How many seconds was that? Teaching children about time does not refine their ability to track durations

Teachers' report of sense of time in kindergarten predicts children's time-processing skills in first grade

The main aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate if a questionnaire measuring the sense of time, filled in by teachers and parents in the last year of kindergarten, was able to predict children's time-processing skills at the end of 1st grade. The sample included 131 children (initial mean age = 4.77 ± 0.29 years) tested three times in a 2-year period with tasks of time reproduction, time discrimination, and comparison of durations. One of their parents and teachers filled in a questionnaire about children's sense of time both in kindergarten and 1st grade. The teacher version of the questionnaire administered in kindergarten was able to predict most of the time-processing tasks at the end of 1st grade. The parent version of the questionnaire was not able to predict children's performance in these tasks. Different developmental trajectories of time reproduction and time discrimination were observed. This study supports the role of preschool teachers as skilled evaluators of children's time-processing skills.