ZNL TransferCenter for Neuroscience and Learning, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
PLoS One. 2018 May 24;13(5):e0197454. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197454. eCollection 2018.
Executive functions (EFs) play a critical role in cognitive and social development. During preschool years, children show not only rapid improvement in their EFs, but also appear sensitive to developmentally appropriate interventions.
EMIL is a training program for German preschool teachers that was developed and implemented to improve the EFs of preschoolers. The aim of the present study was to evaluate its effects on the EFs of children between three and six years old.
The teacher training (eight sessions, 28.5 hours) was implemented in four preschools. The EFs of children of the intervention group (n = 72, 32 girls, Mage = 48 months) and the control group of four other matched preschools (n = 61, 27 girls, Mage = 48 months) were tested before, during, and after the intervention using different measures assessing working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.
The intervention group showed significant gains on three out of seven EF tests (behavioral inhibition, visual-spatial working memory, and combined EFs) compared to the control group. Post hoc analyses for children with low initial EFs scores revealed that participation in the intervention led to significant gains in inhibitory control, visual-spatial working memory, and phonological working memory as well as a marginally significant difference for combined EFs. However, effect sizes were rather small.
The results suggest that teacher training can lead to significant improvements in preschooler's EFs. Although preliminary, the results could contribute to the discussion on how teacher training can facilitate the improvement of EFs in preschool children.
执行功能（EFs）在认知和社会发展中起着关键作用。在学龄前，儿童不仅在 EFs 方面迅速提高，而且对发展适当的干预也表现出敏感。
EMIL 是一项针对德国学前教师的培训计划，旨在提高学龄前儿童的 EFs。本研究的目的是评估其对 3 至 6 岁儿童 EFs 的影响。
在四所幼儿园实施了教师培训（八次课程，28.5 小时）。干预组（n=72，32 名女孩，Mage=48 个月）和四个匹配幼儿园对照组（n=61，27 名女孩，Mage=48 个月）的儿童在干预前、干预中和干预后使用不同的测量工具评估工作记忆、抑制控制和认知灵活性，以测试其 EFs。
与对照组相比，干预组在七项 EF 测试中的三项上（行为抑制、视觉空间工作记忆和综合 EFs）表现出显著提高。对于初始 EFs 得分较低的儿童的事后分析表明，参与干预导致抑制控制、视觉空间工作记忆和语音工作记忆显著提高，综合 EFs 则略有显著差异。然而，效果大小相当小。
结果表明，教师培训可以导致学龄前儿童 EFs 的显著提高。尽管初步结果，但这些结果可以为讨论教师培训如何促进学龄前儿童 EFs 的提高做出贡献。
