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 Dalili binti Zaharuddin was born on March 12th 2006 at Hospital Tengku Ampuan
Rahimah, Klang, Selangor. She is the youngest in her family. She lived at Taman Meru
Aman, Klang. She is now five years old and studied at Tadika Al-Mughni, Meru, Klang.
Her weight was 19 kg and her height was 112cm, and that is the reason she looks very
bright. She has some interesting hobbies that are doing homework and colouring. She
always does her homework with her friends. Her ambition is to become a police. Her
parent was very supportive. Her father, Zaharuddin bin Ithnin works as a driver. He was
42 years old. While her mother, Rahimah binti Mat Yusuf was also 42 years old. She
works as a secondary school teacher. Dalili have 4 siblings. Her eldest sister, Darmia
was 14 years old. Her brother, Danish was 12 years old and will be seating for UPSR
examination soon. Her younger sister, Darrina was 9 years old and she was very good
in sport.

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Dalili have good physical appearances. First of all, she is very healthy and
energetic. She always looks neat and tidy. She also has a good body posture and has
an ideal weight of a five years old student. In the meantime, she was very responsive
towards everything. Her teacher said she was active in class and always gives a
positive respond. Her teacher recommended us to take her as our sample on case
study.

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 She has some outstanding characteristics which she can think beyond the age of
five years old. She has the ability to think further. She also was very active not only in
class, but also outside the class. It shows that she can learn and play well. I have seen
this potential in her. I think she can be a good student that are very good in academic
and sports. That is why I choose Dalili as my sample study.
V
   
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Jean Piaget was one of the most influential researchers in the area of
developmental psychology during the 20th century. Piaget described two processes
used by the individual in its attempt to adapt which are assimilation and
accommodation. Both of these processes are used throughout life as the person
increasingly adapts to the environment in a more complex manner (Huitt W. & Hummel
J., 2003).

There are four stages of cognitive development in Piaget¶s theory which are
sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational.
Sensorimotor stage is including a child during infancy until 2 years old. While pre-
operational stage is during toddlers until early childhood. Next, the concrete operational
stage is within elementary until early adolescence. The last stage is formal operational
within adolescence until adulthood.

My case study is regarding the pre-operational stage that involves the child of
early childhood. According to Piaget, during this stage, child is still more to egocentric.
They have difficulty taking others point of view. They just believe and decide that what
they see is true. Piaget also used a number of creative and clever techniques to study
the mental abilities of children. One of the famous techniques is egocentrism. Children
are asked to choose a picture that showed the scene they had observed. Most children
are not able to do this with little difficulty.

Next, children are asked to select a picture showing what someone else would
have observed when looking at the mountain from a different viewpoint. Invariably,
children almost always choose the scene showing their own view of the mountain
scene. According to Piaget, children experience this difficulty because they are unable
to take on another person's perspective (Cherry K. 2005).

Besides that, their intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols,

language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is
done in a nonlogical, nonreversible manner (Huitt W. & Hummel J., 2003).
 In the meantime, during this stage the child only can classify object by single
features such as he or she can groups all together the red blocks regardless of shape. It
shows that they are learning more to colours and memory. During this stage, they also
learn to use language in order to communicate. They can read and write simple word.
Some of them can talk a simple sentence smartly. Besides that, the child also easy to
believe in magical increase, decrease, disappearance.

As an example, in one conservation experiment, equal amounts of liquid are

poured into two identical containers. The liquid in one container is then poured into a
different shaped cup, such as a tall and thin cup, or a short and wide cup. The child is
then asked which cup holds the most liquid. Despite seeing that the liquid amounts were
equal, children almost always choose the cup that appears fuller (Cherry K. 2005)

4
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 I have chosen 4 methods to evaluate the cognitive development of the child. The
methods are observation, interview, questionnaire and checklist. I choose these
methods because they are very appropriate to study the child development.

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 Observation is the methods that used our senses to observe the child in class.
We must pay attention towards the child and collecting data on her participation in
class. In my case study, I have observed Dalili in the class during the class hours. I
have found some advantage on doing observation on her. The advantage is I can
observe her directly on how she is doing her home homework, participate in class, and
communicate with teachers and many more. It will help me to collect data about her
precisely.


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 The second methods are interview. I have use this method to interview Dalili¶s
teacher on how her progress in class and her study achievement. I also use this method
while conducting experiments with Dalili. I think this method is very good because I can
talk to her about the experiments and she understands my point. Besides that, by using
interview methods, she also can improve her communication skills. So, this method
helps me to achieve my target to do experiments on her.

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 Questionnaire is being done by me when I am giving Dalili a simple questionnaire

regarding mathematics. I have prepared a simple addition and subtraction question to
solve. By doing this method, I can save my time on study this child cognitive
development. I can get a lot of input quickly. Besides that, I also can observe her
problem solving skills. This five years old student have develop her problem solving
skills well.

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 Last method that I have use is to create a checklist about my experiments on the
child. The reason why I used this method is, it can save my time. In the mean time,
checklist also helps me to do work more precisely. It also use as a record or evidence to
show that I have done experiments with the child. Checklist also help me to run my
experiments accordingly and it will prevent from an error occur.

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 I have chosen 4 types of experiments which are egocentrism, conservation skill,

classification skill and problem solving skill. All of them were being tested on Dalili.
These are the findings that I get.


( ) 

 According to Piaget, child during pre-operational stage have high level of

egocentrism. So, I have conducted an experiment to test whether Piaget¶s theory is
relevant to Dalili or not. I have made a card that has two kinds of animal in front and at
the back of the card. The front page of the card shows a picture of chicken. While the
back page of the card show a picture of horse. Then, she manages to tell that the
picture that she can see in front of her is chicken. When I turned the card backward, she
says that the picture that she can see is horse (refer to appendix 1). So, Piaget theory
that states children of pre-operational stage are egocentric was false because Dalili can
able to overcome egocentrism during her age. This is because at this age, the children
learn more using their memory. Her thinking skill is well developed because she just not
can think what she can see, but beyond of that.

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 Conservation skill is including the ability to conserve number, length, weight, and
liquid volume. In my experiments, I have prepared 3 containers which 2 of them are
same size and the other one is bigger. After that, I have poured a same volume of water
to the both same container. Then, I asked Dalili whether both containers have equal
volume of water or not. Then, she answers ³yes´. After that, I poured water from first
container to the bigger container. After that, I asked her again whether the volume of
water in the both containers is same or not. Then she answer that the water in the small
container is more than the water in a big container because she saw that the level of
water in the smaller container is high than the bigger container (refer to appendix 2).

The second experiment of conservation skill that I have tested to Dalili was
distinguishes the number of small cards. I have sorted 10 cards in 2 lines. Then I asked
her the quantity of the cards that I have sorted. She answers my question correctly.
Then, I take 3 cards from lower lines and sort them in upper lines. Then I asked her
whether the number of cards is still the same or not. Then she answers ³not´, because
she see that the number of cards in upper line is more than the lower line (refer to
appendix 3).
 The third experiment is to divert the same length of rope. In this experiment, I
have prepared same length of two ropes. Then, I ask Dalili whether she can see the
lengths of both ropes are same. She said ³yes´ because she can see both ropes have
the same length. After that, I tied the first rope to make it look shorter than the second
rope. Then, she said that the second rope is longer than the first rope.

In those experiments, Dalili fails. This is because the child IQ is still not
achieving the desired level of these experiments. So, Piaget¶s theory that states that
child during pre-operational stage does not have knowledge in conservation skill is true.

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 I have tested Dalili in classification skill. First experiment, I have shown many
pictures of animals to Dalili. Then I asked her to classify whether that animals have four-
legged, two-legged, and animal with no legs. Dalili can classify all the animals very well.
She knows how to classify the animals by looking to the picture (refer to appendix 4).

Second experiment, I shown many pictures of fruits and animals. Then Dalili can
classify all the animals and fruits into different components. She has the ability to
classify them in short period of time (refer to appendix 5).

The third experiment is, I put different values of money. Then I asked her to
classify them according to values. She takes time to recognize the value of money. But,
after 5 minutes, she can classify them correctly. She also can identify the colour of the
money very well (refer to appendix 6).

In those experiments, Piaget¶s theory states that pre-operational child can

classify objects into groups with a single common feature. So, it is true because Dalili
can classify the four-legged, two-legged, and no legged animal, classify fruits and
animals, and classify values of money well. These experiments were successful
because Dalili have a good ability in classification skill.
( 4$ !

 Problem solving skill in a child between ages 5 to 7 years old can be seen in
mathematic. According to Piaget¶s child during pre-operational stage can solve simple
mathematic questionnaire. So, I have prepared a simple questionnaire on addition and
subtraction to test on Dalili. She can¶t answer any of the questions provided. This shows
that the Piaget¶s theory is wrong because Dalili can¶t answer the question. In the
meantime, Literacy and Numeracy Program (Linus) who has carried a lot of help
primary school students in identifying a number, compute with exposure to mathematics
also is not enough to educate the pre-operational child in this situation (refer to
appendix 7).

*
  

 There are many ways to enhance the cognitive development of the child. First of
all, the contribution of school. The school administration should give opportunity to the
pre-school student to enter the library. The effort was undertaken to achieve certain
goals such as achieving the zero illiteracy and encourage students to come prepared to
preschool before entering a real school era at the age of 7 years. In addition, the
program is conducted for all students also give a big impact on the school environment.
Libraries will begin to overrun. Students use their free time to read and it will enhance
their reading skill and improve their cognitive development. This has been aware of all
the teachers and this is programs were devised by the Ministry of Education Malaysia
very well. Regardless of age, they spend time together well and wisely.

Parents also must contribute to increase the cognitive development of the child.
As an example, parent should always be there whenever their child need them. As
children grow during pre-operational stage, their cognitive development is still low.
Parent must do something that can help them to increase their cognitive development.
Parent can join their child playing a µsnake and ladder¶ game. The game can increase
the cognitive development of the child because it uses dice. So, the child will be able to
learn how to apply addition and subtraction during playing the game. To sum up,
teachers and parent play an important role on developing child cognitive development
during pre-operational stage.

„



 In conclusion, we have done the test regarding Piaget¶s theory of cognitive

development of child during pre-operational stage. This shows that Piaget's theory of
cognitive level of children in pre-operational proved correct. In the meantime, this does
not mean we can¶t help them to improve their cognitive level into the highest level. With
the report that have been proposed above, it is possible the cognitive level of children in
the pre-operational stage can be improved. It seems, the evidence indicates that, it may
be and other qualifiers freely.

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According to Crow and Crow Similarly, the development represents a change in

a 'qualitative' and tend to have better direction in terms of thinking, spiritual, moral and
social. According to Karl E. Garrison, the development proceeds rather than actions that
relate to each other between physical development and learning. All the developments,
as there is in the form of structure, finesse one's behavior or overall morality, is to follow
some rules so original and universal traits. In summary, the development may be
characterized as a stream of interrelated between changes in quantitative and
qualitative changes that led to a certain direction that is being expected.

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 There are many field of study that contributes to the child development. There
are language development, cognitive development, emotional development, fine motor
skill development and gross motor skill development. I have chosen a cognitive
development. It have 4 stages that are sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete
operational and formal operational. I have picked a pre-operational stage because the
child that I plan to study is 5 years old. I also have chosen Piaget¶s theory of
development of the child during pre-operational stage.
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1) What new knowledge about child development that you can get through this study?

During a week I run a school-based experiences with other partners, various

activities have been carried out at Sekolah Kebangsaan Brickfields 1. I just learned
about the theories of child development just as the theory of Jean Piaget, Chomsky and
the theory of Vygotsky. In the process of studying these theories, it is difficult to
understand their cognitive state. After I went to this school-based experience, I can
understand the theory described by the three western leaders easily.

I can classify variety of my students behavior according to level of cognitive

development and the way they think. My understanding becomes stronger and more
stable when running experiments to complete my tasks given by the lecturers of the
subject EDU 3012. This is because I have chosen to study the cognitive development of
students at the school. I have conducted many experiments in detail and the results are
almost exactly with all the theories that attempt described by Jean Piaget. In the
meantime, I was able to observe the behavior of children in this school. What I learned
in college, the child will have a high egocentricism. This can be highlighted in all the
situations experienced by the child. They feel that what they say and see is correct. Due
to that, there a few skirmishes between them. These children should be well controlled
to avoid any injuries or serious accidents while under the care of their teachers.

After running this case study, variety of experiences that I have learnt. Indeed the
experience was a valuable thing in my life. While conducting this case study, I have
identified my strengths and weaknesses. For my preparation, such as reading and
understanding the concept of case studies is crucial to ensure the smooth running of the
path of this study. Therefore I took the initiative to find references such as reading
material as an addition to the knowledge of the study.
 Throughout this case study, I need to make self-reflection that I have to be a little
bit strict in order to interact with my future students. In addition, I also need to explore
students hearts and felt as if I were them. I need to know it because on the future they
would respect me as a teacher.

This case study has opened my eyes that, every child born has different potential
within themselves and it is important for us as educators to help children develop the
potential that exists within them. In addition. It is important to me as a prospective
teacher to understand the behavior of a child. For me an excellent teacher is the
teacher who is able to understand their students from every aspect.
2) How this knowledge can help you as a teacher?

This case study has revealed that the theories I have learned in class to a real
situation. This is a valuable experience for me. From this case study, it allows me to
apply the theories I've learned in the classroom. In addition, I also can compare what I
have learned in class to real situations faced by children in school.

I am aware of why the School Based Experience was included in the lesson of
Degree Program. School-based experiences are included in our lesson to give some of
the school scenario and the students who will be dealing with us after we complete the
program.

This school-based experience gives me a new experience and I also get new
knowledge about child development. I will try to apply the knowledge that I gained
during the School Based Experience when I started teaching. Theories of child
development opened my mind a lot and taught me how to control the child well. This is
because I often observe their behavior in the classroom when teachers are teaching.

Based on my observations during the School Based Experience, I found that

during these days, the role of teachers is very important to enhance the students
cognitive development. This is because, students nowadays tend to spend their time
more at school than at home.

In the down for the count, the theory helps a lot the teachers in control classes. In
addition, we may be able to overcome with calm the problem created by these children.
Not all teachers can control their anger well, again if faced with a rebellious student and
have a high egocentricity. This can be overcome through knowledge of child
development that I have learned. To some extent, learning in college to help me to
become teachers of quality and competence.
 Lastly, I hope for the short-term studies that I have gone through, I think I can
use all the experience that I got during this School Based Experience to become a good
teacher soon. I hope I can make more case studies to enhance knowledge and quality
as a teacher soon.
Appendix 7 '  

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Appendix 1

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Procedure

1. Show the picture of animal in both pages

2. Ask the child to say what animal that she can see in both pages
3. Ask the child what is the animal that shown in the front page of the card
4. Ask a relevant question on why the child say that
5. Record the data
Appendix 2

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Procedure

1. Pour an identical amount of water into two identical glasses.

2. Ask the child if the two glasses have the same amount and adjust the volume to
each glass until the child agrees that both have the same amount.
3. Now pour the water from one glass into a bigger, thinner glass.
4. Ask the child if the amount of liquid is the same in both glasses or if one has
more.
5. If the child thinks one has more, ask which one. Have the child justify the
judgment of having the same or different amounts (i.e., why do you think there is
the same amount in each glass? or why do you think this one has more?).
6. Record the data.
Appendix 3

 !

Procedure:

1. 10 cards with same size were prepared.

2. 5 cards were lined in the first row while the other five in the second row.
3. Dalili were asked whether all the cards have the same amount.
4. After the answer was given, the cards were rearranged.
5. The cards in the first row were arranged so that there were huge gap between
the cards.
6. The cards in the second row were arranged like the first arrangement.
7. Dalili then were asked to identify whether now they have the same amount of
cards or not.
8. Record the data
Appendix 4



Procedure:

1. Provide picture of many types of animals

2. Ask the student to classify which animal have four-legged, two-legged, and no
leg.
3. Record the data
Appendix 5



Procedure:

1. Provide many pictures of fruits and animals

2. Ask Dalili to classify them into different component
3. Record the data
Appendix 6



 
Procedure:

1. Provide different values of money.

2. Ask Dalili to classify them according to the values.
3. Record the data