6.2. OBSERVATION AS A LEADING METHOD OF UNDERSTANDING WITH NATURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Methods and forms of work with children play an important role in environmental education. These are, above all, systematic observations, experimental work, work in nature, modeling, and conversations.

Observation is the traditional method of familiarizing children with nature. In modern pedagogy and psychology, observation is viewed in various aspects: as a mental process (A. A. Lyublinskaya and others); as cognitive activity (B. G. Ananyev and others); as a method of learning (I. Ya. Lerner, MN Skatkin, etc.). Observation is considered as the quality of the personality as a whole (L. V. Zankov and others).

Observation is often defined as a purposeful, systematic, more or less prolonged human perception of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. In this case, perception is considered as the main component of observation.

All advanced pedagogical teachers of preschool education (E. I. Tiheeva, E. I. Zalkind, S. A. Veretennikova, P. G. Samorukova and others) attached great importance to observation as the leading method of knowledge of nature. Numerous studies have been carried out that have helped to reveal the peculiarities of the knowledge of nature by preschool children through observations (A. I. Vasilyeva, P. G. Samorukov, S. N. Nikolayev, N. I. Vetrova, and others). The authors showed that with the proper organization of sensory perception of objects of nature, the formation and development in children of distinct ideas about animals, plants, seasonal phenomena in nature is possible. Purposeful observations make it possible to form not only specific, but also generalized ideas, to teach children to orient themselves on the most significant signs of the objects and phenomena being observed.

In studies conducted in the LSPI them. A.I. Herzen, it is revealed that observation is a complex type of mental activity, including various sensory and thought processes and based on the emotional-volitional aspects of a child’s personality. Thus, the studies of V.I. Loginova, A.K. Matveeva, and P.G. Samorukova showed that the ratio of sensory and intellectual processes changes as the preschooler's observation develops. In the early stages of development of observation, sensory processes dominate, that is, various types of perception. There is an accumulation of images (representations) of objects, phenomena. Further, the importance of intellectual processes - thinking, ideas, memory, imagination, speech. As a result, the child may notice changes in the subject, establish the reasons for these changes. In addition, on the basis of previously obtained representations, he can recreate a picture of the whole or determine the state of an object by a perceived part or property.

On this basis, various types of observation appear: discriminating; long observation of changes and development of objects and phenomena; recreative. Genetically, the first and foremost for a child of preschool age is discriminative observation. On its basis, other types of observation are formed. The emergence of new types of observation is a manifestation of the development of the activity of observation. The authors argue that the developed observation activity is characterized by the presence of the following qualities: the ability to understand the cognitive task; adopt a surveillance plan; the ability to answer questions; set short-term observation goals on their own; use mastered methods of knowledge in the new conditions. The authors emphasize that the best condition for the formation of this cognitive activity at preschool age is a special organization of observations and purposeful guidance by the teacher.

The pedagogical process aimed at the formation of observation should ensure the gradual accumulation and systematization of knowledge, and also the emergence of an increasingly conscious attitude towards the observed.