Abstract—A lot of research suggested that children learn
through play and their ability to think increases while playing.
However it is not clear whether or not preservice teachers are
aware of the influence of play on thinking. The purpose of the
study is to explore the perceptions of preservice teachers on the
affect of play on critical thinking, and how they perceive the
current curriculum in terms of helping children to be critical
thinkers. Interviews were conducted to two informants who are
still studying in the Early Childhood Studies program in a
private university in Klang Valley. The data was transcribed
and coded and a few themes emerged from the transcriptions
and coding processes. Findings suggested that those preservice
teachers are sentient of the importance of play in cultivating
critical thinking skills in children. They agreed that children
learn through play and they construct knowledge while playing.
Index Terms—Critical thinking, children, learn trough play,
preservice teachers, qualitative method.
Wirawani binti Kamarulzaman is with the Department of Early Childhood
Studies, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (email: tangwh@utar.edu.my).
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Cite: Wirawani binti Kamarulzaman, " Affect of Play on Critical Thinking: What are the
Perceptions of Preservice Teachers," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 1024-1029, 2015.