The development of critical thinking is a fundamental task of the modern education system. However, practically, it turns out that a number of teachers are not competent enough in this area. The purpose of the study is to identify the most universal and valid methods for the dynamic assessment of the level of critical thinking in children. There are also difficulties associated with the assessment of the level of critical thinking, the selection of valid methods for its study, especially when it comes to preschool or primary school children. The participants (186 children 6–8 years ages from 3 schools of Moscow (Russian Federation) in the group of gifted children did not fall into the groups with a low development of critical thinking, and the participants in the control group did not fall into the group with the highest or the highest level of development of critical thinking. In two tests, the data for the gifted and control groups showed high correlation values between the definition of giftedness and the level of critical thinking development (0.958 and 0.962 in the static test and 0.659 and 0.908 in the dynamic test, respectively). Therefore, it is relevant to select valid methods that would allow the assessment of critical thinking as one of the criteria for the giftedness of a child in dynamics, that is, in the process of developmental learning. During the research such methods were used – sculpture method, absurdity method, verbal fantasy method, drawing method, think of a game method. The research results have shown that giftedness has a psychophysiological basis, the described test methods are valid and can be used for the assessment of the level of critical thinking and the quality of the educational process.

批判性思维的发展是现代教育体系的一项基本任务。然而，实际上，事实证明，许多教师在这一领域的能力不足。这项研究的目的是确定动态评估儿童批判性思维水平的最普遍和有效的方法。评估批判性思维水平，选择有效的学习方法也存在困难，特别是对于学龄前或小学生而言。优才儿童组的参与者（来自莫斯科（俄罗斯联邦）3所学校的186名6至8岁的儿童）不属于批判性思维发展水平低的群体，对照组的参与者没有属于批判性思维发展最高或最高水平的组。在两个测试中，有天赋和对照组的数据显示天赋的定义与批判性思维发展水平之间的相关性很高（静态测试中分别为0.958和0.962，动态测试中分别为0.659和0.908）。因此，选择有效的方法以使批判性思维的评估成为动态过程中，即在发展性学习过程中儿童天赋的标准之一，这一点很重要。在研究过程中，使用了以下方法：雕塑法，荒诞法，口头幻想法，绘画法，思考游戏法。研究结果表明，天赋具有心理生理​​基础，