The Influence Of Spatial Ability On Number Concept In 4-5 Year Old Children: A Chain Mediation Mode

Spatial ability is a kind of general cognitive ability,which is a research hotspot in the field of children’s cognitive development in resent years.It not only affects the daily life of preschoolers,but also has significant correlation with their academic achievement.Spatial ability and number concepts are both the core ability of mathematics,which makes the relationship between them become the research focus at present.Therefore,the paper explored the influence of spatial ability on number concepts of children aged 4 to 5,as well as the mediating role of inhibitory control and visual working memory.The results of the study were used to provide educational suggestions for improving the number concepts of preschoolers.The study was administered using spatial ability tasks(The Blocks Test;The Windows Test),CDCC(math section),inhibitory task(The day-night task with nested rules)and visual working memory tasks(Matrix Task,Odd One Out).The tasks were completed by 124 children aged 4-5 in two kindergartens in Guangdong province.The data were processed and analyzed using SPSS 24.0.The results of the study showed:(1)Spatial visualization and the cognition of number were significantly higher in boys than in girls.(2)The mediating effect of inhibitory control was significant.Spatial ability not only directly predicted number concepts,but also significantly and positively predicted number concepts through inhibitory control.(3)The mediating effect of visual working memory was significant.Spatial ability not only directly predicted number concepts,but also significantly and positively predicted number concepts through visual working memory.(4)Inhibitory control and visual working memory played the chain mediation role in the relationship between spatial ability and number concepts.Based on the results of the study,there were some educational recommendations as follows:(1)Guide preschoolers to use spatial relationships to solve the math problems.(2)Training executive functions through games to promote the development of number concepts.(3)Promote the synergy between spatial ability and executive functions to improve preschoolers’ number concepts.