Yuri Y. Gulyaev

The research focuses on the problem of developing independent thinking at the university during interactive communication. It analyzes the essence of the following concepts: independent thinking, interactive communication, and personal-oriented learning. The author shows that the essence of interactive communication of students, in the process of which independent thinking develops, lies in personal-oriented learning.

Thinking cannot be understood as a reproductive process: it is always productive. For this reason, the productive development of the thinking of the participants in the educational process is impossible without the development of the internal motivation of the thought process. The thinking of a particular person arises when a person accepts (is included) in the solution of a certain problem. Thinking is always connected with the discovery of new things. For the development of independent thinking, it is important that knowledge and social experience are not given to the student in a ready-made form: they should be obtained during the development of independent thinking. The training aimed at the development of independent thinking is person-oriented training. In fact, the development of independent thinking is possible only when a person (student) is internally motivated to solve a problem, when he or she personally accepts this problem. In this case, that personal acceptance of the problem arises. Personal acceptance of the problem means students solve the problem based on their subjective experience. Simultaneously, the student’s personality develops because its development is determined, among other things, by how much a person has realized his or her experience. The thinking of any participant in the educational process is always the thinking of a specific person, which means that the thinking of any participant in the educational process always belongs to the personal experience of the participant in the educational process. During interactive communication, which is discussed in this research, participants develop their personal experiences by solving problems based on mutual acceptance and understanding. This development of personal experience leads to the development of independent thinking.