The Improvement of Thinking Skills in Young Children using Computer Activities: a replication and extension

Abstract

Summary In a replication and extension of a study by Riding & Powell (1985), 60 four‐year‐old nursery class children were given the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and were then randomly divided within sexes into two groups. A treatment group worked through 16 computer presented problem solving activities and where necessary received coaching. A control group did not do the problems, but spent the time on their normal nursery class activities. All the children were then re‐tested on Raven's Matrices. The results showed a significantly greater improvement between the pre‐ and post‐test scores for the treatment group than for the control group: The results were similar to those obtained in the previous study and suggest that a worthwhile improvement in thinking performance in young children can be obtained.