The concepts of peace among Filipino preschool children with different levels of cognitive development

• Main Author: Macawili, Charlene Cabasug
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3743
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study sought to find out the concepts of peace among Filipino preschool children in relation to their levels of cognitive development (pre-operational or concrete operational phase) along with the moderator variables such as gender difference, socio-economic status and community type. Through purposive sampling, this descriptive survey included 60 Filipino preschoolers (30 males; 30 females), ages 5 to 6 who were enrolled in the kindergarten and preparatory levels (SY 1998-1999) of three selected private sectarian schools. The techniques consisted of interview questions to gather peace concepts and administration of Six Piagetian Cognitive-conservation type tasks. Data were analyzed in reference to Clemenas (1993) Categories of Peace Responses (1993) and Piagetian Classification of Cognitive Tasks (Labinowicz, 1980). Responses were classified and validated through a content analysis and a consensus of experts (Abrenica, 2001; Villadolid, 2001; Abando, Guerrero & Vergara, 1999). The results of this study are as follows: 1) The concepts of peace of preschool children having different levels of cognitive development with respect to the following questions were: a) On the meaning of peace, preschool children within the pre-operational and concrete operational phase were inclined to respond within the context of Indicators (observed good behaviors and affectionate gestures); b) On the description of a peaceful person, there were more concrete thinkers who tend to understand peace within the context of concepts (concrete ideas about peace); c) On the attainment of peace, there were more concrete thinkers who explained peace in terms of Relationship to Others; and, d) On the means of becoming a peaceful person, both concrete and pre-operational thinkers perceived peace in terms of Others (a persons relationship to others); 2) The concepts of peace of ii preschool children affected by moderator variables were: a) By gender, there seemed to be more pre-operational thinkers who are males while more concrete thinkers who are females; b) By Socio-economic status, there appeared to be more concrete thinkers who come from the high income strata and less from the middle and low income groups; and c) By Community type, there seemed to be more pre-operational thinkers who are rural dwellers than those in the urban community. The recommendations are: a) Broaden the preschoolers understanding and concept of peace by acquiring knowledge from concrete examples about culture and science focused on local culture through interviews, responses to questions and cognitive games; b) Strengthen their various and distinct concepts of peace with God, self and others (i.e. parents, teachers, friends) through the provision of peace education programs to promote peace consciousness for positive attitudes within the class; c) Ensure proper intervention for improvement of peace concepts of preschool children on a larger scale through a more comprehensive research involving local methodologies (e.g. Pakikipagkuwentuhan and Pagtatanong-tanong), utilizing projective techniques as methods for getting responses, speaking in vernacular when dealing with children, and other variables in achieving and valuing peace in the preschool years; d) A challenge to guidance counselors as peacemakers, develop experiential counseling styles in understanding the Filipino preschool children, and develop opportunities which will enhance the preschoolers capacity to be a more peaceful and caring being, who will work for positive changes; e) Administrators may be urged to look into the comparative dimensions of students academic and behavioral backgrounds who are products of urban or rural communities; and f) Finally, iii possible interventions may be extended to increase the communication and opportunity between school and home to expand children's support activities to enhance their cognitive levels that could provide for peace concept formation.