Mental operations in older preschool children: the effects of reading skill acquisition levels

Introduction. The effectiveness of solving educational tasks assigned to children at the preschool level of general education depends on the development of mental operations – fundamental processes essential for processing information, its logical transformation, and application. The ability to read consciously has traditionally been regarded as an effective tool for developing these mental operations. However, intergroup differences among older preschool children, who are just beginning to acquire reading skills, have largely remained unexplored in empirical research. Aim. The present study aims to examine the developmental levels of mental operations – abstraction, classification, generalisation, and analogy – in older preschool children with varying degrees of reading skill acquisition. Methodology and research methods. The study involved 605 children (46.7% boys) of older preschool age (M = 6.4 years; SD = 0.4). The following tasks were administered: “Abstraction” (identification of essential features of objects), “Classification and generalisation” (grouping objects according to specified criteria and combining them based on common features), and “Analogy” (generating inferences by analogy with proposed logical relationships). The degree of reading skill acquisition was determined based on the reading method: reading letter by letter, syllable by syllable, syllable by syllable and word by word, whole words, or inability to read at all. Results. In older preschool children, the development of abstraction, classification, and generalisation skills depends on the level of reading proficiency, but not on analogy. Specific differences in the development of mental operations were identified among older preschoolers with varying degrees of reading skill acquisition, depending on the type of operation. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of a fundamental problem of significant social relevance: the relationship between cognitive development and learning at the primary level of general education. Practical significance. The obtained data will provide a scientific foundation for the psychological and pedagogical support of children who primarily experience difficulties in mastering educational programmes.

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