USING DIDACTIC GAMES FOR THE FORMATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS AND OF VARIOUS ABILITIES IN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to investigate the way in which it is possible to influence the formation of geographical representations and the development of skills through didactic games in the field of Geography. The work hypothesis for this research was the following: if didactic games were used during the environment discovery classes, the result would be the development of children’s representations and cognitive abilities. An experimental activity was organized during the 2011-2012 school year at the Kindergarten in Chieşd. Research involved 23 children in the pre-school group. The accomplishment of the research goals covered a number of different stages. First, we selected the Geography topics to be covered, the objectives and the games. We conceived and applied an initial test; we involved the children in learning situations based on didactic games with various Geography contents, after which a final test was applied. At the end of the study, the tested hypothesis was confirmed.

Keywords

• Behaviour
• Cognitive development
• Level of development
• Pre-school education
• Integrated curriculum