How can we use animations to help preschoolers to obtain more efficient distribution strategies?

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influences of animations on the performances of preschoolers' distribution strategies. In Experiment 1, 96 preschoolers were given a certain number of chips and were asked to equally distribute them. Between the two sessions of their distribution tasks, the participants viewed a set of animations. Half of the participants viewed the animations that illustrated an efficient strategy, whereas the rest of the participants viewed the irrelevant animations. The results showed that older children performed better regardless of what kind of animations they viewed. In Experiment 2, another group heard the verbal description during the viewing animation period. The results of this experiment showed that the efficient strategy was used by the participants more often than when there were no verbal descriptions. It was suggested that animations might influence the performances only when children could identify the elements and understand the relationships between their required tasks and what would happen in the animations. © 2006 Japanese Psychological Association.