Exploring the Impact of ICT-Based Learning Environments on Preschool Children’s Innovative Learning Behaviours

The concept of ICT integration in early childhood education has continued to attract more focus as a possible catalyst to creativity and innovativeness among the young learners. The research seeks to test how ICT-based learning environments affect innovative learning behaviour among preschoolers. Quantitative quasi-experimental pretest-posttest test design was adopted, and the 149 children in ICT-enabled classrooms were compared to 151 children in traditional learning settings using structured behavioural measures. Evidence on the increased gain of innovation based on the ICT group indicates that students in the ICT group showed significantly more gains (independent samples t -test (t = 8.888, p < 0.001) and large effect size (Cohen-d = 1.028)) in innovation compared to the paired t-test of ICT learners, demonstrating a high difference between their pre- and post-intervention (t = -35.425, p < 0.001; d = 2.902). The paper concludes that innovative learning behaviour has a significant positive impact on preschoolers studying in ICT-based environments. It suggests that preschools should encourage regular ICT-related activities to maximise creativity. This implication suggests that early childhood education must focus more on policy investments in digital learning. One of its major weaknesses is that a quasi-experimental design is not as able to control all the confounding variables or quantify the long-term effects.