Investigation of the relationships between preschool children's theory of mind skills and symbolic representations in drawings

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https://doi.org/10.29329/pedper.2026.130

The purpose of the research is to determine by age whether there is a relationship between the symbolic representations in pre-school children's drawings and the theories of mind skills. In the research, the relational survey model was used as the quantitative research methods. The study group consists of 120 children aged four to six attending public kindergartens in Ordu Province. As a data collection tool, to determine the theories of mind skills; " Theory of Mind Tasks", for symbolic representations; Golomb's "Representative Drawing Tasks" and Personal Information Form" are used. The data were obtained by evaluating face-to-face practice and drawings with each child. Data were analyzed with the SPSS program. As a result of the research, it was determined that the representative drawing success scores of four, five and six-year-old children increased as they got older, and when the age was controlled, the representative drawing success of girls was higher than boys. In addition, it is concluded that the sub-dimensions of theory of mind skills are significantly related to the representational skills in the drawings.

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Darga, H. (2026). Investigation of the relationships between preschool children’s theory of mind skills and symbolic representations in drawings . Pedagogical Perspective, 5(1), 24-36. https://doi.org/10.29329/pedper.2026.130

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