Abstract
This project will employ a school-based randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of structured play on cognitive and socio-emotional development in 4- to 5-year-old children from public preschools in Bahia, Brazil. 121 schools will be randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. The kids in treatment group will play social and math games while the control group will not receive treatment.
The intervention consists of three social games and three math games, designed to develop key skills such as emotional regulation, numeracy, and geometry. Children will engage in these games for 2-3 sessions per week, over 12 weeks, under the supervision of their classroom teachers. Teacher professional development is a key component of the program and includes expert-led workshops covering play-based pedagogical methods, neurodevelopment, mathematical cognition, socio-emotional learning.
We will conduct assessments at two key time points: baseline (pre-intervention) and a post-intervention (1 month after the end of the intervention).