Dialogic Questioning Techniques and Their Role in Stimulating Divergent Thinking Among Preschool Children: An Empirical Investigation

Divergent thinking — the cognitive capacity to generate multiple, varied, and original responses to open-ended challenges — is recognised as a foundational constituent of creative intellectual development in early childhood. Whereas prior literature has examined structured games, creative play, and person-centred instructional models as vehicles for fostering innovative cognition in preschool-age children, the specific contribution of dialogic questioning techniques to divergent thinking stimulation has received insufficient empirical scrutiny. The present study investigates the effect of a systematically implemented dialogic questioning framework on divergent thinking outcomes among preschool children (ages 4–6) in Uzbekistan. A controlled experiment involving 72 participants across two preschool institutions was conducted over 10 weeks. Results indicate that children in the dialogic questioning condition demonstrated significantly higher post-intervention scores on Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration subscales of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking — Figural Form (TTCT-F) compared to control group peers. Findings implicate intentional educator dialogue as a powerful, underutilised pedagogical lever for early divergent thinking development and carry direct implications for curriculum design and teacher professional development in Uzbekistan's preschool education system.