Why should we provide more teaching–learning materials for children studying…

Key idea: Primary school children (approximately ages 6–11) span two Piagetian stages: the pre-operational stage (about 2–7 years) and the concrete operational stage (about 7–11 years). Characteristics of the pre-operational stage (younger primary pupils): Thinking is intuitive and symbolic rather than logical; children learn through play and concrete experiences.

Characteristics of the concrete operational stage (older primary pupils): Children begin to think logically about concrete objects and can perform tasks like classification and seriation, but they still need concrete, hands-on prompts to grasp abstract ideas.

Implication for teaching: Because many primary children are either pre-operational or transitioning to concrete operational thinking, teachers should provide abundant teaching–learning materials that are concrete, visual and hands-on to build meaningful understanding.

Such materials help younger children use symbolic play and sensory experience, and help older children apply logical operations to real objects before moving to abstract ideas.

Recommended materials and strategies: Manipulatives (blocks, counters), models and real objects

Visual aids, charts, pictures and story-based activities

Hands-on experiments, guided discovery and group tasks that link concrete experience to emerging concepts

Short bilingual summary: English: Primary children need more teaching–learning materials because their thinking is rooted in concrete and visual experiences; materials help them build concepts before they can reason abstractly.