The effect of interactive book reading based activities on the cognitive perspective taking skills of five age group children

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of interactive book reading-based activities on cognitive perspective taking skills of 5-year-old children. In the research, the quasi-experimental design of the quantitative method with pretest-posttest unequalized control group was used. The study group consists of 20 children in the age of 5 who attend two different classes of an independent public kindergarten in the city center of Elazig in the 2020-2021 academic year. The study group was divided into two groups as the experimental (n=10) and the control (n=10) according to the experimental design. Which class would be the experimental group and which class would be the control group was decided by random assignment. As data collection tools, the Early Childhood Cognitive Perspective Taking Test (EBAT) and Personal Information Forms developed by the researcher within the scope of the thesis were used. Measurements of the participants' cognitive perspective taking skills were obtained by pre-test, post-test and retention test. Interactive Book Reading Based Activities (EKOTE) were applied to the experimental group by the researcher. This intervention was completed in 8 weeks and a total of 24 sessions, 3 sessions each week. No intervention was made in the control group and the implementation of the MEB Pre-School Education Program (2013) was continued by the teacher. The data obtained from the experiment were analyzed by applying the t-test and ANOVA. As a result of the analysis of the pre-test and post-test score data of the experimental group and the control group, no significant difference was found in the control group, while there was a significant difference in the experimental group. This situation reveals that using interactive book reading based activities in early childhood education has an increasing effect on the cognitive perspective taking skills of 5-year-old children. In addition, a retention test was applied to the experimental group three weeks after the intervention and it was understood that the effect obtained was permanent.