Measuring with Murray: Touchscreen technology and preschoolers' STEM learning
American students rank well below international peers in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Early exposure to STEM related concepts is critical to later academic achievement. Given the rise of tablet computer use in early childhood education settings, interactive technology might be one particularly fruitful way of supplementing early STEM education. Using a between subjects experimental design, we sought to determine whether preschoolers could learn a fundamental math concept (i.e. measurement with non standard units) from educational technology, and whether interactivity is a crucial component of learning from that technology. Participants who either played an interactive tablet based game or viewed a non interactive video demonstrated greater transfer of knowledge than those assigned to a control condition. Interestingly, interactivity contributed to better performance on near transfer tasks, while participants in the non interactive condition performed better on far transfer tasks. Our findings suggest that, while preschool aged children can learn early STEM skills from educational technology, interactivity may only further support learning in certain contexts.
Comput. Hum. Behav.