Effect of board games to enhance visuospatial working memory in preschool children in Foundation for Children

Abstract

Background: Working memory impairment is a risk factor predicting learning difficulties in children, particularly, visuospatial working memory was found to be associated with mathematical skills and concentration.
Objective: This study aimed to develop board games to train visuospatial working memory in preschool children to prepare them for school.
Methods: Thirty children aged 4 - 6 years in the Foundation for Children were divided into experimental and control groups (n = 15 per group). A simple random sampling was conducted to assign the children into each group. Corsi block-tapping test was administered to assess visuospatial working memory. The scores were retrieved from block span test (the number of block longest correct sequence); children with scores between 2.63 to 4.63 were in normal range. Within two months, the children in the experimental group obtained 10 – 30 minutes board games training twice a week.
Results: The mean of visuospatial working memory scores after having received board game training to improve visuospatial working memory among the children in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the pre-training scores (P < 0.01) and also higher than in the control group (P < 0.01).
Conclusions: Board games effectively improved visuospatial working memory in preschool children, which would positively influence their learning performance in school.