60 likes | 162 Views
Importance of Social Context for the Cognitive Development of Pre-school Children. Renata Miljevic-Ridicki, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Teachers Faculty, Zagreb University, Croatia. Main goal. to assess whether the level of child’s cognitive development is connected with his/her social context.
E N D
Importance of Social Context for the Cognitive Development of Pre-school Children Renata Miljevic-Ridicki, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Teachers Faculty, Zagreb University, Croatia
Main goal • to assess whether the level of child’s cognitive development is connected with his/her social context
Sample: 120 children age 6-7, tested in a year prior to entering primary school 1. Children who live in two-parent family (from the birth) N = 502. Children who live in a single parent family (mother only), for 3 years minimumN = 44 3. Parentless children living in orphanages N= 26
Instruments • Intelligence tests Nonverbal: Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices Verbal: Crichton Scale • School aptitude tests Vlahovic-Stetic, Vizek-Vidovic, Arambasic, Miharija
Results • Significant statistical differences in all test results between children living in orphanages and all other children. • No differences in intellectual level between children living in two-parent and single parent families. • Children from two-parent families scored better at some school aptitude sub-tests.
Conclusion • The findings confirm the importance of mediators for the child cognitive development. • Results could be explained in the context of theories of: Lav Vygotsky, Urie Bronfenbrenner, Rueven Feuerstein.