THE TECHNOLOGY OF QUESTIONING IN THE CONTEXT OF FORMATION OF CRITICAL THINKING OF PERSONALITY: MENTAL ASPECT

Abstract

The essence of the phenomena of “critical thinking”, “mental model” has been emphasized, and the importance of their understanding by students for personal and professional development has been highlighted. Based on the analysis of the outlined definitions, it has been summarized, that critical thinking is necessary to be developed purposefully in the process of learning activity, taking into account individual and collective mental experience of subjects of interaction, as well as cognitive and communicative possibilities of educational environment. It has been postulated, that the mental model of personality thinking, which is correlated with all the key characteristics of the native language, represents knowledge about the world in general, as well as it reflects the state of consciousness and specific mechanisms of human thinking. A mental model of critical thinking has been projected, in the basis of which there is algorithm of cognitive actions with a trajectory of dialogical connection “question – answer”. It has been substantiated, that such functional algorithm of mental activity can be effectively used in study for creating holistic knowledge. It has been stated, that mental model of personality thinking is interpreted as a special way of human perception under the influence of unconscious (instincts, reflexes) and socially conscious (knowledge, meaning norms, rules, traditions etc.) factors; a way to comprehend and rethink one’s own cognitive and sensory experience in the cultural dimension of coexistence of a community, the deep basis of which is a system of values. The key aspects of formation of critical thinking, in particular the ability to formulate questions and answer questions, have been considered. It has been proved that in learning activity one of the most effective methods of critical analysis of information, which contains meaning, – of text, is the method of “six journalistic questions” as important tool of educator’s pedagogical technique. Linguistic- functional and goal-setting approaches to categorization of questions have been outlined. The purpose and basic rules of questions setting have been formulated. For successful implementation of technology of asking questions in the development of critical thinking of the individual, recommendations are prescribed to teachers with the need to clarify the importance of educational information: values, reasons, evidence, clarification, effect, obstacles. The effectiveness of the mental model “question – answer” has been proved by specific examples.