ASSESSING COGNITIVE AND CREATIVITY COMPETENCES IN PRE-PRIMARY CHILDREN BASED ON LANGUAGE EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17770/etr2025vol3.8549Keywords:
preschool, smart ability, imagination ability, language teaching, child's evaluationAbstract
The research examines the assessment of preschool children's cognitive and creative competences based on their linguistic achievement. It highlights that in early childhood education, language skills are closely linked to the development of critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Although international and national educational documents stress the importance of these skills, there is a lack of clear methodologies for assessing them in the educational process. The study used a quantitative analysis to develop a specific test (a set of tasks) to assess the cognitive and creative competences of children aged 5-6. The tasks of the test focused on the ability to understand and analyse texts, to create stories and to solve linguistic tasks. Data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS software and Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was calculated to assess the reliability of the test. Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests and Spearman's correlation analysis were used. The results showed that there were no significant differences in cognitive and creative abilities between boys and girls, but there were individual variations in performance. Analytical competences proved to be slightly higher than creative competences, with no statistical significance. Note also that learning skills have a strong correlation with critical thinking skills and problem-solving bears a relationship to cognitive attainment. The research confirmed that language education composes an integral part of developing the child’s cognitive and creative skills. These results can be further implemented in the training process by developing methodical materials of the pre-primary age based on the requirements for effective diagnostics of cognitive and creative abilities in children.
References
R. Bernotienė and D. Jakavonytė-Staškuvienė, “Priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų kūrybiškumą skatinantys ugdymo metodai: kokybinis tyrimas,” Pasaulis vaikui: ugdymo realijos ir perspektyvos: tęstinis mokslo straipsnių leidinys, vol. 5, no. 2, 2014.
C. K. Blackwell, A. R. Lauricella, and E. Wartella, “Factors influencing digital technology use in early childhood education,” Computers & Education, vol. 77, pp. 82-90, 2014.
J. Chaparro, A. Sojourner, and M. J. Wiswall, “Early childhood care and cognitive development,” National Bureau of Economic Research, no. w26813, 2020.
Council of the European Union, Council recommendation on high-quality early childhood education and care systems, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019H0605(01) [Accessed: Feb. 17, 2025].
T. Cremin, R. Flewitt, J. Swann, D. Faulkner, and N. Kucirkova, “Storytelling and story-acting: Co-construction in action,” Journal of Early Childhood Research, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3-17, 2018.
Z. Dere, “Investigating the creativity of children in early childhood education institutions,” Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 652-658, 2019.
European Commission, Proposal for key principles of a quality framework for early childhood education and care, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.ogpdoeien.be/sites/default/files/documenten/ecec-quality-framework_en.pdf [Accessed: Feb. 17, 2025].
I. Jankūnaitė and A. Bagdonas, “Priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų kūrybiškumo ugdymas/-is žaidimais,” Mokslo taikomieji tyrimai / Applied Research, vol. 14, pp. 63-72, 2019.
P. Kampylis, Fostering creative thinking: The role of primary teachers, no. 115, University of Jyväskylä, 2010.
K. Kardelis, Mokslinių tyrimų metodologija ir metodai, 2nd ed., Kaunas: Judex, 2016.
A. Kazakevičiūtė, V. Noreikienė, L. Kosjanenkienė, and A. Jakimavičienė, “Priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų pažinimo kompetencijos ugdymas/-is kūrybiniais žaidimais,” Ikimokyklinio ir priešmokyklinio ugdymo pedagogų rengimo problematika, vol. 100, 2017.
L. Kervin and J. Mantei, “Digital storytelling: capturing children's participation in preschool activities,” Issues in Educational Research, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 225-240, 2016.
N. Leggett, “Creativity in early childhood: how educators from Australia and Italy are documenting the creative thought processes of young children,” SN Social Sciences, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 74, 2024.
C. R. Lucarevschi, “The role of storytelling on language learning: A literature review,” Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 24-44, 2016.
ALLEA, “Europos elgesio kodeksas mokslinių tyrimų etikos klausimais,” 2019. [Online]. Available: http://lino.lmt.lt/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/%C4%8Dia.pdf [Accessed: Feb. 17, 2025].
National Education Agency, “Priešmokyklinio ugdymo bendroji programa,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://emokykla.lt/bendrosios-programos/visos-bendrosios-programos/8?groups=5348 [Accessed: Feb. 17, 2025].
National Education Agency, “Vaiko ugdymosi pasiekimų ir pažangos vertinimas ikimokykliniame ir priešmokykliniame ugdyme,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.nsa.smm.lt/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Vaiko-ugdymosi-pasiekimu-vertinimas.pdf [Accessed: Feb. 17, 2025].
A. Nicolopoulou, K. S. Cortina, H. Ilgaz, C. B. Cates, and A. B. de Sá, “Using a narrative-and play-based activity to promote low-income preschoolers’ oral language, emergent literacy, and social competence,” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 31, pp. 147-162, 2015.
W. I. O’Byrne, K. Houser, R. Stone, and M. White, “Digital storytelling in early childhood: Student illustrations shaping social interactions,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, p. 1800, 2018.
M. D. Rahiem, “Storytelling in early childhood education: Time to go digital,” International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 4, 2021.
B. R. Robin, “The power of digital storytelling to support teaching and learning,” Digital Education Review, no. 30, pp. 17-29, 2016.
J. Su and W. Yang, “Artificial intelligence in early childhood education: A scoping review,” Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, vol. 3, p. 100049, 2022.
I. B. Vélez and J. L. Prieto, “Literature as a therapeutic instrument in the health-disease process in childhood,” Enfermeria Global, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 601-616, 2018.
S. Wahyuningsih, N. E. Nurjanah, U. E. E. Rasmani, R. Hafidah, A. R. Pudyaningtyas, and M. M. Syamsuddin, “STEAM learning in early childhood education: A literature review,” International Journal of Pedagogy and Teacher Education, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 33-44, 2020.
C. Wright, C. Bacigalupa, T. Black, and M. Burton, “Windows into children’s thinking: A guide to storytelling and dramatization,” Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 35, pp. 363-369, 2008.
V. Žydžiūnaitė and S. Sabaliauskas, Kokybiniai tyrimai: Principai ir metodai: Vadovėlis socialinių mokslų studijų programų studentams, Vilnius: Vaga, 2017.
E. Bodrova and D. J. Leong, “Tools of the mind: A Vygotskian early childhood curriculum,” International Handbook of Early Childhood Education, pp. 1095-1111, 2018.
R. Jautakytė, “Kūrybiškumo samprata ir jo ugdymas darželyje: ikimokyklinio auklėjimo pedagogų pozicija,” Tiltai, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 87-103, 2014.
R. J. Tidikis, Socialinių mokslų tyrimų metodologija. Vilnius: Lietuvos teisės universitetas, 2003.
D. Neuman, “Qualitative research in educational communications and technology: A brief introduction to principles and procedures,” Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 26, pp. 69-86, 2014.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Renata Kondratavičienė, Inga Bertašienė
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.