Development of Mathematical Skills Like a Support to Executive Functions in Mexican Students and the Psycho-pedagogical Benefits

Abstract

The development of our skills in any area is important to overcome difficulties and to grow both personally and professionally. The executive functions are the main tools of an individual to achieve goals or for adaptation to several contexts of development, particularly in education. Mexican education is not at its best, evaluation programs such as the National Assessment of Academic Achievement in Schools (ENLACE), Quality Exams and Educational Achievement (EXCALE) and PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) proves that Mexican infants have a deficit in the learning of basic skills such as mathematics and reading comprehension. Theoretically, the Mexican education is focused on the development of the executive functions, but in practice the educational models implemented does not have an effective strategy. The Mathematical Center Campeche is aware of the situation and proposes as a first step the development of basic mathematical skills at a level before the executive functions. We developed educational material to support children to suppress inappropriate responses that interfere with the achievement of a goal (inhibitory control) and respond to several tasks simultaneously or plenty objectives of a single task (divided attention). This activity was carried using slideshows and working in sessions between 10 and 15 minutes long. The present paper shows our proposal to improve mathematical skills and their results like the remarkable improvement that learners and teachers had while the investigation was taking place, not only on the activity but on the development of different behaviors.

Keywords: divided attention, executive functions, mathematical skills, response inhibition