Building executive function in pre-school children through play: a curriculum

ABSTRACT

Executive function (EF) is a term that defines a group of cognitive abilities fundamental to goal-directed behaviour. EF is a strong predictor of both academic and life success. Therefore, it is important to develop EFs in the early years of life. We created a curriculum of games (BBF) for preschool children that focused on improving EFs. The purpose of the study was to assess the curriculum's impact. We asked the parents of 86 children to respond to three surveys. The majority (72) of these children participated in the BBF curriculum, while 14 were in a control group. These surveys were given twice; pre- and post-curriculum implementation. We found significant improvements in various behaviours measured by the three questionnaires in the BBF group that did not occur in the control group. This suggests that the BBF curriculum can be implemented as a programme to improve cognitive abilities in children.

KEYWORDS:

• Executive function
• preschool
• play
• curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Lara A. Coelho is a Ph.D. candidate in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge. Her research focuses on distorted body representations in healthy populations. She is also interested in neuroplasticity, child development, and surfing.

Alycia N. Amatto is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Alberta. She will be starting medical residency training in July of 2020, following graduation from medical school. Prior to this, Alycia attended the University of Lethbridge studying Biological Sciences.

Dr Claudia L. R. Gonzalez is an Associate Professor and in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Lethbridge. Gonzalez investigates how the brain processes and integrates sensory and motor information. In particular how vision and haptics guide arm and hand movements for reaching and grasping. She is interested in understanding the interactions of the sensorimotor system with cognitive processes such as language, executive function, and spatial abilities. Her approach is developmental spanning from babies to seniors and her research includes healthy and neurological populations.

Robbin L. Gibb is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge. Her research is focused on (1) how prenatal and preconception experience influence brain development and (2) how to improve outcomes for kindergarten children by enhancing early literacy, executive function and self-regulation, and motor skills in preschool children.

ORCID

Lara A. Coelho http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9172-8838

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by The city of Lethbridge Community and Social Service Department, The University of Lethbridge Strategic Opportunity Fund, Anonymous Donor.