Validation of the time knowledge questionnaire for children aged 6--13

Abstract

When a child enters school, one is faced with the necessity of managing one’s time in accordance with the demands of society. The school curriculum also requires the development of problem-solving skills that involve the use of temporal knowledge. However, many researchers note that modern children experience significant challenges in mastering the concept of time. Furthermore, even in adolescence, children do not always fully understand or effectively use units of time. This raises the question not only of teaching children about time but also of assessing their existing knowledge in this area to identify potential gaps and to design appropriate corrective and developmental interventions. In the context of our own research, we encountered the need for an instrument that would provide a comprehensive understanding of children’s actual knowledge about time. As such a tool, we utilized the “Questionnaire on Time Knowledge for Children Aged 6–11” developed by F. Labrell and colleagues.

The current article presents the results of the adaptation and modification of the questionnaire, which resulted in a new instrument with a different structure. The study involved both younger school-age children and adolescents aged 11 to 13 years.  The results of scale reliability analysis, cluster and confirmatory factor analyses are presented. The data obtained were compared with previously published findings based on the original version of the questionnaire, which identified correlations between younger schoolchildren’s knowledge of time and the development of their autonomy and the universal learning skill of planning. It is suggested that the modified version of the questionnaire can be used to identify areas where a child’s temporal knowledge is insufficient. Additionally, the questionnaire may be used in research to explore correlations with other indicators of child development.