3-215 - Breaking the Fourth Wall: Do Children Learn from Socially-Relevant Screen Media?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Developmental psychologists know that young children learn better from interactive social experiences than from passive screen-time (Troseth, 2010). Learning from screens is cognitively taxing for children due to the need for development in attention and symbolic processing, as well as the formation of concepts about video from prior experience. However, new digital media other than television present challenges and opportunities for families. As tablets, touch-screens, and video-chat become common, what is needed to promote children’s learning?

Social relevance is a powerful factor that may promote children’s use of information from the screen. Paper 1 shows that guiding visual selective attention to the right information at the right time helps children learn from touch-screens. Paper 2 shows that children’s expectations about video-chat affect learning of information presented on FaceTime. Paper 3 shows that children respond more favorably to a familiar person on video-chat than to a stranger. The discussant will synthesize these papers and pose questions for discussion, drawing from her extensive research on symbolic understanding and social-cognitive development.

The papers in this symposium use different methods (eye-tracking, observational, longitudinal, qualitative), ages (12- to 36-months) and media (touch-screen, video-chat) to show that learning from screens is not automatic or effortless, but it is possible when children experience on-screen people and events as relevant to their own actions and existing social relationships. Research conducted in the U.S. and Australia will help to clarify whether and how digital media can be used effectively to foster young children’s learning and relationships.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Lauren J. Myers, Lafayette College

Discussant

• Georgene Troseth, Vanderbilt Univ, Peabody College

Individual Presentations

• Object Retrieval Using Interactive Video: The Role of Visual Selection in Learning from Screens - Presenting Author: Heather L. Kirkorian, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Koeun Choi, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Elizabeth Schroeder, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Roxanne Ashley Etta, Univ of Wisconsin-Madison

• Great Expectations: Do Children’s Expectations About Video-Chat Affect Their Learning From An On-Screen Partner? - Presenting Author: Lauren J. Myers, Lafayette College; Lauren Steinbeck, La Salle University; Makenzie Danis, Lafayette College; Emily Crawford, Lafayette College; Claire Murphy, Lafayette College

• The Role of Familiarity in Social Interaction via Media - Presenting Author: Joanne Tarasuik, Swinburne University; Anna Toovey, Swinburne University of Technology; Jordy Kaufman, Swinburne University of Technology