The Development of Moral Consciousness in Older Preschool Children Through Problematic Contradictory Situations

Abstract

The problem of moral consciousness development in preschool children is of particular importance due to the vagueness of value orientation in modern society. The lack of tools for developing work with children defines the timeliness of the topic. The purpose of the study is to investigate the applicability of problematic contradictory situations in work aimed at the development of moral consciousness in older preschool children. The study involved 40 children aged 6 to 7 years. Methods of T.V. Avdulova were used to study the structure of moral consciousness in children. The ascertaining stage results showed different degree of moral consciousness components formation in surveyed preschoolers: the emotional component as the most formed, the behavioral component as the least formed. Out of 5 moral norms (help, generosity, honesty, obedience, empathy), the most mastered by children were the norms of help and generosity. At the formative stage, the hypothesis was investigated that problematic contradictory situations can be an effective means of moral consciousness development in preschoolers. The control stage results indicate the positive dynamics of all moral consciousness components in children (U = 35; R = 0,67; P = 0,00005). The conditions for application of problematic contradictory situations for the development of moral consciousness in children are as follows: formulation of moral dilemmas, in which the unknown is the aim, conditions or way of action, similar to the child’s experience; introduction of problematic contradictory situations in different types of children’s activities; structuring a sequence of lessons based on the degree of mastery of moral norms; application of an algorithm that provides reaching a productive solution mediating opposite options during resolving each problematic contradictory situation.