temporal components as: temporal panoramicity (reflected "in the fusion of temporal and motor sequences in the secondary image representation" ^{[7, p.87]}); "temporal sequence (reflected in the strength of the reproduced image, which is based on the sequential reproduction of time intervals of action)" ^{[19, p. 89]}; "shifts in the display of duration, which are a demonstration of the law of the time interval" ^{[19, p. 90]}. S.L. Rubinstein defined the "law of the filled time interval: the more complete and, therefore, divided into small intervals is a period of time, the longer it appears" ^{[27, p. 305]}.

Scientists have noted that time and space are interconnected by their main components (panoramas, sequences, etc.). Due to the interconnection of these components, space-time representations become more stable and most fully reflect the surrounding reality.

In order for ideas about time and space to reflect the surrounding reality most fully, it is necessary that they be conditioned by the prism of personal perception, i.e., a person must combine new knowledge with life experience. K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya ^[1] attributed her own life (time) perspective to personal perception. Due to the perspective of life, a person realizes his own place in space and time, relative to the events of the past, present and future. B.V. Zeigarnik ^[13] believed that normally a person perceives socio-cultural signs of the objective social world, realizing his place among them. In the presence of impaired or unformed cognitive functions (memory, thinking, perception, imagination), this ability is lost and a person ceases to navigate correctly in space and time. L.S. Vygotsky wrote in his writings that "a child with mental disabilities does not fully perceive the symbolic culture of the surrounding world and gets lost in it" ^{[10, p. 49]}. A child with mental disabilities cannot fully reflect on the experience gained and build cause-and-effect relationships, which means that he does not fully understand the reality surrounding him.

The lack of formation of ideas about time leads to a delay in the development of spatial representations, which subsequently is the root cause of the delay in cognitive development. In his research, Yu.V. Bushov writes that "the intellectual development of an individual depends on the level of awareness of time and space, i.e., on the level of development of representations of time and space" ^{[6, p. 165]}. The scientist used hardware diagnostics – an electroencephalogram (EEG) to establish differences between people with a high level of intelligence and spatiotemporal representations and subjects with low scores. In the course of the research, it was found that in the brains of people with high scores, "the presence of rapid (lasting 50-150 ms) and statistically significant changes in the levels of cortical connections at different stages of the activity under study" was revealed ^{[6, p. 161]}. The subjects with low intellectual scores showed no significant change in the levels of cortical connections. And when presented with visual stimuli, it was leveled. In adulthood, the low level of development of ideas about time and space is reflected in the ability to navigate using maps and a low level of planning development. In preschool and primary school age, a low level of development of ideas about time and space is the root cause for impaired counting, writing and reading skills. Russian scientists (M.I. Vasilyeva, A.N. Veraksa, N.E. Veraksa, A.M. Leushina, T.D. Richterman, E.V. Shcherbakova, and others) have revealed that children of preschool and primary school age have time and spatial boundaries shifted, most of them do not have up to the age of 8 years. or there are partially no temporal and spatial concepts and there are no precise verbal designations of the categories of space and time. This is due to the abstractness of these concepts and the fact that children of early and preschool age unconsciously perceive them.

Ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world are among the first ideas that develop in a child. For the first time, these ideas appear during infancy, when a child develops conditioned reflexes for a daily routine set by a close adult. Then, in early childhood, ideas about time and space help the child to build a daily routine that coincides with the daily routine established in the society in which the child grows up. These representations in infancy and early life are unconscious. It is only towards the end of preschool childhood, in some children, by the age of 8, that ideas about time and space begin to develop consciously. At the household level, the child begins to build logical connections between his elementary daily actions and the period of the day or year. For example, a 4-5-year-old child understands that he wakes up in the morning and goes to breakfast, and in the evening he waits for his mother to listen to a fairy tale before going to bed. Longer logical chains are not available at this age. D.A. Kostikova in her works focused on the fact that a preschool child "finds it very difficult to understand the specifics of the location of interconnected objects in space" ^{[16, p.97]}. N.E. Veraksa believes that "conscious ideas about time and space are not available for preschoolers until they will not be developed purposefully" ^{[8, p. 35]}.

By the methods of purposeful development of ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world, we mean "the directed activity of an adult aimed at developing skills of orientation in time and space" ^{[4, p. 32]}. This activity can be not only educational, but also playful, labor, communicative, cognitive and research, musical, artistic and aesthetic, and reading. The latter type of activity in preschool deserves special attention. S. McDonald noted that reading is the most effective tool for developing ideas about time and space. She notes that "on the basis of literary images and the sequence of events of the plot, the child can experience the changes taking place in real life" ^{[32, p.3]}. E.P. Vishnyakova emphasizes that literary works represent all "types of time chronotopes (historical, cosmic, personal) and spatial orientation" ^{[9, p. 529]}. Thanks to this, the child can get acquainted with all their diversity and understand their essence. In the works of G.A. Neverovich, it is mentioned that "fiction allows not only to acquaint a child with the events of the modern world, but also to immerse him in the world of folklore" ^{[23, p.60]}. Due to the contrasting comparison of different eras, a child can see the difference "between the perception of space and time" ^[22]. All of the above highlights that most of the knowledge about the world around a preschool-age child gets from books that an adult reads to him. These can be books with scientific and educational materials and literary works of fiction. It is customary to include short stories, poems, novellas, parables, and fairy tales as genres of literary fiction. The latter genre is the most significant for us, because "children of preschool and primary school age most often read and listen to fairy tales" ^[26]. Their content is the most accessible and understandable for them.

Based on the definition of the great Russian encyclopedia, "a fairy tale is one of the main genres of folklore prose with a focus on fiction" ^[3]. There are author's and folklore (folk) fairy tales. In our study, the folk genre of fairy tales was used.

Methods and methodology

The purpose of the research is to develop ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world using fairy tales.

Methodological basis of the study:

• The cultural and historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky.
• The theory of amplification of child development by A.V. Zaporozhets.
• A discursive approach to the typology of A.N. Afanasyev's fairy tales.

The study was conducted in the period from September 2022 to May 2023 at the Snailcenter LLC, Omsk. It was attended by 60 children of senior preschool age (5-6 years old). The children were divided into 2 groups – a control group and an experimental group of 30 people each. Classes were held 2 times a week, lasting 25 minutes each.

Each lesson was dedicated to one fairy tale, reflecting the attitude of the Russian people to spatial or temporal events. Special attention was paid to the literary device of retardation, which in fairy tales is a repetition of events preceding the achievement of the main goal. The lessons used fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev ^[21].

The following diagnostic tools were used:

1. Methodology of Semago N.Ya., Semago M.M. "Diagnostics of spatial representations of a child".
2. The method of E.I. Shcherbakova "Diagnostics of temporal representations of a child" ^[29].

The diagnosis was carried out in two stages – in September 2023 (at the beginning of the study) and in May 2024 (at the end of the study).

The results of the study

The formative part of the study was conducted in several stages. The first stage involved direct work with a literary work – reading a fairy tale, defining an episode describing temporal or spatial changes in the plot, and sketching this episode in a special notebook (the "Fairy Notebook" is a stitched album consisting of 56 A5 sheets).

The second stage involved the creation of a theatrical dramatization based on a listened and disassembled episode of a fairy tale.

For example, when listening to the fairy tale "Kolobok", two plot points were chosen for theatrical staging by children.: 1) "The gingerbread man lay down, lay down, and suddenly rolled - from the window to the bench, from the bench to the floor, across the floor and to the door, jumped over the threshold into the hall, from the hall to the porch, from the porch to the courtyard, from the courtyard beyond the gate, on and on" ^{[21, p. 36]}; and 2) "And rolled on; only the hare saw him!.. A gingerbread man rolls, and a wolf comes towards him: — Gingerbread man, gingerbread man! I'll eat you! "Don't eat me, gray wolf!" I'll sing you a song!" ^{[21, p. 37]}. These episodes of the fairy tale clearly reflect the spatial movements of the hero of the fairy tale, which is very important for preschool children. Playing them allows you to "live" all the actions of the "Gingerbread Man" on yourself and analyze his actions in a fairy tale.

Similar actions were carried out with the remaining 55 fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev. After conducting a set of formative classes, we compared the results obtained at the beginning and at the end of the experiment.

It was revealed that in the experimental group, the level of development of ideas about time (the method of E.I. Shcherbakova "Diagnosis of time representations of a child") increased by 30% relative to their results at the beginning of the experiment (Fig. 2). In the control group, the level of development of ideas about time increased by only 5% (Fig.3).

Fig. 2 Changes in the level of development of temporal representations in children of the experimental group

At the stage of re-diagnosis, children from the experimental group showed better results compared to the results obtained at the initial stages of our study. They could identify time intervals faster, could easily name the time of the year or part of the day, and began to use words denoting time and time prepositions more often in their daily speech.

In the control group (Fig. 3), children do not use words denoting time and time prepositions in their daily speech, they determine time intervals longer and with difficulty, compared with children from the experimental group.

Fig. 3 Changes in the level of development of temporal representations in children of the control group

In the process of comparing the results using the method of Semago N.Ya., Semago M.M. "Diagnostics of spatial representations of a child", the following results were obtained. The children of the experimental group had a 25% increase in the level of development of ideas about space relative to their results at the beginning of the experiment (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Changes in the level of spatial representation development in children of the experimental group

An analysis of the results obtained in the experimental group showed that at the stage of re-diagnosis, children from the experimental group showed better results compared to the results obtained at the initial stages of our study. They were able to identify spatial gaps faster, determine the direction of an object's movement without making mistakes, became more aware of their own bodies, and began to use words denoting space and prepositions of space more often in their daily speech.

In the control group, the level of development of ideas about time increased by only 4% (Fig.5).

Fig. 5 Changes in the level of spatial representation development in children of the control group

In the control group, children experience difficulties in determining the direction of movement, and they do not use words denoting space and prepositions of space in their daily speech.

Summarizing the above, we can conclude about the effectiveness of our formative classes. The purposeful influence had a positive effect on the development of ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world.

Conclusions

Our research was devoted to the study of the influence of fairy tale-based activities on the development of ideas about time and space as a subsystem of a holistic picture of the world. These concepts have been repeatedly studied by domestic and foreign scientists due to the fact that the concepts of space and time are abstract and that children of early and preschool age unconsciously perceive them. At the same time, among the previous studies, the study of the influence of fairy-tale-based activities on the development of ideas about time and space was not revealed. Based on the theoretical analysis, we have identified the methodological basis of our research and compiled its design. The result of the formative sessions was that the experimental group significantly increased the level of development of ideas about time and space as a subsystem of the holistic worldview. Children have become better able to navigate time intervals and determine spatial directions. Our understanding of the world around us has expanded. The ability to set and solve search tasks has appeared. In the control group, the shifts were not significant.