A Study On The Development Of The Concept Of Unit In Mathematics And Nonstandard Spatial Measurement Ability And Their Relationship In Young Children Aged 3-6

The purpose of the study was to examine the development of the concept of unit in mathematics and nonstandard spatial measurement ability and their relationship in young children aged 3-6. A sample of 302 children aged 3-6 (male and female in half respectively) was randomly selected from 417 children in 15 classes in two preschools (classified as Classâ…¡and Categoryâ… . Kindergarten by Shanghai early childhood program evaluation system) from Shanghai. These children's concept of unit and nonstandard spatial measurement ability were tested. The meaurement for children's concept of unit were adapted from the studies of Sophian, Boulton-Lewis and others. The measurement for children's nonstandard spatial measurement ability were adapted from the study of Shi. After the pretest,104 children aged 5-6 were divided randomly into one experimental group (n=70) and one control group (n=34). The children in the experimental group had been trained through the activities about the concept of unit in mathematics for eleven weeks. After the intervention, the posttest was conducted.The study examined the development of young children's concept of unit and their nonstandard spatial measurement ability; the development of their concept of unit under the different circumstance of the mathematics; the development of their nonstandard spatial measurement ability in the different spatial dimension; the relationship between young children's concept of unit and nonstandard spatial measurement ability. The results indicated that in terms of the concept of unit, children aged 3-4 could not understand the concept of unit or form composite units, children aged 4-5 had an initial understanding in unit iteration and the relation between unit size and number, and the majority of children aged 5-6 could understand unit suitability under the influence of the characteristics and the arrangement of materials and be able to form composite units as well; that there was no significant difference among young children's concept of unit under three different circumstances of the mathematics (such as the situation of measurement, counting, sharing); that the developing order of young children's concept of nonstandard unit under the circumstance of measurement may be from unit iteration to relation between unit size and number, then to the unit suitability; that the development of the concept of unit and its sub-concept was faster for the children aged between 4-year-old and 5-year-old. In terms of nonstandard spatial measurement ability, most of children aged 3-4 used strategies of visual and side by side comparison in direct measurement, children aged 4-5 made some mistakes in nonstandard measurement and tended to choose nonstandard measurement tools, children aged 5-6 intended to use reduplication strategy when comparing areas and intended to choose standard measurement tools but were not able to use the same units in nonstandard measurement; that the development of young children's nonstandard spatial measurement ability in one-dimensional space was on the higher level than that ability of young children in two-dimensional space; that the development of young children's direct measurement ability was faster for the children aged between 3-year-old and 4-year-old in comparing to the children aged between 4-year-old and 5-year-old; that the development of young children's nonstandard measurement ability and the ability to solve practical measurement problems was faster for the children aged 5-6 in comparing to the children aged 4-5; that there was significant age difference for the two cognitive abilities, but no gender difference.The significant positive correlation emerged between young children's performances on the score of the concept of unit and the score of nonstandard spatial measurement ability test, it showed that there were close relationships between the two cognitive abilities for young children. The results of the intervention on children's concept of unit had a positive effect on children's nonstandard spatial measurement ability of young children aged 5-6, it implied that the concept of unit was one of the most significant factors for the development of preschool children's nonstandard spatial measurement ability. The implication of the results was also discussed.