Research On The Relationship Between Executive Functions And Nonstandard Spatial Measurement In Senior Class Kindergarten Children

The executive function,as an advanced cognitive mechanism and ability,refers to the psychological process where an organism consciously controls its thoughts and actions,and it’s proven to be closely related to language,psychology and mathematical ability.Non-standard space measurement capability,which is an important content of mathematics,plays an important role in developing mathematical abilities of children.This research adopts three classical research paradigms of executive functions,including the flexible switching task,the Six-boxes task and the Day-night Stroop task,and the research tool Test Manual for Non-Standard Space Measurement Capabilities of Children Aged from 3 Years Old to 6 Years Old adapted by Wang Guanghang and uses the educational measurement method to measure non-standard space measurement capabilities and executive functions of 104 senior-class children of two kindergartens of Ningbo.The experiment was done by using the one-to-one measurement method.On the basis of doing statistical analysis of data,this paper researches the development of Senior Class Kindergarten Children’s Non-standard Spatial Measurement Capability and their Executive Functions as well as the correlation between them according to the statistical analysis of data.This research includes three small researches: research 1 focuses on developmental features of non-standard space measurement capabilities of senior-class children;research 2 development features of executive functions of senior-class children;research 3 is mainly about the relativity between non-standard space measurement capability and executive functions of senior-class children.The research findings are as follows:Research results show that:1.There has been some development in the nonstandard space measurement capability of senior kindergarten children,but their development levels in measuring areas and measuring dimensions are unbalanced.There has been some development in executive function of senior kindergarten children,of which their inhibiting ability is best developed and their transformation ability is less developed.2.There is not significant gender difference in terms of senior class kindergarten children’s one dimensional non-standard measurement capability;The overall components and other subcomponents of other non-standard space measurements show no gender difference.The development of executive functions of senior-class children shows no significant gender difference both in terms of their total score or their sub-components.3.There was a significant correlation between senior-class children’s non-standard space measurement capability and their executive function.As far as the measurement field is concerned,executive functions and other sub-components are related to it;as far as measurement dimensions are concerned,the executive function and its three sub-components are significantly correlated with direct measurement,non-standard measurement and actual measurement.4.Regression analysis shows that the transformation and inhibiting abilities have a significant impact on the scores of some subcomponents,while the updating ability has no significant impact on them.Based on the research results,some educational suggestions are given accordingly:1.The development of kindergarten children’s measurement capability should be paid attention to.They should be provided with rich measuring environments and materials,and they should be encouraged to understand the practical implications of measurement through independent exploration.2.The development of kindergarten children’s executive function should be paid attention to.The development of their learning quality should be taken seriously and the forms of their education activities should be enriched.3.The teachers should continuously improve their professional abilities and qualities as well as continuously innovate their educational work and practices.