Bugrimenko E.A. Transitional Forms of Sign Mediation in Teaching Six-year-old Children // Journal of Russian and East European Psychology. - 2001. - V. 39. - № 4. - P. 34-46. (Published Online: 08 Dec 2014.)

Abstract. D.B. El'konin's last publications are devoted to six-year-olds [5, 10]. This was dictated largely by social policy. At the time, it was planned to change the schools over to begin teaching children at six years of age. At the same time, the choice of 6-7 years of age made perfect sense for the logic of developing El'konin's scientific ideas. In fact, it is at this narrow age interval that one comes face to face with several of the problems and subjects that El'konin spent many years researching: play, educational activity, initial mastery of reading and writing, the critical period of development, sign mediation, and the emergence of voluntariness in the child's behavior. Experimental teaching of six-year-old children following the content and methods specified by El'konin raised questions about the direct continuity of play and educational activity and laid the foundation for a new scientific practice: organization of transitional forms of joint activity for a child and an adult.