Time knowledge questionnaire for children 7—13 years old: methodological recommendations and norming

Context and relevance. Time representations are important for goal-setting and self activity prediction, which becomes especially important in the beginning of schooling. Time understanding level depends on the child's age and relates to the socialization and development of cognitive functions degree. Despite the fact that various approaches to psychological diagnostics of children's time knowledge are offered, in recent years, the Russian-language psychological literature has not presented normative indicators of 7—13 aged children's time ideas development. Objective. To provide a study of actual children's time knowledge on the Russian-speaking 7—13 aged children sample, to present methodological recommendations on diagnosing 7—13 aged children's time knowledge, to actualize age norms of children's time knowledge. Hypothesis. Actualized children time knowledge indicator of modern norm typical schoolchildren differ from normative indicators previously presented in psychological literature. Methods and Materials. A total of 237 students in grades 1—6 of comprehensive schools participated in the study (M = 118 months; SD = 19.5 months; F = 56%). The knowledge time level was measured using the author's Russian-language modification of the time knowledge questionnaire by F. Labrell et al. Diagnostics was carried out individually in the format of a conversation. Results. Methodological recommendations for diagnosing the time knowledge of children aged 7-13 years using a modified two-factor questionnaire of time knowledge are presented; normative indicators for six subtests of the questionnaire in seven age ranges from 7 to 13 years are given. The time knowledge scores of 11—year-old children were lower than those of 10- and 12- to 13—year-old children. These results are discussed in the context of the age crisis experienced in grade 5. Conclusions. The modified Time Knowledge Questionnaire for children aged 7—13 can be used to diagnoze children's time perceptions by practicing psychologists, educators, and researchers.

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