Author:
Abstract
Research on the combined effect of diurnal type and time of day on school/ preschool performance is still scarce, probably because until recently there were no non-invasive questionnaires measuring diurnal type in younger children. To our knowledge, in the literature studies on the so-called synchrony effect only exist for adolescents and adults and no work has been conducted on prepubertal children. This study investigated in kindergarten the relationship between morning-evening types with time-of-day and performance on a battery of tests covering basic skills involved in preschool learning. The sample comprised 80 children between 5 and 6 years old (M = 5.42, SD ± 0.495): 36 morning (45%) and 44 evening (55%) types, classified according to the Children’s Chronotype Questionnaire (Werner et al., 2009; PT version, Couto et al., 2014). The children completed a battery of tests related to kindergarten learning (Vitória de La Cruz, PT version, 2012) at four times in the kindergarten day (9:30-10:00; 11:30-12:00; 13:30-14:00; 15:00-15:30). Analyses indicated: an asynchrony effect on the Constancy of Form test, as M-E types performed better in their non-optimal moments, reaching significance in M-types; time-of-day effects in the Verbal (13:30-14:00 > 11:30-12:00), Quantitative Concepts (15:00-15:30 > 9:30-10:00/ 11:30-12:00/ 13: 30-14:00) and Position in Space (11:30-12:00 > 13:30-14:00) tests. These results suggest the “synchrony effect” may be a simplistic hypothesis, and better performances are not necessarily associated to early times in the school day. Replication studies are necessary.
Keywords
Abstract
Research on the combined effect of diurnal type and time of day on school/ preschool performance is still scarce, probably because until recently there were no non-invasive questionnaires measuring diurnal type in younger children. To our knowledge, in the literature studies on the so-called synchrony effect only exist for adolescents and adults and no work has been conducted on prepubertal children. This study investigated in kindergarten the relationship between morning-evening types with time-of-day and performance on a battery of tests covering basic skills involved in preschool learning. The sample comprised 80 children between 5 and 6 years old (M = 5.42, SD ± 0.495): 36 morning (45%) and 44 evening (55%) types, classified according to the Children’s Chronotype Questionnaire (Werner et al., 2009; PT version, Couto et al., 2014). The children completed a battery of tests related to kindergarten learning (Vitória de La Cruz, PT version, 2012) at four times in the kindergarten day (9:30-10:00; 11:30-12:00; 13:30-14:00; 15:00-15:30). Analyses indicated: an asynchrony effect on the Constancy of Form test, as M-E types performed better in their non-optimal moments, reaching significance in M-types; time-of-day effects in the Verbal (13:30-14:00 > 11:30-12:00), Quantitative Concepts (15:00-15:30 > 9:30-10:00/ 11:30-12:00/ 13: 30-14:00) and Position in Space (11:30-12:00 > 13:30-14:00) tests. These results suggest the “synchrony effect” may be a simplistic hypothesis, and better performances are not necessarily associated to early times in the school day. Replication studies are necessary.