Investigating whether children’s transition from pre-operational stage to concrete operational stage can be accelerated using an intervention strategy

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of using intervention to accelerate children.s transition from pre-operational stage to concentrate operational stage of the cognition development. The sample consisted of intact class of 27 children with average age of 5 years. It was made up of 13 males and 14 females. A pretest-posttest quasiexperimental design with random assignment of children to experimental and control groups were employed to examine possible treatment effects due exposure to the intervention strategy. There was no difference between the male and female children at the pre-operational stage in their characteristic way of thinking before the intervention strategy. Achievements were, however, found to be higher for the experimental group on questions which demanded concrete operational level of thinking. This implies that children.s cognitive development can be accelerated when they are exposed to more intellectually stimulating environment. It is recommended that early childhood teachers must expose children to various intellectually stimulating environments to help them accelerate their mental development.