THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS OF THE ABILITY TO ACT IN THE MIND OF JUNIOR SCHOOLCHILDREN STUDYING THE CHESS GAME

The article reveals the essence of the concept of “the ability to act in the mind”, which is a fundamental specific component of the human intellect and consists in providing the opportunity to act indirectly with things, that is, to operate with their sign-symbolic images without changing the things themselves. This quality is necessary for the successful implementation of any activity, since it underlies such important components as goal creating and goal setting, the ability to imagine the result in advance, which is the motivation for the student in his research work to successfully master the educational material. The history of appearance and various definitions of this concept are given. The relevance of the article is due to the importance of the widespread introduction of chess in elementary school as an activity that forms and develops the “ability to act in the mind” in primary school age. it is at this age that the formation of two main psychological neoplasms takes place: the arbitrariness of mental processes and the internal plan of action. The purpose of the article is to describe a comparative study of the development of the ability to act in the mind in junior schoolchildren, studying and not studying chess. The method or methodology. The study was carried out using the test of T.A. Ogneva «Architect and builders» to determine the predisposition to success in the chess game of younger schoolchildren, method A.Z. Zak «Logical problems» to determine the level of formation of theoretical analysis and internal action plan. Results. Thanks to the development of the ability to act in the mind, it has been proven that children chess players have better developed this ability and the ability to predict probable solutions in different game situations. Practical implications. The results of the study can be applied in the field of diagnostics of preschoolers and primary schoolchildren, as well as in general to determine the intellectual and volitional readiness of children to study at school. Based on the research carried out by means of the test by T.A. Ogneva “Architect and Builders” to determine the predisposition to success in the chess game of junior schoolchildren due to the development of the ability to act in the mind, it was proved that children-chess players have better developed this ability and the ability to predict probable options decisions in different game situations.