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This article examines the relationship between different aspects of cognitive development: formal-logical thinking, dialectical thinking, imagination, and cyclic representations. The findings of their research allow the authors to claim that there are two pairs of relationships which can conditionally be called the “standard cluster” (cyclic representations and formal-logical thinking) and the “cluster of transformation” (the action of mediation and image activation within the imagination). This means that the understanding of the world around us and the creation of something new turn out to be not alternatives, but mutually reinforcing tasks. Dialectical thinking acts as a psychological mechanism for understanding consistent patterns and the creation of new things. The article concludes that developmental processes should be the most essential part of education. Creative thinking will develop provided that the processes of development are given to children as a problem that must be solved and not as information that must be learned. Consequently, children will simultaneously comprehend the world around them and learn to create something within it.

A child’s ability to manage own activity is a condition of effective learning. The self-regulation of cognitive activity is carried out by means of metacognitive processes: goal-setting; highlighting the conditions of activity; programs of action; self-control. Metacognitive processes can be formal and dialectical according to the contents. Formal regulatory structures define knowledge as a set of unrelated actions aimed at the study of static and isolated properties of object. Dialectic metacognitive structures direct the subject to a comprehensive investigation of object, usage of all available resources, application of the different action programs and the substantial analysis of the achievements. Usage of visual models promotes the development of metacognitive processes in children of preschool age. It is difficult for children to hold the plan of activity and to control achievements due to the nature of their arbitrariness, thinking and memory. Experimental study of 40 children of 4-6 years showed that the visual models are an effective means of regulation of cognitive activity during its realization. The use of such models in the educational activity significantly influences on development of metacognitive processes such as analysis of the conditions of knowledge and programming of actions. Formation of the dialectical notion of cognition and skills to plan a cognitive process is organized by usage of metacognitive conversations. Such work is most effective with children 5–6 years.