Abstract
Interactional quality has been shown to enhance learning during book reading and play, but has not been examined during touch screen use. Learning to apply knowledge from a touch screen is complex for infants because it involves transfer of learning between a two-dimensional (2D) screen and three-dimensional (3D) object in the physical world. This study uses a touch screen procedure to examine interactional quality measured via maternal structuring, diversity of maternal language, and dyadic emotional responsiveness and infant outcomes during a transfer of learning task. Fifty 15-month-old infants and their mothers participated in this semi-naturalistic teaching task. Mothers were given a 3D object, and a static image of the object presented on a touch screen. Mothers had 5 min to teach their infant that a button on the real toy works in the same way as a virtual button on the touch screen (or vice versa). Overall, 64% of infants learned how to make the button work, transferring learning from the touch screen to the 3D object or vice versa. Infants were just as successful in the 3D to 2D transfer direction as they were in the 2D to 3D transfer direction. A cluster analysis based on emotional responsiveness, the proportion of diverse maternal verbal input, and amount of maternal structuring resulted in two levels of interactional quality: high quality and moderate quality. A logistic regression revealed the level of interactional quality predicted infant transfer. Infants were 19 times more likely to succeed and transfer learning between the touch screen and real object if they were in a high interactional quality dyad, even after controlling for infant activity levels. The present findings suggest that interactional quality between mother and infant plays an important role in making touch screens effective teaching tools for infants’ learning.
Highlights
The launch of the iPad in April 2010 was followed by a rapid and unregulated release of more than 80,000 tablet applications or “apps” tagged as educational in the App Store (Apple, 2016)
Preliminary analyses indicated that test condition (2D/3D or 3D demo object/2D test image (3D/2D)), average household media use or infant media use, infant receptive or productive vocabulary (MCDI), parent education, socioeconomic status, or sex of child did not show main effects or enter into any significant interactions
Transfer success did not differ by condition; 64% of infants were successful in the 2D demo image/3D test object (2D/3D) condition and 64% were successful in the 3D/2D condition
Summary
The launch of the iPad in April 2010 was followed by a rapid and unregulated release of more than 80,000 tablet applications or “apps” tagged as educational in the App Store (Apple, 2016). These inexpensive and accessible programs can be downloaded onto touch screen enabled phones and tablets. Teachers, and app developers need more evidence-based information about how to best support children’s learning from touch screen devices (Lerner and Barr, 2014; Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2015; Barr and Linebarger, 2016; Troseth et al, 2016)
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