The cognitive developmental level of elementary school students in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

A sample of 6,686 pupils, ranging in age from 5 to 15 years, was randomly selected from the various school types, localities, and cultural, social, and racial backgrounds. The investigation involved only a post-test. Operational Task No. 1 of the Science Reasoning Tasks developed at the Chelsea College Centre for Science Education was selected to assess level of cognitive performance. Results indicated a steadily decreasing proportion of pupils from age 5 to 11 years at the pre-operational stage; a steady increase to age 10 followed by some fluctuation and ending with a high proportion at age 15 at the transitional stage; an increase to age 11 followed by a decrease to age 15 at the concrete operational stage. It was concluded that it is possible to classify the cognitive developmental levels of Trinidadian pupils according to Piagetian stages