The Relationship Between Executive Function And Mathematical Concept Development Level In Children Aged 5 To 6

Executive function is a research hotspot and frontier in the field of children's cognitive development in recent years.Its development plays an important role in the development of preschool children and is the basis for children's ability to have various daily life.Executive functions include three core components: inhibition control,working memory and cognitive flexibility.Children's mathematical concept is a highly abstracted logical mathematical knowledge,which is the ability to understand and use this mathematical knowledge,including five aspects: number,quantity,shape,space and time.Although some studies have shown the relationship between executive function and mathematics learning,the research conclusions are not uniform.To further study the relationship between the two,this study is divided into Study 1 and Study 2,respectively,to investigate the relationship between executive function and mathematical concept;whether the executive function can be improved through intervention training,or whether the training effect can be transferred to mathematical concept.This study takes 196 children at the age of 5?6 years old as the research objects,which from senior grades in 2 kindergartens in Shenzhen.The mathematical concept was examined by the self-edited "5?6 years old children's math test";executive function were measured by three tasks,the day/night Stroop task examined inhibition control,fixed box task examined working memory,dimensional change card sorting task examined cognitive flexibility.Study 1was to verify the correlation between executive function and mathematical concepts.Study 2was based on study 1.30 children in the experimental group who scored less than 50% in mathematical achievement and inhibition control were trained for 1 month with inhibition control intervention.The effects of the training on mathematical concepts were investigated.The results showed that:(1)There is a gender difference in cognitive flexibility among5?6 years old children,and the girls' cognitive flexibility was significantly higher than boys'.(2)There is a significant positive correlation between executive function and mathematical concept in 5?6 years old children;there is a positive correlation between inhibition control and number,quantity,shape,space and time;there is a positive correlation between working memory and number,space and time;there is a positive correlation between knowledge flexibility and number,quantity,space,and time.(3)The correct rate of experimental group children do the day/night Stroop task is significantly higher than that of the control group after given two 30-minute inhibition control intervention training times per week for 1month,total 8 times.(4)After the intervention group was trained,both the time aspect of the mathematical concept and the total score of the mathematical concept are significantly higher than that of the control group.