In modeling digital learning, remember pictorial competence.

Barr and Kirkorian summarize decades of research about young children’s learning and transfer from screen media, offer a new theoretical model of factors involved in early multimedia learning, and suggest a future research agenda to study learning from commercial media products “in the wild” of everyday family life outside the lab. In this commentary, the authors offer background on the development of symbolic understanding and “pictorial competence” for young children’s learning from screen media and attempt to deepen the discussion of cognitive factors and individual differences that affect early learning

Learning from video: A meta-analysis of the video deficit in children ages 0 to 6 years.

Young children often learn less from video than face-to-face presentations. Meta-regression models were used to examine the average size of this difference (video deficit) and investigate moderators. An average deficit of about half of a standard deviation was reported across 122 independent effect sizes from 59 reports, involving children ages 0-6 years. Moderator analyses suggested 1) the deficit decreased with age, 2) object retrieval studies showed larger deficits than other domains, and 3) there was no difference between studies using live versus prerecorded video. Results are consistent with a multiple-mechanism explanation for the deficit. However, the analyses highlighted potential quality and publication bias issues that may have resulted in overestimation of the effect and should be addressed by future researchers

A phenomenological exploration of the role of digital technology and media in children’s subjective well-being

This phenomenological study examined children’s subjective well-being (N = 22) in rural and urban areas of the Midwestern United States, as part of a larger multinational comparative qualitative study of children\u27s well-being. Children (8 to 12 years old) completed an extended, semi-structured qualitative interview and mapping exercise that prompted them to draw and describe the scope, aspects of, and influences on their subjective well-being. Phenomenological analyses of children’s responses were conducted to identify aspects of their contexts, including their use of digital technology and media (DTM), that were linked to children’s subjective well-being. Two main themes emerged; 1) children reported that DTM is not essential to their well-being but 2) DTM is important to their well-being. Six sub-themes emerged under the DTM is important theme. Children reported that DTM is rewarding and valuable to them, and it contributes to their life satisfaction. They also reported that DTM use enhances their connections to others, self-acceptance, autonomy, and competence and skills. Results are discussed in regards to children’s self-identified hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of their well-being, and are placed within a contextual framework of child well-being. Implications, strengths, and weaknesses of the study are discussed

Page and screen: Storybook features that promote parent-child talk during shared reading

The purpose of this study was to systematically vary the medium used for shared reading (digital versus print), the presence of an audio narration feature, and the inclusion of a character offering conversational prompts to identify their impact on parent-child language. In a randomized experimental design, 67 children (2.75-5.10 years old) shared a book with a parent twice. Built-in conversational prompts were effective in increasing the quantity and quality of extratextual language and conversation. There was no evidence that the book being digital in format nor having automatically-playing narration decreased language or conversation quality compared to reading the print version. Based on this study, it appears that carefully designed digital books, including those with narration, provide similar opportunities for engaging in high-quality shared reading as print books. Parents may wish to select digital books with built-in prompts to provide even greater opportunities and support for rich conversation

It’s fun!” Using students’ voices to understand the impact of school digital technology integration on their well-being

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand children’s perception of their school-based educational technology use and its role in their well-being. Children (N = 23) from the Midwestern U.S. completed an interview and mapping exercise focused on the contexts and factors that impact their well-being, including schools and teachers. Phenomenological analyses of interview transcripts focused on children’s perceptions of 1) school educational technology use, and 2) the impact of school educational technology use on their well-being. Children described a variety of school educational technology experiences, which they perceived as having both positive and negative effects on their well-being. Findings are discussed in the context of the historical challenges to school educational technology integration and children’s well-being

An Enhanced eBook Facilitates Parent-Child Talk During Shared Reading by Families of Low Socioeconomic Status

Language input plays a key role in children’s language development, but children from families of low socioeconomic status often get much less input compared to more advantaged peers. In “dialogic reading” (Whitehurst et al., 1988), parents are trained to ask children open-ended questions while reading, which effectively builds expressive vocabulary in at-risk children. In the research reported here, a dialogic questioning character in a narrated eBook provided effortless support for parents to ask questions while reading. Parents of lower socioeconomic status talked more than three times as much with their children using significantly more utterances and unique words when using the eBook with questioner, compared to parents using the unmodified eBook. Children also talked much more, with more varied language, in this condition. By the end of the session, parents took over asking their own unprompted questions and engaged in more conversational turns with their children. This intervention has promise to increase parent-child conversation to help bridge the word gap

School climate, emotions, and relationships : children’s experiences of well-being in the Midwestern U.S.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore children’s perceptions of school relationships, and the ways in which those relationships supported or undermined children’s emotional well-being (EWB). This sub-study of a multinational comparative investigation of children’s well-being followed a semi-structured qualitative interview protocol. Rural and urban children (age 8 to 13, N = 23) from the Midwestern U.S. completed the interview and mapping exercise used to explore aspects of and influences on their subjective well-being (including school). Phenomenological analyses of interview transcripts focused on 1) the essence of children’s EWB (including emotional valence and arousal) within the context of school relationships and 2) children’s perception of the impact of school relationships on their EWB. A seasonal metaphor captured the essence of children’s experiences of EWB, which naturally clustered into four themes based on emotional intensity and valance: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Children’s emotional experiences with teachers and peers were similarly represented in the themes, with the exception of winter emotions, which diverged. Children expressed complex, multilayered emotions within the school setting that were connected to the quality of school relationships. Findings are discussed in the context of improving school relationships and climate to support children’s EWB.peer-reviewe

Let’s Chat: On-Screen Social Responsiveness Is Not Sufficient to Support Toddlers’ Word Learning From Video

Joint engagement with a speaker is one cue children may use to establish that an interaction is relevant to them and worthy of attention. People on pre-recorded video cannot engage contingently with a viewer in shared experiences, possibly leading to deficits in learning from video relative to learning from responsive face-to-face encounters. One hundred and seventy-six toddlers (24 and 30 months old) were offered referential social cues disambiguating a novel word’s meaning in one of four conditions: responsive live (a speaker was present and engaged with children); unresponsive video (a speaker on video looked at the camera and smiled at scripted times); unresponsive live (although present, the speaker behaved as she did on the unresponsive video), and responsive video (a speaker on closed-circuit video engaged with children, as in video chat). Children of both ages reliably learned the word in the responsive live condition, and older children (30 months) learned in the unresponsive live condition. Neither group learned in the responsive or unresponsive video conditions. The results show that the addition of communicative social cues to the video presentation via video chat was not sufficient to support learning in this case. Rather, toddlers’ transfer and generalization of words presented on video chat may depend on other contextual factors, such as co-viewers who scaffold their learning. Live, responsive video as implemented in this and prior studies is compared, with implications for the use of video chat via the Internet with young children

Do very young children learn from video?

This paper summarizes research on infants' early behavior toward televised images, and explores a "video deficit" in toddlers' learning from video. A shift in recognizing video images as representations allows older children to learn educational content from television programs and to distinguish realistic programming (e.g., the news) from fantasy (e.g., cartoons and dramas)