Abstract
Studies in cognitive neuroscience have shown that education practices can affect the development of executive functions (EF) in young children, although there is very little evidence on young preschool children. The present study aims to provide support for this endeavor, and consists of a quasi-experimental design with one-group pre-test/post-test measures of cognitive control at age 3 in an urban public Montessori preschool. Three-year-olds (N=23) in an authentic Montessori public preschool in Washington DC improved significantly on core EF measures (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) validated by the NIH Toolbox Early Childhood Cognition Battery, and the data revealed large effect sizes. Comparisons against NIH published norms revealed no selection bias. Performance on EF measures did not correlate with age but did correlate with amount of time between testing sessions, suggesting the possibility that experience, more than age, could have contributed to cognitive control growth. A controlled comparison between mixed-age and single-age classes revealed no differences in these EFs, raising the possibility that aspects of the environment other than the age composition are likely to contribute to growth. We propose that a potential contributor to EF growth in Montessori education might be found in the design of interaction of the child with the environment—in particular, we discuss the design element called control of error, and consider why this element might be related to cognitive abilities such as inhibitory control. In current national discussions on the importance of equitable early childhood education, the synthesis of findings from neurocognitive studies has implications for children’s academic and life success.
Highlights
In recent years, the field of cognitive neuroscience has seen a great interest in understanding the role of executive functions (EF) in early child development, the mechanisms by which they develop, and the ways in which EF abilities can transfer across a variety of cognitive, emotional and social domains
Various empirical studies provide support for the idea that certain approaches to child education are well-equipped to instigate EFs and bolster their continued development over time. As this field of investigation grows, fascinating questions remain, including, from what age these EF abilities might be measured with respect to school experience, and what specific features of the Cognitive Control at Age 3 educational approach are likely to foster strong development of EF. With these points of inquiry in mind, the aims of the current paper are: (1) to highlight several empirical studies which address the role of focused educational approaches in supporting cognitive EF development—which we refer to here as cognitive control—in children, (2) to present a small, quasiexperimental study which lends support for this endeavor by demonstrating the feasibility of testing children as young as 3 years of age in the context of a public Montessori environment using the validated NIH Toolbox, and (3) to suggest a design feature particular to Montessori education that is consistent with the literature, and that we think is a promising avenue for future empirical investigation in children from a very young age
We aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of measuring changes in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility from age 3 in this preschool context
Summary
The field of cognitive neuroscience has seen a great interest in understanding the role of executive functions (EF) in early child development, the mechanisms by which they develop, and the ways in which EF abilities can transfer across a variety of cognitive, emotional and social domains. Various empirical studies provide support for the idea that certain approaches to child education are well-equipped to instigate EFs and bolster their continued development over time. As this field of investigation grows, fascinating questions remain, including, from what age these EF abilities might be measured with respect to school experience, and what specific features of the Cognitive Control at Age 3 educational approach are likely to foster strong development of EF. Given the success of training EFs in 4- to 5-year-olds, that preschool is not too young to improve these abilities, and they stress the importance of the play-based curriculum, the repetitive practice of planning skills, and adaptive levels of challenge for students in this educational approach (Diamond et al, 2007)
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