Imagination as a way to creative thinking: a comparative analysis of the characteristics of primary school children

Creative thinking is becoming one of the most in-demand soft skills of the 21 century. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the importance of developing imagination in children and adults in order to activate and develop their creative thinking in the information age. A comparative analysis of the characteristics of the imagination of students from a regular school in Moscow (19 people) and children in family education (21 people) is carried out. It is shown that the number of pupils with a low level of imaginative complexity in regular school is three times higher than the number of children with the same level of imagination in family education. The situation is the opposite as regards the high-level imagination complexity. It can be assumed that children in family education show a higher level of imagination development, as they are in a situation of less academic “organization” and workload. Furthermore, learning at home promotes greater psychological safety and freedom, which provide a beneficial effect on the development of imagination.