Age characteristics of primary school age. Junior school age. General characteristics. Communication of children in primary school

This period in the development of a child is very important, since the social situation changes, he acquires a new social role. The child masters his new opportunities and rights, assimilates social rules. The family remains the main thing at this age social institution for the baby. He identifies with significant adults (parents) and gains new social experience in communicating with peers.

During the period of primary school age, the development of such mental functions as memory, thinking, perception, speech occurs. At 7 years old, the level of development of perception is quite high. The child perceives the colors and shapes of objects. The level of development of visual and auditory perception is high.

At the initial stage of learning, difficulties in the process of differentiation are revealed. This is due to the not yet formed system of perception analysis. Children's ability to analyze and differentiate objects and phenomena is associated with not yet formed observation. It’s no longer enough to just feel in the system schooling. Perception takes on purposeful forms, echoing other mental processes and moving to a new level - the level of voluntary observation.

Memory during primary school age is characterized by a vivid cognitive character. A child at this age begins to understand and identify a mnemonic task. There is a process of formation of methods and techniques of memorization.

This age is characterized by a number of features: it is easier for children to remember material based on visualization than on the basis of explanations; concrete names and names are stored in memory better than abstract ones; In order for information to be firmly entrenched in memory, even if it is abstract material, it is necessary to associate it with facts. Memory is characterized by development in voluntary and meaningful directions. At the initial stages of learning, children are characterized by involuntary memory. This is due to the fact that they cannot yet consciously analyze the information they receive. Both types of memory at this age change greatly and combine; abstract and generalized forms of thinking appear.

Periods of development of thinking:

1) the predominance of visual and effective thinking. The period is similar to the processes of thinking in preschool age. Children do not yet know how to logically prove their conclusions. They make judgments based on individual signs, most often external;

2) children master such a concept as classification. They still judge objects by external signs, but are already able to isolate and connect individual parts, combining them. Thus, by generalizing, children learn abstract thinking.

A child at this age masters his native language quite well. Statements are spontaneous. The child either repeats the statements of adults, or simply names objects and phenomena. Also at this age, the child becomes familiar with written language. Mental neoplasms during this period of child development include:

arbitrariness, reflection and internal plan of action.

With the advent of these new abilities, the child’s psyche is prepared for the next stage of learning - the transition to education in the middle classes.

The emergence of these mental qualities is explained by the fact that, upon arriving at school, children are faced with new requirements that teachers have presented to them as schoolchildren.

The child should learn to control his attention, be collected and not be distracted by various irritating factors. There is a formation of such a mental process as voluntariness, which is necessary to achieve set goals and determines the child’s ability to find the most optimal options for achieving the goal, avoiding or overcoming difficulties that arise.

Initially, children, solving various problems, first discuss their actions step by step with the teacher. Next, they develop such a skill as planning an action to themselves, i.e. an internal action plan is formed.

One of the main requirements for children is the ability to answer questions in detail, to be able to give reasons and arguments. From the very beginning of training, the teacher monitors this. It is important to separate the child’s own conclusions and reasoning from template answers. Forming the ability to independently evaluate is fundamental in the development of reflection.

Another significant new development is the ability to manage one’s own. When the child entered school, he did not have the need to overcome his own desires (run, jump, talk, etc.).

Having found himself in a new situation for himself, he is forced to obey the established rules: do not run around the school, do not talk during class, do not stand up or do extraneous things during class.

On the other hand, he must perform complex motor actions: write, draw. All this requires significant self-regulation and self-control from the child, in the formation of which an adult should help him.

Age characteristics of children of primary school age

The initial period of school life occupies the age range from 6-7 to 10-11 years (grades 1-4). At primary school age, children have significant development reserves. Their identification and effective use is one of the main tasks of developmental and educational psychology. When a child enters school, under the influence of learning, a restructuring of all his conscious processes begins, their acquisition of qualities characteristic of adults, as children are included in new types of activities and systems interpersonal relationships. Common characteristics of all cognitive processes children become their arbitrariness, productivity and stability.

In order to skillfully use the child’s existing reserves, it is necessary to adapt children to work at school and at home as quickly as possible, teach them to study, be attentive, and diligent. Before entering school, a child must have sufficiently developed self-control, work skills, the ability to communicate with people, and role behavior.

During this period, further physical and psychophysiological development of the child occurs, providing the opportunity for systematic learning at school. First of all, the functioning of the brain is improved and nervous system. According to physiologists, by the age of 7 the cerebral cortex is already largely mature. However, the most important, specifically human parts of the brain, responsible for programming, regulation and control of complex forms of mental activity, have not yet completed their formation in children of this age (the development of the frontal parts of the brain ends only by the age of 12), as a result of which the regulatory and inhibitory influence of the cortex on subcortical structures is insufficient. The imperfection of the regulatory function of the cortex is manifested in the peculiarities of behavior, organization of activity and emotional sphere characteristic of children of this age: younger schoolchildren are easily distracted, are not capable of long-term concentration, are excitable, and emotional.

Primary school age is a period of intensive development and qualitative transformation of cognitive processes: they begin to acquire an indirect character and become conscious and voluntary. The child gradually masters his mental processes, learns to control perception, attention, and memory.

When a child enters school, a new social development situation is established. The teacher becomes the center of the social situation of development. At primary school age, educational activity becomes the leading one. Educational activity is a special form of student activity aimed at changing oneself as a subject of learning. Thinking becomes the dominant function at primary school age. The transition from visual-figurative to verbal-logical thinking, which began in preschool age, is completed.

School education is structured in such a way that verbal and logical thinking receives preferential development. If in the first two years of school children work a lot with visual examples, then in subsequent grades the volume of such activities is reduced. Imaginative thinking is becoming less and less necessary in educational activities.

At the end of primary school age (and later) individual differences: among children. Psychologists distinguish groups of “theoreticians” or “thinkers” who easily solve educational problems verbally, “practitioners” who need support from visualization and practical actions, and “artists” with vivid imaginative thinking. Most children exhibit a relative balance between different types of thinking.

An important condition For the formation of theoretical thinking is the formation of scientific concepts. Theoretical thinking allows the student to solve problems, focusing not on external, visual signs and connections of objects, but on internal, essential properties and relationships.

At the beginning of primary school age, perception is not sufficiently differentiated. Because of this, the child “sometimes confuses letters and numbers that are similar in spelling (for example, 9 and 6 or the letters Z and R). Although he can purposefully examine objects and drawings, he is allocated, just as in preschool age, the brightest ones, "conspicuous" properties - mainly color, shape and size.

If preschoolers were characterized by analyzing perception, then by the end of primary school age, with appropriate training, synthesizing perception appears. Developing intelligence creates the ability to establish connections between elements of what is perceived. This can be easily seen when children describe the picture. These features must be taken into account when communicating with a child and his development.

Age stages of perception:

2-5 years - the stage of listing objects in the picture;

6-9 years - description of the picture;

after 9 years - interpretation of what was seen.

Memory in primary school age develops in two directions - arbitrariness and meaningfulness. Children involuntarily remember educational material that arouses their interest, presented in a playful way, associated with bright visual aids, etc. But, unlike preschoolers, they are able to purposefully, voluntarily memorize material that is not very interesting to them. Every year, learning is increasingly based on voluntary memory. Younger schoolchildren, just like preschoolers, usually have good mechanical memory. Many of them mechanically memorize educational texts throughout their entire education in primary school, which most often leads to significant difficulties in high school when the material becomes more complex and larger in volume, and solving educational problems requires not only the ability to reproduce the material. Improvement semantic memory at this age will provide the opportunity to master a fairly wide range of mnemonic techniques, i.e. rational methods of memorization (dividing the text into parts, drawing up a plan, etc.).

It is at primary school age that attention develops. Without the formation of this mental function, the learning process is impossible. During the lesson, the teacher attracts the students' attention to educational material, holds it for a long time. A younger student can concentrate on one thing for 10-20 minutes. The volume of attention increases by 2 times, its stability, switching and distribution increases.

Junior school age– the age of fairly noticeable personality formation.

It is characterized by new relationships with adults and peers, inclusion in a whole system of teams, inclusion in the new kind activity is a teaching that makes a number of serious demands on the student.

All this has a decisive impact on the formation and consolidation new system relationships to people, the team, to teaching and related responsibilities, forms character, will, expands the range of interests, develops abilities.

At primary school age, the foundation of moral behavior is laid, moral norms and rules of behavior are learned, and the social orientation of the individual begins to take shape.

Character junior schoolchildren differs in some features. First of all, they are impulsive - they tend to act immediately under the influence of immediate impulses, promptings, without thinking or weighing all the circumstances, for random reasons. The reason is the need for active external release due to age-related weakness of volitional regulation of behavior.

An age-related feature is also a general lack of will: a junior schoolchild does not yet have much experience in long-term struggle for an intended goal, overcoming difficulties and obstacles. He may give up if he fails, lose faith in his strengths and impossibilities. Capriciousness and stubbornness are often observed. The usual reason for them is shortcomings in family upbringing. The child was accustomed to the fact that all his desires and demands were satisfied; he did not see refusal in anything. Capriciousness and stubbornness are a peculiar form of a child’s protest against the strict demands that the school makes on him, against the need to sacrifice what he wants for the sake of what he needs.

Younger schoolchildren are very emotional. Emotionality is reflected, firstly, in the fact that their mental activity is usually colored by emotions. Everything that children observe, think about, and do evokes in them an emotionally charged attitude. Secondly, younger schoolchildren do not know how to restrain their feelings or control their external manifestation; they are very spontaneous and frank in expressing joy. Grief, sadness, fear, pleasure or displeasure. Thirdly, emotionality is expressed in their great emotional instability, frequent mood swings, a tendency to affect, short-term and violent manifestations of joy, grief, anger, fear. Over the years, the ability to regulate one’s feelings and restrain their unwanted manifestations develops more and more.

Primary school age provides great opportunities for developing collectivist relationships. Over the course of several years, with proper upbringing, a junior schoolchild accumulates the experience of collective activity that is important for his further development—activity in the team and for the team. Children’s participation in public, collective affairs helps foster collectivism. It is here that the child acquires the main experience of collective social activities.

Literature:

Vardanyan A.U., Vardanyan G.A. The essence of educational activity in the formation of creative thinking of students // Formation of creative thinking of schoolchildren in educational activities. Ufa, 1985.

Vygotsky L.S. Pedagogical psychology. M., 1996.

Gabay T.V. Educational activity and its means. M., 1988.

Galperin P.Ya. Teaching methods and mental development of the child. M., 1985.

Davydov V.V. Problems of developmental education: Theoretical and experimental experience psychological research. M., 1986.

Ilyasov I.I. Structure of the learning process. M., 1986.

Leontyev A.N. Lectures on general psychology. M., 2001.

Markova A.K., Matis T.A., Orlov A.B. Formation of learning motivation. M., 1990.

Psychological features of personality formation in pedagogical process/ Ed. A. Kossakowski, I. Lompshera et al.: Trans. with him. M., 1981.

Rubinstein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology. St. Petersburg, 1999.

Elkonin D.B. Psychology of teaching primary schoolchildren. M., 1974.

Elkonin D.B. Developmental psychology: Textbook. aid for students higher textbook establishments. M., 2001.

social adaptation junior schoolboy

The increase in height and weight, endurance, and vital capacity of the lungs occurs quite evenly and proportionally.

The skeletal system of a junior schoolchild is still in the stage of formation - ossification of the spine, chest, pelvis, limbs are not yet complete, there is still a lot of cartilage tissue in the skeletal system.

The process of ossification of the hand and fingers at primary school age is also not yet completely completed, so small and precise movements of the fingers and hand are difficult and tiring.

The functional improvement of the brain occurs - the analytical and systematic function of the cortex develops; The ratio of the processes of excitation and inhibition gradually changes: the process of inhibition becomes more and more strong, although the excitation process still predominates, and primary schoolchildren high degree excitable and impulsive.

Entering school makes major changes in a child’s life. His entire way of life, his social position in the team and family changes dramatically. From now on, teaching becomes the main, leading activity, the most important duty is the duty to learn and acquire knowledge. And teaching is serious work that requires organization, discipline, and strong-willed efforts of the child. The student joins a new team in which he will live, study, and develop for 11 years.

The main activity, his first and most important responsibility, is learning - the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and abilities, the accumulation of systematic information about the surrounding world, nature and society.

Of course, it is not immediately that younger schoolchildren develop the correct attitude towards learning. They don’t yet understand why they need to study. But it soon turns out that learning is work that requires volitional efforts, mobilization of attention, intellectual activity, and self-restraint. If the child is not used to this, then he becomes disappointed and has a negative attitude towards learning. In order to prevent this from happening, the teacher must instill in the child the idea that learning is not a holiday, not a game, but serious, intense work, but very interesting, since it will allow you to learn a lot of new, entertaining, important, necessary things. It is important that the organization itself academic work reinforced the teacher's words.

At first, students primary school They study well based on their relationships in the family; sometimes a child studies well based on their relationships with the team. Personal motive also plays a big role: the desire to get a good grade, the approval of teachers and parents.

Initially, he develops an interest in the process of learning activity itself without realizing its significance. Only after interest in the results of one’s educational work has arisen, interest in the content of educational activities and in the acquisition of knowledge is formed. This foundation is a fertile ground for the formation in a primary school student of motives for learning of a high social order, associated with a truly responsible attitude to academic activities.

The formation of interest in the content of educational activities and the acquisition of knowledge is associated with schoolchildren experiencing a feeling of satisfaction from their achievements. And this feeling is reinforced by the approval and praise of the teacher, who emphasizes every, even the smallest success, the smallest progress forward. Younger schoolchildren experience a feeling of pride and a special uplift when the teacher praises them.

The great educational influence of the teacher on the younger ones is due to the fact that the teacher, from the very beginning of the children’s stay at school, becomes an indisputable authority for them. The authority of the teacher is the most important prerequisite for teaching and education in the elementary grades.

Educational activities in primary school stimulates, first of all, the development mental processes direct knowledge of the surrounding world - sensations and perceptions. Younger schoolchildren are distinguished by their sharpness and freshness of perception, a kind of contemplative curiosity. The younger schoolboy perceives with lively curiosity environment, which every day reveals more and more new sides to him.

Most characteristic the perception of these students is its low differentiation, where they make inaccuracies and errors in differentiation when perceiving similar objects. Next feature perceptions of students at the beginning of primary school age - its close connection with the actions of the student. Perception at this level of mental development is associated with the child’s practical activities. To perceive an object for a child means to do something with it, change something in it, perform some actions, take it, touch it. A characteristic feature of students is a pronounced emotionality of perception.

In the process of learning, a restructuring of perception occurs, it rises to a higher level of development, and takes on the character of purposeful and controlled activity. During the learning process, perception deepens, becomes more analytical, differentiating, and takes on the character of organized observation.

Some age-related characteristics are inherent in the attention of students primary classes. The main one is the weakness of voluntary attention. The possibilities of volitional regulation of attention and its management at the beginning of primary school age are limited. The voluntary attention of a primary school student requires so-called close motivation. If older students maintain voluntary attention even in the presence of distant motivation (they can force themselves to concentrate on uninteresting and difficult work for the sake of a result expected in the future), then a younger student can usually force himself to work concentratedly only in the presence of close motivation (prospects for getting an excellent mark, earn the teacher’s praise, do the best job, etc.).

Involuntary attention is much better developed at primary school age. Everything new, unexpected, bright, interesting naturally attracts the attention of students, without any effort on their part.

Age-related characteristics of memory in primary school age develop under the influence of learning. The role and specific weight of verbal-logical, semantic memorization is increasing and the ability to consciously manage one’s memory and regulate its manifestations is developing. Due to the age-related relative predominance of the activity of the first signaling system, visual-figurative memory is more developed in younger schoolchildren than verbal-logical memory. They remember better, faster and more firmly retain specific information, events, persons, objects, facts in their memory than definitions, descriptions, explanations. Younger schoolchildren are prone to mechanical memorization without awareness of the semantic connections within the memorized material.

The main trend in the development of imagination in primary school age is the improvement of the recreating imagination. It is associated with the representation of what was previously perceived or the creation of images in accordance with a given description, diagram, drawing, etc. Recreating imagination is improved due to increasingly correct and total reflection reality. Creative imagination as the creation of new images, associated with the transformation, processing of impressions of past experience, combining them into new combinations, also develops.

Under the influence of learning, a gradual transition occurs from knowledge of the external side of phenomena to knowledge of their essence. Thinking begins to reflect the essential properties and characteristics of objects and phenomena, which makes it possible to make the first generalizations, the first conclusions, draw the first analogies, and build elementary conclusions. On this basis, the child gradually begins to form elementary scientific concepts.

Analytical-synthetic activity at the beginning of primary school age is still very elementary; it is mainly at the stage of visual and effective analysis, based on the direct perception of objects.

Junior school age is the age of quite noticeable personality formation.

It is characterized by new relationships with adults and peers, inclusion in a whole system of teams, inclusion in a new type of activity - teaching, which makes a number of serious demands on the student.

All this has a decisive impact on the formation and consolidation of a new system of relationships towards people, the team, learning and related responsibilities, forms character, will, expands the range of interests, and develops abilities.

At primary school age, the foundation of moral behavior is laid, moral norms and rules of behavior are learned, and the social orientation of the individual begins to take shape.

The character of younger schoolchildren differs in some ways. First of all, they are impulsive - they tend to act immediately under the influence of immediate impulses, promptings, without thinking or weighing all the circumstances, for random reasons. The reason is the need for active external release due to age-related weakness of volitional regulation of behavior.

Primary school age provides great opportunities for developing collectivist relationships. Over the course of several years, a junior schoolchild, with proper upbringing, accumulates the experience of collective activity that is important for his further development - activity in the team and for the team. Children’s participation in public, collective affairs helps foster collectivism. It is here that the child acquires the main experience of collective social activity.

Against the background of age-related characteristics, the child also exhibits traits that indicate that he belongs to one or another type of temperament. Differences in this regard clearly appear, for example, when children have already mastered oral speech. So, if a child’s speech is loud, fast and distinct, with correct intonations, accompanied by lively gestures and expressive facial expressions, then we can talk about signs of a sanguine temperament. If speech is slower than others, calm, even, sometimes with stops, without clearly expressed emotions, gestures and facial expressions, this may indicate a phlegmatic temperament. Signs of choleric temperament are indicated by hasty, tense, gusty, as if choking speech. Signs of a melancholic temperament may include slow, quiet speech, sometimes reduced to a whisper. Of course, in addition to the characteristics of speech, the type of temperament is also indicated by the characteristics of the child’s motor and general activity. To summarize, we can say that changes in the basic properties of nervous processes included in the concept of the type of nervous system, and at the psychological level, in the concept of temperament, occur in the following directions:

It is obvious that, regardless of age specifics, there are individual differences in the properties of the nervous system, which can be partially masked by age-related changes. Therefore, a diagnosis of individual properties of the nervous system (temperament) is established; it is necessary to use such indicators of behavior and, therefore, measurement techniques that would take into account the period of development of the child under study.

School age is divided PA Jr.(from 7 to 9-10 years), average(11 - 12 years old) and senior - adolescence(from 13-14 to 16-18 years old).

Junior school age is determined by the most important circumstance in a child’s life - his entry into school. At this time, intensive biological development of the child’s body occurs (central and autonomic nervous systems, skeletal and muscular systems, activity internal organs). The basis of this restructuring (also called second physiological crisis) there is a clear endocrine shift - “new” endocrine glands come into action and “old” ones cease to function. Although the physiological essence of this crisis has not yet been fully determined, according to a number of scientists, at approximately the age of 7 years the active activity of the thymus gland ceases, as a result of which the brake is removed from the activity of the reproductive and a number of other endocrine glands, for example the pituitary gland and the adrenal cortex, which gives rise to the production of sex hormones such as androgens and estrogens. This physiological restructuring requires a lot of tension from the child’s body to mobilize all reserves.

During this period, the mobility of nervous processes increases, excitation processes predominate, which determines such characteristics younger schoolchildren, such as increased emotional excitability and restlessness.

By the age of 7, the frontal parts of the cerebral hemispheres mature morphologically, which creates the basis for a greater harmony of excitation and inhibition processes than in preschoolers, necessary for the development of purposeful voluntary behavior. Since muscle development and methods of controlling it do not proceed synchronously, children of this age have peculiarities in the organization of movement. The development of large muscles is faster than the development of small ones, and therefore children perform strong and sweeping movements better than small ones that require precision (for example, when writing). At the same time, growing physical endurance and increased performance are relative character, and in general, children remain characterized by increased fatigue and neuropsychic vulnerability. This is manifested in the fact that their performance usually drops sharply 25-30 minutes after the start of the lesson and after the second lesson. Children become tired when they attend an extended day group, as well as when lessons and events become more emotionally intense.

Physiological transformations cause great changes in the mental life of the child. The formation of voluntariness (planning, implementation of action programs and control) moves to the center of mental development. Cognitive processes (perception, memory, attention) are improved and higher mental functions (speech, writing, reading, counting) are formed, which allows a child of primary school age to perform more complex mental operations compared to a preschooler. Under favorable learning conditions and a sufficient level of mental development, prerequisites for the development of theoretical thinking and consciousness arise on this basis.

Under the guidance of a teacher, children begin to assimilate the content of the basic forms of human culture (science, art, morality) and learn to act in accordance with traditions and new social expectations. It is at this age that the child first begins to clearly understand the relationship between him and others, to understand social motives of behavior, moral assessments, significance conflict situations, i.e. gradually enters the conscious phase of personality formation.

With the arrival of school, the emotional sphere of the child changes. On the one hand, younger schoolchildren, especially first-graders, largely retain the characteristic characteristic of preschoolers to react violently to individual events and situations that affect them. Children are sensitive to the influences of environmental conditions, impressionable and emotionally responsive. They perceive primarily those objects or properties of objects that evoke their immediate emotional response, emotional attitude. Visual, bright, lively is perceived best. On the other hand, entering school gives rise to new, specific emotional experiences, since the freedom of preschool age is replaced by dependence and submission to the new rules of school life, which introduces the child into a strictly standardized world of relationships, requiring him to be organized, responsible, disciplined, and good academic performance. The new social situation is also complicated by the fact that every child who enters school experiences increased mental tension. This affects both the health of younger schoolchildren and their behavior.

Entering school is an event in a child’s life in which two defining motives of his behavior necessarily come into conflict: the motive of desire (“I want”) and the motive of obligation (“I have to”). If the motive of desire always comes from the child himself, then the motive of obligation is more often initiated by adults. This is a conflict between “I want” and “I need”... According to the logic that has been used more than once in Russian fairy tales, there can be at least four choice paths: forward, backward, left and right.

The first path - “must” - is the direct road “forward”, into adulthood with its norms, requirements and obligations.
The second path - “I want” - is a kind of retreat “backwards”, a defensive regression to early childhood forms of behavior.
The third way - “to the left” - is used by the so-called “rational” children, who are trying with all their might to transform the school situation in such a way that instead of adults’ “shoulds”, children’s “wants” are in charge. Such children openly doubt the very content of adult norms and requirements, always offer something, change the original rules, protest and quickly switch off from work if they are not followed and listened to. These children are quite inconvenient for adults, as they always have their own opinions and tend to contradict adults (conflict).
The fourth path - “to the right” - is the most interesting. A child who chooses this path strives with all his might to comply with all the “shoulds” that follow from a particular situation. But he is not entirely satisfied with how it works out for him. As a result, he withdraws into himself and experiences everything very deeply. He experiences vivid, emotionally charged states. He is torn apart by contradictions between a variety of aspirations, desires and obligations. The child cannot accept himself in the situation and therefore more or less consciously strives to transform not the external, but his internal psychic world, at least somehow relieve internal tension and discomfort, i.e. protect yourself with psychological mechanisms. And here some things work out for him, and some things don’t. And if some experiences remain poorly realized and unreacted, they can turn into psychological complexes, which we often observe in adults.

Whatever strategy the child chooses, the inability to meet the new standards and demands of adults inevitably makes him doubt and worry. A first grader becomes extremely dependent on the opinions, assessments and attitudes of the people around him. Awareness of critical comments addressed to oneself affects one’s well-being and leads to a change in self-esteem.

If before school some individual characteristics the child could not interfere with his natural development, were accepted and taken into account by adults, then at school there is a standardization of living conditions, as a result of which emotional and behavioral deviations of personal characteristics become especially noticeable. First of all, hyperexcitability, increased sensitivity, poor self-control, and lack of understanding of the norms and rules of adults reveal themselves. The dependence of younger schoolchildren not only on the opinions of parents and teachers, but also on the opinions of peers is growing. This leads to the fact that he begins to experience a special kind of fear - as if he will be considered funny, a coward, a deceiver, or weak-willed. If at preschool age fears predominate due to the instinct of self-preservation, then at primary school age social fears prevail as a threat to the well-being of the individual in the context of his relationships with other people.

In most cases, the child adapts himself to a new life situation, and various forms of protective behavior help him in this. A student in new relationships with adults and peers younger age continues to develop reflection on himself and others. At the same time, achieving success or suffering defeat, he can, in the figurative expression of V.S. Mukhina, get there “into the trap of accompanying negative formations”, experiencing a feeling of superiority over others or envy 1. At the same time, the developing ability to identify with others helps to relieve the pressure of negative formations and develop accepted positive forms of communication.

Thus, entering school leads not only to the formation of the need for knowledge and recognition, but also to the development of a sense of personality. The child begins to occupy a new place within family relationships: he is a student, he is a responsible person, he is consulted and taken into account. Mastering the norms of behavior developed by society allows the newly-minted student to gradually turn them into his own, internal ones, into requirements for himself.

So, to summarize: the boundaries of primary school age, coinciding with the period of study in primary school, are currently established from 6-7 to 9-10 years. During this period, as we already know, further physical and psychophysiological development of the child occurs, providing the opportunity for systematic learning at school.

Modern psychologists claim that every year more and more children who are unprepared for learning enter the first grades. And this unpreparedness is more moral than mental. Today, the so-called “alienation syndrome” is increasingly developing among elementary school students. It occurs when a child begins to impose on himself the idea that in this class he will not achieve either the favor of teachers or the friendship of his peers. What is this connected with? This opinion may be the result of failure in studies (answering a question incorrectly) or ridicule from classmates. The process of suppressing one’s own “I” begins, and this in turn creates a chain of subsequent failures.

Is your child ready for school? Will he be able to fit into a new environment, completely different from home?

Psychologists regard primary school age as one of the most difficult periods in a child’s life, because school now replaces everything that has happened so far in his life:

Instead of parents, teachers appear who will no longer tolerate the whims of their student, but, moreover, will demand that the tasks assigned to him be completed;
in place of friends from the yard or from kindergarten Completely unfamiliar children arrive who you have to deal with and communicate with every day;
toys are replaced by books and notebooks, and free time- doing homework.

Thus, the school becomes a kind of second home for the child, and the constantly changing environment in it requires activity and ingenuity from him. Naturally, such changes are a prerequisite for stress.

In psychology there is such a thing as the “seven-year crisis.” He describes the following qualities inherent in any child at this age:

instability of interests;
emotional incontinence;
inability to generalize one's experiences.

The younger schoolchild feels that a certain amount of responsibility also falls on his fragile shoulders, along with his satchel or backpack, and this frightens him. Plus, children of primary school age unconsciously develop a desire for leadership in the eyes of others. This is most often caused by the influence of the media on the child, and “children's delusions of grandeur” cannot be avoided. But with age this goes away.

Parents of first-graders often approach teachers with one request: that their child be treated with respect. special attention. Many people do not understand that a teacher is not able to break between all his students and constantly build relationships in the classroom. For this purpose, psychologists work in schools, and the best option would be to contact a psychology specialist. He will help you find the right solution at this difficult stage of upbringing and education.

The leading activity at primary school age is educational. It determines the most important changes occurring in the development of the psyche of children at this age stage. Within the framework of educational activities, psychological new formations are formed that characterize the most significant achievements in the development of primary schoolchildren and are the foundation that ensures development at the next age stage. Gradually, the motivation for learning activities, so strong among first-graders, begins to decline. This is due to a drop in interest in learning and the fact that the child already has a won social position and has nothing to achieve. To prevent this from happening, learning activities need to be given a new, personally meaningful motivation. The leading role of educational activities in the process of child development does not exclude the fact that the younger student is actively involved in other types of activities, during which his new achievements are improved and consolidated.

In the process of educational activity, which is leading in primary school age, children reproduce not only knowledge and skills that correspond to the basic forms of social consciousness, but also those historically emerged abilities that underlie theoretical consciousness and thinking - reflection, analysis, thought experiment.

Thus, the content of educational activity is theoretical knowledge (the unity of meaningful abstraction, generalization and theoretical concepts). This provision, which reveals the content and meaning of educational activities, is based on facts that were established as a result of an analysis of the experience of primary schools (V.N. Davydov).

The term “learning activity,” which denotes one of the types of children’s reproductive activity, should not be identified with the term “teaching.” Children, as you know, learn in the most different types activities (in play, work, sports, etc.). Educational activity has its own special content and structure, and it must be distinguished from other types of activities performed by children both at primary school age and at other ages (for example, from play, social-organizational, labor activities, etc.). Moreover, at primary school age, children perform all of the just listed and other types of activities, but the leading and most important among them is educational - it determines and initiates the emergence of the main psychological new formations of this age, determines the general mental development of younger schoolchildren, the formation of their personality as a whole.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, with the beginning of schooling, thinking moves to the center of the child’s conscious activity. The development of verbal-logical, reasoning thinking, which occurs in the process of assimilation of scientific knowledge, rebuilds all other cognitive processes: “memory at this age becomes thinking, and perception becomes thinking.”

During primary school age, significant changes occur in the development of attention; all its properties are intensively formed: the volume of attention increases especially sharply (2.1 times), its stability increases, and switching and distribution skills develop. By the age of 9-10, children become able to maintain attention for a long time and carry out a randomly assigned program of actions.

At primary school age, memory, along with other mental processes, undergoes significant changes. Their essence is that the child’s memory gradually acquires the features of arbitrariness, becoming consciously regulated and mediated.

Primary school age is sensitive to the development of higher forms voluntary memorization, therefore purposeful developmental work on mastering mnemonic activity is the most effective during this period. The difficulty of identifying the main, essential thing is clearly manifested in one of the main types of educational activity of a student - in retelling the text. A number of psychologists who have studied the characteristics of oral retelling in primary schoolchildren have noticed that brief retelling is much more difficult for children than detailed. To tell briefly means highlighting the main thing, separating it from the details, and this is precisely what children do not know how to do.

The noted features of the mental activity of younger schoolchildren are the reasons for the failure of a certain part of students. The inability to overcome the difficulties that arise in learning sometimes leads to the abandonment of active mental work. Students begin to use various inappropriate techniques and ways of completing educational tasks, which psychologists call “workarounds,” which include rote learning of material without understanding it. Children reproduce the text almost by heart, word for word, but at the same time cannot answer questions about the text. Another workaround is to perform a new task in the same way as a previous task. In addition, students with deficiencies in the thinking process use hints when giving an oral answer, try to copy from their friends, etc.

At this age, another important new formation appears - voluntary behavior. The child becomes independent, he chooses how to act in certain situations. Voluntary behavior is based on moral motives that are formed at primary school age, when the child already “absorbs” moral values and tries to follow certain rules and laws. This is often associated with selfish motives: the desire to be approved by adults or to strengthen one’s personal position in a peer group. That is, such voluntary behavior is in one way or another determined by the motive that dominates at this age - the motive of achieving success.

New formations such as planning the results of action and reflection are closely related to the formation of voluntary behavior in younger schoolchildren.

The student is already able to evaluate his action in terms of its results and thereby change his behavior and plan it accordingly. A semantic and guiding basis in actions appears, which is closely related to the differentiation of internal and external life. Now the child can overcome his desires if the result of their fulfillment does not meet certain standards or does not lead to the set goal. An important aspect of the inner life of a junior schoolchild is his semantic orientation in his actions. This is due to worries about the fear of changing relationships with others; he is afraid of losing his importance in their eyes.

A child of primary school age begins to actively think about his actions and hide his experiences. He is not the same on the outside as he is on the inside. It is these changes in personality that often lead to outbursts of emotions on adults, the desire to do what they want, and whims. The negative content of this age manifests itself, first of all, in mental imbalance, instability of will, mood, etc.

The development of the personality of a primary school student depends on school performance, from his assessment by adults. A child at this age is very susceptible to external influence. It is thanks to this that he absorbs knowledge, both intellectual and moral. The teacher plays a significant role in establishing moral standards and developing children's interests, although the degree of success in this will depend on the type of relationship he has with students.

At primary school age, children's desire to achieve increases. Therefore, the main motive for the activity of a primary school student, as already mentioned, is the motive for achieving success. Sometimes there is a variation of it - the motive of avoiding failure.

Certain moral ideals and patterns of behavior are ingrained in the consciousness of a primary school student. He begins to understand their value and necessity. But in order for the development of a child’s personality to be most productive, the constant attention and assessment of an adult is extremely important. The emotional-evaluative attitude of an adult to the actions of a child determines the development of his moral feelings, a responsible personal attitude towards the rules with which he becomes acquainted in life. The child’s social space has expanded - he constantly communicates with the teacher and classmates according to the laws of clearly formulated rules.

It is at this age, experiencing his uniqueness, that he realizes himself as an individual and strives for perfection. This is reflected in all areas of his life, including relationships with peers. Children discover new group forms of activity and activities. At first, they try to behave as is customary in this group, obeying its laws and rules. Then begins the desire for leadership, for superiority among peers.

At this age, friendships are more intense but less durable. Younger schoolchildren learn the ability to make friends and find mutual language with different children - although it is assumed that the ability to form close friendships is determined to some extent by the emotional bonds established in the child during the first five years of his life.

The child now strives to improve the skills of those types of activities that are accepted and valued in an attractive company in order to stand out in its environment and achieve success.

At primary school age, the child develops an orientation toward other people, which is expressed in prosocial behavior and consideration of their interests. Prosocial behavior is very important for a developed personality.

The ability to empathize is developed in the context of school education because the child participates in new business relationships, he is involuntarily forced to compare himself with other children - with their successes, achievements, behavior, and is simply forced to learn to develop his abilities and qualities.

Thus, primary school age is the most critical stage of school childhood.

The main achievements of this age are determined by the leading nature of educational activities and are largely decisive for subsequent years of education: by the end of primary school age, the child must want to learn, be able to learn and believe in himself.

Full-fledged living of this age, its positive acquisitions are the necessary foundation on which to build further development the child as an active subject of knowledge and activity. The main task of adults in working with children of primary school age is to create optimal conditions for the development and realization of children's capabilities, taking into account the individuality of each child.

Let us focus our attention on the following parameters:

1. Self-control - This is the ability to react to oneself, to control one’s reactions through volitional regulation. The child must be able to independently organize and regulate his own activities. Self-control is a necessary condition successful learning. It is important for preventing psychological overload and increased fatigue. Self-control is considered formed if the child is able to subordinate his behavior to rules; check actions against a model and a system of conditions; change actions under given conditions.
2. Internal action plan (intellectual new formation). This is an internal action that helps the child successfully control the progress of solving a problem, since it allows you to foresee possible “steps” in solving it and compare different solution options. The development of an internal action plan makes it possible to solve a problem “in the mind”, in an internal plan, to foresee hypothetical intermediate results and compare one’s actions with the conditions of the problem and the ultimate goal of the solution, provides the ability to navigate the conditions of the problem, identify the most significant among them, plan the course of the solution, compare, anticipate and evaluate possible options solutions, focusing on different conditions of the problem.
3. Reflection (on one’s own behavior, on one’s own actions). This is the ability to reflect, engage in introspection; introspection, comprehension, assessment of the prerequisites, conditions and results of one’s own activities and inner life. Reflection (translated from Latin - turning back) is the principle of human thinking, directing it to comprehend and realize its own forms and prerequisites; a substantive examination of knowledge itself, a critical analysis of its content and methods of cognition; activity of self-knowledge that reveals internal structure and the specifics of the human spiritual world. Thanks to reflection, the child discovers the meaning of his actions, becomes aware of his actions, and as a result transforms his own actions.

Thus, primary school age is an age of intensive intellectual development. On the basis of intelligence, all other functions develop, the intellectualization of all mental processes, their awareness and voluntariness occurs. Voluntary and intentional memorization occurs, the ability to voluntarily focus attention on the desired object, voluntarily isolate from memory what is needed to solve the current problem; the child learns to identify a goal, conditions and means of achieving it, he acquires the ability to think theoretically. All these achievements, and especially the “turn” on oneself (reflection) as a result of educational activities, indicate the child’s transition to the next age period, which ends childhood.

It is worth remembering: the second physiological crisis, the mobility of nervous processes, increased emotional excitability and restlessness, physiological transformations, improvement of cognitive processes, the formation of higher mental functions, the emotional sphere of the child, the motive of desire (“I want”) and the motive of obligation (“I must”), awareness critical comments addressed to oneself, social fears, pressure of negative formations, voluntary behavior, mnemonic activity, internal plan of action, self-control, semantic and guiding basis in actions, prosocial behavior, reflection.

Questions and assignments for Chapter XVIII

1. What age is usually called junior school age and what is decisive when distinguishing it?
2. Prepare messages about physiological and psychological characteristics primary school age.
3. How does the emotional sphere of a child of this age change?
4. How is it possible to resolve the conflict between the motive of desire and the motive of obligation?
5. As a result, what causes emotional and behavioral deviations in the personal characteristics of a primary school student to become especially noticeable?
6. What are social fears?
7. How are norms of behavior learned?
8. What, according to L.S. Vygotsky, with the beginning of schooling moves to the center of the child’s conscious activity?
9. Prepare messages about the memory of a primary school student.
10. How is voluntary behavior formed at this age?
11. What does the personality development of a primary school student generally depend on?
12. Prepare reports about the intellectual abilities of children of primary school age.

Mukhina V.S. Age-related psychology. - M.: Academy, 1999.

The onset of school maturity. Over the course of ten school years, a child goes through a long journey, during which he grows, matures and reaches a mature type of functioning of his body, and his intellect is formed.

Children grow and develop unevenly. Periods of intense growth processes are replaced by their inhibition, periods of stretching alternate with periods of rounding. Throughout the individual development of the body, constant, natural changes occur in both body size and the functional characteristics of organs and systems.

As a result of changes at each stage of ontogenesis, properties of individual systems and the organism as a whole, specific for each stage, are formed. Taking into account these properties is necessary when planning and conducting both pedagogical and hygienic, recreational and sports events.

Entering school, the beginning of children's education at school, marks a major change in their lives. The work and rest regime changes completely. Having taken the first step into the school classroom, entering the atmosphere of the lesson for the first time, the child finds himself in completely new conditions for him. These conditions are accompanied by the necessary long-term and sustained attention and limitation of motor activity, which makes the beginning of school one of the most difficult stages in a child’s life. In addition, the beginning of schooling is one of the three critical periods of postnatal ontogenesis. It is this fact that needs to be paid attention to by experienced teachers into whose hands we will place our children. Therefore, before moving on to the characteristics of school age, let us dwell on the age of the first year of schooling.

The first year of schooling falls on a very important age period, characterized by accelerated morphofunctional transformations in the child’s body. In the works of a number of authors Tsyganov G.V. (1996), Feldman R.I. (1996), A. Boraito Perez et al (1998) noted that the limitation of physical activity associated with an increase in the volume and intensity of mental load, especially with the inclusion of learning programs various forms of education have a significant impact on the child’s body, including the cardiovascular system. Thus, in many children, a change in the wave of the T-electrocardiogram occurs, which indicates a decrease in metabolic processes in the myocardium, which in turn leads to a slowdown in the development of the heart muscle (G.V. Tsyganov, 1996). The P wave remains at a high level, which indicates a large sympathetic functional influence on the heart, and this allows you to keep the heart in constant tension even at rest. These changes are largely alarming and their main reason is a decrease in physical activity in children in their first year of school.

By the time a child enters school, his height reaches ½ the length of an adult’s body (this period, 5-7 years in age physiology, is called the period of extension). The development of the body of children of this age is characterized by heterochrony: the length of the body and the size of the head increase to a lesser extent than the length of the limbs of the arms and legs. The muscles of the hand reach significant, but not final development. Already by the time they enter school, their coordination becomes quite fine, which contributes to the mastery of drawing and modeling skills, however, as we have already indicated, this age is characterized by heterochrony, which leads to more intensive development of large muscles, which makes it difficult to perform small precise movements. Therefore, it is at this age that children have difficulty spelling.

During the first year of study, the morphological and functional development of the nervous system continues. Despite the end of the morphological development of the cerebral cortex (the size of the cortical zones is 80% of the adult size), for higher nervous activity During this period, instability of nervous processes is still characteristic. In the behavior of children of this age great importance has imitation, creativity and initiative are manifested.

To ensure the functioning of the brain as a whole, the degree of maturation of connections between different structures. The development of these connections does not end by 6-7 years; connections of the frontal regions with other areas of the cortex and subcortical structures are formed most late (by 15-16 years of age) (D.A. Farber et al. 1990). This means that although a child’s brain is largely structurally mature by the time he starts school, the connections of the cerebral cortex continue to develop. This happens under the influence of external influences: education and training. That is why games are of great importance for the development of children of this age. And as P.P. said. Lesgaft: “Game is an exercise through which a child prepares for life.”

At the age of 6-7 years, the skeletal system also undergoes changes. For example, at this age the ribs grow and their position changes. Due to the change in the shape of the chest caused by the growth of the ribs, the nature of breathing also changes: if earlier breathing was mainly “abdominal”, then from this age it becomes “thoraco-abdominal”. Thus, in the mechanism of inhalation and exhalation, the intercostal muscles begin to play a leading role.

This age is characterized by a high level of metabolic processes in all tissues of the body. At rest, energy consumption by the body of a 6-7 year old child is 2-3 watts/kg body weight. This high level of energy consumption is ensured in children by more intense work of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. That. Children in their first year of school are characterized by a high respiratory rate of 24-26 respiratory cycles per minute and a shallow breathing depth of 140-150 ml. Heart rate – 95-98 beats/min. The relative volumetric velocity of blood flow (per unit body weight) in children is 2 times greater than in adults, which is the reason for the provision of oxygen to tissue metabolic processes.

From the age of 6, rapid improvement of vasomotor reactions of peripheral vessels begins. This is why various hardening procedures are effective at this age.

So, the age of 6-7 years, the age of the first year of schooling, is one of the main stages of adaptation to new conditions of social existence.

Special studies have shown that some 6-7 year old children, who have not yet reached school maturity, poorly adapt to new conditions throughout the school year, exhibit low performance and educational activity compared to “mature” peers. These qualities in “immature” children persisted for the next 3 years.

That is why the question of how to improve and optimize the functional state of the nervous system of first-graders, how to reduce the negative consequences of neuropsychic stress, is very strictly raised.

It was found that aerobic physical exercise has a particularly beneficial effect on the central nervous system of children.

Studies (R.A. Abzalov, 1985, 1988; R.R. Nigmatullina et al, 1992; J.S. Harrell et al 1997; T.G. Kirillova 2000) have shown that the limitation of motor activity of a developing organism affects not only the central nervous systems, but also on the functioning of the cardiovascular system. In children of the first year of school, insufficient physical activity inhibits the growth of stroke minute volume and the age-related decrease in heartbeat. Under the conditions of daily physical exercise, children in their first year of schooling experience the development of bradycardia of fitness, an increase in stroke and minute blood volume, and an increase in the efficiency of the pumping function of the heart (T.G. Kirillova, 2000). In addition, physical exercise is necessary to improve the regulation of the functional state of the central nervous system, increasing its adaptive capabilities during mental and physical stress.

Junior school age. Subsequent years of schooling, i.e. in the primary grades, the rate of growth in length slows down. This period occurs between the ages of 7-10 years and is referred to as junior school age.

This period, according to the periodization of A.A. Markosyan, is called the second childhood and is the calmest in the development of children: there is a smooth change in the structures and functions of the body. Despite the slowdown in growth rates, body length increases more rapidly than weight.

During the development of children, the process of ossification of the skeleton occurs, i.e. replacement of cartilage tissue with bone. Terms of formation bone tissue are closely interrelated with certain stages of physical and sexual development and is a kind of its barometer. For example, the appearance of ossification points of the styloid process in girls and boys occurs at 7 years of age, while in the pisiform bone ossification points appear at 9 years of age in girls and only at 11 years of age in boys. By the age of 9-11, ossification of the phalanges of the fingers ends, and the pelvic bones develop intensively from 8-10 years, especially in girls. At this age, due to changes in the structure of the ligamentous apparatus, cartilaginous and bone elements of the spine, curvatures of the spine are gradually formed: by the age of 7, the cervical and thoracic curvatures are established, and only by the age of 12 – the lumbar. The spine is most mobile until the age of 8-9, as a result of which cases of poor posture and spinal deformation are often observed in younger schoolchildren. All these features of skeletal formation must be taken into account when organizing physical education classes in schools, as well as training processes. Excessive loads on the lower limbs, sudden jolts when jumping, especially on one leg, can cause displacement of the pelvic bones and lead to flat feet. Greater intensity and volume of physical activity at this age leads to significant energy consumption, which can lead to growth retardation.

At primary school age, muscles have thin fibers, are poor in protein and fat, and contain a lot of water, so they must be developed gradually, in many ways. The ratio of muscle fiber types changes: the number and relative area of red and intermediate fibers increases compared to white ones. This means that at this age you can begin the gradual development of endurance. In children 7-10 years old, the bulk of skeletal muscles consists of type I fibers. It is known that type I is characterized by a predominance of aerobic energy, which is associated with oxidation processes in mitochondria (Kositsky, 1985). The aerobic method of obtaining energy is more economical and lasts a long time than the anaerobic (oxygen-free) method, which leads to rapid fatigue.

The concentration and activity of enzymes responsible for oxidative processes in muscles are also very high - almost like long distance athletes

(D.A. Farber, 1990). The morphological structure of the muscles is such that each fiber is in close contact with the capillaries, which deliver blood to the muscles, and with it oxygen and nutrients. Children of this age are characterized by a high need for oxygen despite the relatively low mass of skeletal muscles; the ratio of maximum oxygen consumption (MOC) at the age of 9-10 years is almost 2 times higher than that of adults. An interesting fact is that after this age – primary school – such phenomena are no longer observed.

A high need for oxygen is also characteristic of the tissues of internal organs, as well as the brain. At primary school age, a child’s brain consumes oxygen twice as intensely as an adult’s brain.

The structure and functional activity of the brain undergoes significant changes. At this age, the growth and structural differentiation of nerve cells ends. However, the functional indicators of the nervous system are still far from perfect. The cortex is in the lead in cortical-subcortical interaction. The maturation of the cerebral cortex is reflected in the EEG and indicates a high degree of formation of the resting state for receiving and processing information coming from outside. Strengthening the influence of the cortex in relation to subcortical structures contributes to an increase in restraint in the manifestation of emotions and comprehension of behavior. According to Swedish scientists, one cannot ignore the fact that the female brain functions differently from the male brain. It has been established that girls assimilate information with amazing ease at primary school age. Therefore, the commission of the Ministry of Education came to the conclusion that they should study exact sciences in the junior and middle grades, while boys should study in the senior grades.

During primary school age, the prerequisites are created for perfect identification of visual stimuli, the selection of the most significant information is improved according to a predetermined instruction or by internal motivation, which is primarily associated with increased involvement in the process of perception of the frontal cortex of the cerebral hemispheres (D.A. Forber, 1990). The emotional characteristics of the stimulus and its greater informational significance begin to play a lesser role. Thus, primary school age is the age of transition from reflexive emotionality to the intellectualization of emotions.

Despite the completion of the morphological development of the nervous system, the process of excitation still prevails, which leads to rapid fatigue. Greater excitability and high plasticity of the nervous system contribute to better and faster acquisition of breathing skills. At the age of 7-10 years, children can master technically complex forms of movement without much difficulty. At the same time, they have a pronounced extreme inhibition and weak resistance to the influence of extraneous stimuli.

Age-related changes in the cardiovascular system in primary school age are characterized by uniformity and a relatively slower rate of increase in heart volume compared to the total lumen of blood vessels. The weight of the heart at this age is 83-122 g. One of the reasons for relatively low blood pressure at the age of 7-10 years is the relatively larger lumen of the precapillary and capillary network. Those. at this age is SD = 100-105 mm. rt. Art., DD= 53-62 mm. rt. Art. A natural decrease in heart rate with age is associated with the morphological and functional formation of the heart, an increase in systolic blood volume (by 7 years SD = 23 ml, by 10 years - 37 ml), the appearance and formation of vagus nerve centers. So, at the age of 7-8 years, heart rate = 80-92 beats/min, and by 10 years it is 76-84 beats/min.

With the emergence of vagal innervation and a further increase in the degree of its severity in ontogenesis, the activity of the heart becomes more economical, and the reserve of its performance and stability increases. Increased parasympathetic influences on the heart are closely related to the development of strong muscles. However, at primary school age, sympathetic influences on the heart are still more pronounced than parasympathetic ones. In children 7-10 years old, the contractility of the myocardium is still insufficient and its functional reserve is small, which is associated with the predominance of sympathetic influences on the heart. Despite the fact that the heart of primary schoolchildren can quite easily adapt to physical activity and quickly recover during rest to its original level, its activity is often unstable. As a result, children may experience various heart rhythm disturbances and sudden changes in blood pressure.

Until 7-8 years of age, the indicators continue to increase respiratory system. Thus, the volume of the lungs increases 8 times, and by the age of 10 - 10 times compared to newborns and is ½ the volume of the lungs of an adult. Moreover, the increase in volume occurs not due to an increase in the number of alveoli, but due to an increase in their volume. With age, the ratio of frequency and depth of breathing changes. So, if at the age of 7 the RR is 23, by the age of 10 there is a decrease to 18-20 cycles per minute. The depth of breathing, on the contrary, increases: at 7 years old – 165 ml, and at 10 years old – 255 ml. Up to 8 years of age, the minute volume of respiration (MVR) in boys and girls has equal absolute values, and later in boys it becomes higher. This is explained by the prepubertal differentiation of breathing types - abdominal in boys and thoracic in girls. The relative value of MOD in younger schoolchildren is higher than in adolescents and young men and is in the range of 3500 – 4400 ml. At this age, children can already control their breathing at rest. The breath holding time on exhalation is 26-39 seconds, on inspiration – 17-20 seconds.

However, with intense muscular work, breathing in children becomes uneven, superficial, more frequent than in adults, much less than the maximum values of pulmonary ventilation in 8 year olds MVR is only 30-40 l/min, in 10 year olds 40-50 l/min, which is a consequence of the predominant influence of the sympathetic influence on the body of a primary school student.

Among the factors that ensure a sharp increase in the reliability of physiological systems with age, energy plays an important role. Children of primary school age have very high necessary daily energy expenditures, which is associated with a greater intensity of oxidative processes. Daily energy consumption is 2,400-2,800 kcal. More intense energy metabolism in children prevents the accumulation of significant reserves of energy substrates in their tissues, i.e. reserve energy capabilities are relatively small. This makes all the functions of the child’s body less reliable, so the reaction of the body of younger schoolchildren to physical activity is markedly unique, which is especially noticeable in the indicators of respiratory and circulatory functions. With prolonged exercise, younger schoolchildren have lower BMD values. Thus, in boys aged 8-9 years, the MOC reaches only 1.5 l/min, and in girls – 1.0 l/min.

Oxygen consumption during light physical activity in primary schoolchildren is higher than in adolescents and even young men, while the percentage of oxygen use, i.e. its disposal, below. This means that when performing work of equal volume, primary schoolchildren experience greater total energy expenditure and a lower oxygen pulse (the amount of oxygen in ml per heartbeat): in 8-9 year old boys – 8 ml/beat, in girls – 5.4 ml/beat In children of this age, anaerobic productivity is also reduced, i.e. limited ability to work in oxygen duty. Younger schoolchildren stop intense physical activity when the blood pressure is only 800-1200 ml. Another, no less important factor of less reliability is the immaturity of the body’s regulatory systems.

In this regard, as well as due to the lack of reserves, any physiological reaction involves into active activity not only those tissues and organs that are directly necessary for its implementation, but also others that can assist in achieving the final goal. This generalized type of reaction is wasteful and is not usually observed in adults. In children, any stress in the body is always associated with an active restructuring of the work of almost all organs and systems, which entails a high cost of adaptation at primary school age to changes in external conditions. As most first-graders adapt to school conditions, the tension in their physiological functions decreases. However, by the end of the school year, fatigue accumulates and tension increases again. It is interesting to note that girls experience significantly less stress and adapt to new conditions more easily. Most children, of course, successfully survive the difficult period of adaptation to school, but for some the stress associated with this turns out to be too great. Such children of primary school age may experience a variety of functional disorders, such as delayed growth processes, changes in blood composition, decreased reactivity and resistance, as well as decreased physical and mental performance. All this negatively affects the ability to master educational material and complicates the psychophysiological state of the child, who is already under stress. And only on the professionalism of teachers depends the identification of the first signs of overstrain, the creation, if required, of a gentle regime by reducing study load and assistance in the social sphere.

All these features of the body of primary school age must be taken into account, first of all, for the subsequent harmonious development of children.

Middle school age. Adolescence is the years of transition to adulthood, both socio-psychologically and biologically.

Adolescence is characterized by a maximum growth rate of the whole organism, an increase in oxidative processes, an increase in the body's functional reserves, activation of assimilatory processes, and an increase in the processes of morphological and functional differentiation of the brain and internal organs. To a large extent, the specificity of this age is determined by a biological factor - the process of puberty. Puberty is characterized by accelerated sexual development, which ends with puberty. Girls are 1-2 years ahead of boys in puberty, and there are also individual differences in timing and pace.

The process of puberty occurs under the control of the central nervous system and endocrine glands. The leading role in it is played by the hypothalamo-pituitary system. At the very center of the base of the brain is the hypothalamus, a complex of nerve nuclei that is evolutionarily the most ancient center for regulating the functions of internal organs and endocrine glands. The main endocrine gland, the pituitary gland, is directly adjacent to this nerve center. The hypothalamus controls the activity of the pituitary gland, which, in turn, with the help of special hormones it produces, controls most of the other glands of the body. These are the so-called tropic hormones, they include somatotropin, which activates growth processes, and gonadotropic hormones, which enhance the production of sex hormones in the adrenal glands and gonads. In the adrenal cortex, androgens begin to be intensively produced, which ensure the appearance and development of secondary sexual characteristics, affect the growth and development of muscles, and the process of skeletal maturation. Under the influence of pituitary hormones, the activity of the thyroid gland increases and metabolism changes. Entering the blood, hormones become powerful regulators of the growth and development of the body, leading to the formation of secondary sexual characteristics, i.e. those external properties that are characteristic of an adult and reflect his gender.

Puberty, accompanied by a significant increase in sympathetic effects on the body, an increase in the excitability of the cerebral cortex and an increase in the overall reactivity of the nervous system, promotes increased emotionality, causes changes in blood pressure, the rhythm of cardiac activity and respiration. Increased excitability and insufficient balance of the basic nervous processes can contribute to a temporary disruption of the interactions of motor and autonomic functions, causing less rational adaptive reactions of breathing and blood circulation, which is especially pronounced during muscle efforts.

During adolescence, the skeletal system is in a state of increased growth. The long tubular bones of the upper and lower extremities grow especially quickly, and the height of the vertebrae accelerates. The growth of bones in width is insignificant. The spine is still mobile and pliable. Therefore, due to the lag in the development of muscle tissue from the growth of the bone skeleton, under unfavorable conditions and at this age, various postural disorders or spinal deformities may occur. The use of excessive muscle loads accelerates the ossification process and can cause growth retardation tubular bones in length. By the age of 12-13, ossification of the wrist and metacarpus ends. The development of bone tissue is largely dependent on the growth of muscle tissue.

The muscular system develops rapidly during puberty. Excitability increases, functional mobility (lability) of muscles increases. They acquire the ability to reproduce a higher rhythm of stimulation. By the age of 14-15, the muscles already reach adult levels in their properties. A sharp jump in the increase in total muscle mass occurs at 13 years of age. So, if at 8 years old muscles make up 27% of body weight, at 12 years old it is about 29%, at 15 years old it is already about 33%. The diameter of muscle fibers changes. But muscle functionality is still significantly lower than in adults. Thus, in 12-year-olds, muscle strength is 65% compared to 20-30-year-olds, and in 15-year-olds it is 92%. The work productivity per unit of time for 14-15 year olds is 65-70% of the productivity of adults. At this age, the development of the innervation apparatus of muscles and coordination of movements basically ends. Long-term performance of finely differentiated movements becomes possible.

Restructuring in the structure of skeletal muscles cannot but affect muscle performance. There is a slight increase in the capabilities of adolescents when performing cyclic work, especially in zones of high and moderate power, i.e. under such loads where the main source of energy is the aerobic process. The power that a teenager can develop through aerobics increases, and the duration of continuous retention of a load of such power also increases, i.e. workload. At this stage of puberty, general endurance training is effective, but we must remember that puberty changes in the body are still far from complete and care should be taken in increasing the intensity and volume of training sessions. On the other hand, training of strength and speed-strength qualities during this period is ineffective, and the use of such loads in scheduled and untrained forms should be limited. At this age, the maturation of fast skeletal muscle fibers and spinal nerve centers that control their contraction occurs, significantly reducing the time of motor reactions, making it possible to improve dexterity and other manifestations of movement coordination. The angularity of movements disappears, so at this age adolescents begin to get involved in dancing (D.A. Farber et al., 1990).

Profound changes occurring in the cardiovascular system increase the risk of vegetative-vascular dystonia and teenage hypertension. This must be taken into account both by doctors conducting medical examinations and by teachers and parents regulating the school workload of adolescents. At this stage, the development of the heart is characterized by the most pronounced and rapidly increasing changes. The mass of the ventricles increases especially noticeably, more so in the left one. The weight of the heart at this age is 258-260 g. (300 g for an adult). The volume of the heart increases even faster, which is explained by the stimulating effect of the endocrine glands, and therefore increased protein synthesis in the myocardium. If in 12-year-olds the heart volume is on average 460 ml, then in 15-year-olds it is 620 ml.

At this age, the defirentation of the heart is completed and, in its structural parameters (except for size), it becomes similar to the heart of an adult. It should, however, be remembered that often during puberty there is a disturbance in the harmony of growth in weight and total body size and an increase in the size of the heart; this more often occurs in adolescents with an accelerated type of development. In these cases, the activity of the heart is characterized by low efficiency, insufficient functional reserve and a decrease in adaptive capabilities to physical activity. An increase in IOC during physical activity occurs mainly due to an increase in heart rate with a slight increase in CO (less than when the size of the heart corresponds to the mass and total size of the body).

Children of middle school age are characterized by a noticeable increase in daily food needs. Compared to primary school age, the daily requirement is 2,900 kcal. However, this value is average, since it is necessary to take into account individual fluctuations in daily needs, depending on the teenager’s physique, the level of basal metabolism per unit of time, etc. Not all body tissues use energy equally. For example, fat cells and bone tissue are characterized by insignificant metabolism, while the heart, liver, brain, and kidneys bear a significant share of the total energy expenditure of the body. The ratio of various tissues in the body is also individual and depends on gender, age and physique. Thus, in adolescents of the digestive body type, a significant part of the body weight is inert fat, the value of basal metabolism per unit of body weight is significantly lower than in representatives, for example, of the asthenic type. In addition, in adolescents of the digestive type, puberty ends on average 2 years earlier.

All changes in the process of puberty, namely in motor functions growth processes, metabolic processes associated with increased secretion of hormones purposefully entail changes in brain function. These changes in the functioning of the brain in adolescence are associated primarily with changes in the activity of the hypothalamus, which is where the centers are located that regulate the activity of the heart, blood vessels, metabolism, and respiration. In addition, many cells of the hypothalamus have the ability to secrete hormones.

In cortical-subcortical interaction, subcortical structures are in the lead. A significant increase in the activity of subcortical structures, especially in the initial stage of puberty, leads to negative changes in the mechanisms of perception and attention. And only at the final stages of puberty, when the gonads begin to actively function, the activity of the hypothalamus decreases, and the cerebral cortex begins to dominate in the cortical-subcortical interaction. This dominance leads to the restoration and development of the mechanism of voluntary attention and selective perception. In girls this happens by the age of 15, and in boys only by the age of 16-17.

Improving the systemic organization of physiological functions of adolescence leads to an increase in the functional and adaptive body of the schoolchild. The degree of tension in physiological systems during the school year decreases, fatigue decreases, and mental performance indicators improve. However, the body of middle school-age children is still extremely unstable and susceptible to diseases and breakdowns. Therefore, during sports, strict medical control should be exercised over the volume and intensity of exercise in order to prevent overwork and overstrain of the body. A sensitive, gentle approach to them is necessary especially in those periods when increased demands are placed on a growing and developing body, when maximum mobilization of all its functions is needed (for example, during intense mental work, participation in competitions). At the same time, it should be remembered that rationally constructed sports training helps to overcome temporary contradictions and difficulties of adolescence, and physical inactivity aggravates them.

Teachers should remember that the emotions of adolescents are mobile, changeable, and contradictory: increased sensitivity is often combined with callousness, shyness with deliberate swagger, excessive criticism and intolerance towards parental care appear. It is during this period that teenagers especially need and need the sensitive attitude of parents and teachers. You should not specifically draw the attention of adolescents to complex changes in their body and psyche, but it is necessary to explain the pattern and biological meaning of these changes.

The period of adolescence is characterized by the emergence of a sense of one’s identity and individuality. When they are not developed, a diffuse, vague “I”, role and personal uncertainty arises. A teenager, on the one hand, is still a child, and on the other hand, he is already connected to adult life, i.e. its internal position is dual, which is why this age is called “transitional” or “turning point.” Teens looking social roles for imitation. Established adult norms are problematic situations. The teenager is looking for patterns of behavior in his environment that would help him pursue his line of behavior. He tries on different ways of interacting with people, with peers, and the way he dresses. Pays close attention to his strong-willed qualities. Finds out the intensity of responses from the environment in response to their forms of behavior, comments, statements, words, facial expressions, gestures, etc. The teenager’s search activity seems to be looking for obstacles in order to determine the limits of acceptable standards of behavior. A sharp discrepancy between the knowledge about oneself and the world around, acquired at an earlier age, and the knowledge that a teenager acquires on the basis of interaction with social reality, can lead to internal conflicts and inappropriate actions. The teenager, as it were, tests the norms of society, their stability, limits in different situations, and his behavior within the limits of these norms.

Adolescents with deviant forms of behavior often have a low level of intellectual development. Often children who grew up in unfavorable family conditions do not have any model of behavior, they lack moral principles. Therefore, deviant forms of behavior arise - alcoholism, drug addiction, early prostitution, etc.

Adolescents are characterized by sharp mood swings due to physiological changes and their intermediate position in society. They are capable of both high emotional feelings - love, self-sacrifice, and aggression and negativism. During this period, sympathies, attachments, and erotic feelings are formed. Patterns of sexual behavior are formed. There is a search for your path in life, your calling. A partnership is established in sexual, friendly, professional terms.

The success of learning is very dependent on the physiological state, and during puberty, especially in girls, it is often not very good. In girls, the first menstruation is often accompanied by blood loss, negative reactions (vomiting, fever) and weakness. In order to maintain an active state, a teenager needs a certain diet with a sufficient amount of vitamins, alternating work and rest, mental work and physical work. Due to the psychophysiological characteristics of adolescents, it is much more difficult to introduce them to work, to the ability to organize their activities, to overcome difficulties at this age than at a younger age: many defects in upbringing made earlier affect the skills, abilities, personal qualities teenagers They have a very strong desire to feel like adults. However, puberty is not the end of biological maturation, much less social. Age-related transformations of physiological systems continue in high school age.

Senior school age. Senior school age (15-17 years) is called adolescence and is a critical stage of development in the life of a student. It is believed that by the beginning of adolescence, the main physiological systems have already matured. However, recent data suggests that this is far from the case.

At that age, the growth and development of the body continues, differing from previous periods with new features. Thus, body growth in length slows down and growth in width clearly predominates. Gender differences become more clear. By the age of 17-18, not only growth, but also ossification of bones is actually completed (the complete completion of ossification of the phalanges of the toes and pelvic bones is completed at 20-25 years). At 15-16 years of age, ossification of the upper and lower surfaces of the vertebrae begins. The spinal column becomes stronger, and the chest continues to develop successfully and can withstand significant loads by this age. Ossification of the foot and hand is completed.

Muscles in their composition, structure, and properties are close to the muscles of adults. The musculoskeletal system can withstand significant static stress and performs quite long work. The development of the muscular system occurs due to an increase in the diameter of the muscle fiber. An increase in muscle mass is becoming more and more apparent. In girls, there is a greater increase in body weight than the development of muscle strength. The muscles of young men are elastic, have good nervous regulation, and their ability to contract and relax is quite high.

In adolescence, the development of the central nervous system is completed, and the analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex is significantly improved. Nervous processes are characterized by great mobility, although excitation still continues to prevail over inhibition.

In older schoolchildren, performance increases noticeably, and oxygen divisions during physical activity become more economical. The body's ability to work on debt increases noticeably, i.e. anaerobic productivity increases. Oxygen debt, in which older schoolchildren stop working, approaching the level of adults.

MPC (anaerobic capacity) increases unevenly in young men. In the period from 15 to 16 years, there is a clear increase in BMD, although not as large as at 13-14 years, and after 16 years it is little noticeable. And in girls after 14 years of age, a certain stabilization of BMD is observed, and its relative value may even decrease, which occurs due to the growth of adipose tissue. The relative value of MIC is almost close to the level of adults; at 15-17 years old it is 65-75 ml/at/m (for middle schoolers 56 ml/at/m).

In older schoolchildren, the body's resistance to various environmental factors is reduced, and immunological and adaptation mechanisms are imperfect. This dictates the need for special hardening events, especially with young athletes, because heavy loads, causing a certain tension in the activity of organs and systems, can, under unfavorable conditions, lead to a decrease in the body's resistance. For example, the predominance of loads in lessons aimed at developing strength and speed-strength qualities contributes to a general increase in motor fitness, but does not develop the aerobic capabilities of the body. On the contrary, endurance loads have a positive effect on the development of aerobic capabilities, but have little effect on the development of other motor qualities. Only comprehensive development aimed at comprehensive development. It describes in detail each stage of school age, starting from the onset of school maturity, precisely when physical activity plays the most important role in improving the growing organism.

Improving motor qualities leads to an optimal balance between various aspects of the physical capabilities of high school students.

At high school age, the structural maturation of the cerebral cortex continues: the ensemble organization of its nervous elements becomes more complex, the concentration increases nucleic acids in brain cells, the metabolic capabilities of neurons expand. The results of electrophysiological studies indicate that by the age of 17 the mechanisms of the functional organization of the brain are improved both at rest and during different forms mental activity. The role of the frontal areas of the cortex in the perception of external information is increasing, and the hemispheres are specializing in this process: at the stage of analyzing the physical characteristics of the signal, the right hemisphere predominates, their classification is carried out with the predominant participation of the frontal segments of the left hemisphere. Specialization of brain structures in perception ensures a faster and more accurate response to environmental influences. In adolescence, interhemispheric relationships characteristic of an adult are formed during mental activity: the right hemisphere is predominantly activated during visual-spatial activity, and the left hemisphere during speech and abstract activity. Along with this, the role of interhemispheric interaction is increasing.

The cardiovascular system also continues to develop at this age. In 16-17 year old boys, the heart volume is on average 720 ml, and in 18 year olds it reaches the size of an adult’s heart. By this time, the ratio of the wall thickness of the left and right ventricles becomes the same as in adults (2.5:I). Gender differences in heart size are especially pronounced: in girls, further growth of the heart muscles occurs two years earlier. The absolute and relative values of the IOC, as well as the value of CO, approach the values characteristic of adults. So, in 17 year olds, the IOC is 4 l/ml, CO is 60 ml.

Due to the continued increase in vagal tone, resting heart rate reaches adult levels. It should be emphasized that in all age groups, especially older ones, the heart rate of girls is noticeably higher than that of boys. Blood pressure increases, however, in boys it increases gradually, and in girls it increases slightly in waves, with the greatest increase at the age of 15. Therefore, at this age, both systolic and diastolic pressure are higher in girls. At the age of 16-17 these differences are smoothed out. At the age of 18, the level of diastolic pressure becomes higher in boys than in girls. You should also take into account a number of factors that influence the value of blood pressure: first of all, blood pressure depends on body type - it is higher in hypersthenics. In addition, the higher the level of physical development and the degree of puberty, the higher the blood pressure. In older schoolchildren, as in children of middle school age, juvenile hypertension (DM more than 140 ml Hg) may occur, which is associated primarily with an increase in vascular tone caused by hormonal hyperfunction in combination with other unfavorable factors. The maximum increase in heart rate in young men is achieved at greater work power than in adolescents.

At high school age, difficulties arise associated with the intensity of the academic load and the emotional stress that is inevitable during the period of choosing a profession and preparing to enter adulthood.

Great mental workload and sometimes excessive volume of educational tasks lead to the fact that during this period of development, which is so important for the formation of a healthy body and lifestyle, the motor activity of boys and especially girls steadily decreases, which is fraught with many negative consequences for their health in the future. Insufficient development of the mechanisms of physiological regulation of autonomic functions, lack of skill in their training is a direct road to the early development of pathological changes in the metabolism, cardiovascular, and immune systems of the body. The high morbidity rate in the adult population is largely a consequence of insufficient attention to the physical development of young men.