The Study On The Development Of Understanding And Use Of Conventional Time In Young Children Aged 5-7

The purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental characteristics in young children's understanding and use of conventional time. A sample of 240 children aged 5-7 was randomly selected from three ordinary preschools and one primary school in Shanghai. Measurement of conventional time unit in this study was adapted from the instrument created by Zhiyun Ge(1986), and the other test to examine young children's computation of expiry date was adapted from Friedman (1990,1997). The study examined the statues of young children's conventional time by means of descriptive statistics; the effects of age and gender on their performances was examined by M-ANOVA; the correlations among their conventional time unit, calendar cognition and computation of expiry date were examined in using correlation analysis. The implication of the study was also discussed.The results indicated that:(1) With age increased, the understanding and use of conventional time of young children aged 5-7 improved which the concept of "season" is developed better, and "month" is weak; (2) Children aged 5 are low at calendar cognition, but good at "week" in the calendar; (3) Children aged 5-6 are low at cognition of "manufacture and expiry date"; (4) Children aged 5 are skilled at counting forward (1-30), but counting backward is low(30-1); (5) Children aged 5-6 mainly use counting while children aged 7 use computing to solving problems on conventional time; (6) There are close relationships among conventional time unit, calendar cognition and computation of expiry date; (7) The ability of counting backward, age, computation and cognition of conventional time unit of young children aged 5-7 is predictable to calendar cognition and computation of expiry date.