Is Book Reading Always Best? Children can Learn Complex Scientific Explanations from Books or Animations

• In Event: Learning by Reading: Fostering Children’s Science Learning Through Storybooks

Abstract

Storybooks are an effective tool for teaching complex scientific mechanisms to young children when presented in child-friendly, joint-attentional contexts like read-aloud sessions (e.g., Kelemen et al., 2014; Shtulman, et al., 2016). However, children today are often more familiar with screen-based media than books (Rideout, 2017). This study therefore examined children’s ability to learn the counterintuitive concept of speciation by natural selection from a read-aloud of a traditional print storybook versus a narrated, animated screen-based version. Both narratives explained—in counter-essentialist and non-teleological terms—how a sub-population of mammals became geographically isolated on an island and how, over many generations, the differential reproductive success of individuals with traits that were advantageous for aquatic foraging resulted in a new, distinctive aquatic species. The animation and storybook used the same text and illustrations, but while the animation lacked joint-attentional context, it allowed for a more dynamic depiction of successive reproductive generations than the static book.

Second grade children (N=33) participated in the multi-day intervention. Half the children participated in one-on-one adult-led storybook readings and the other half watched the animations. Children completed five parallel assessment interviews over three days. These probed children’s abilities to comprehend speciation and generalize it to novel scenarios immediately and after 3 months (see Table 1). Responses were coded into five levels of increasing speciation understanding (see Figure 1). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ordinal logistic regression with Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons.

Results revealed substantial learning from the static storybook, Wald χ2(4) = 25.57, p < 0.001. Understanding greatly improved from pretest to immediate generalization, p < .001. Even after three months, many children showed improved understanding on the novel animal scenario, p < .001, and a nonsignificant improvement on the familiar animal scenario, p = .059. There was also substantial learning in the animation condition, Wald χ2(4) = 22.86, p < .001. Understanding greatly improved from pretest to immediate generalization, p < .001. Three months later, children showed improved understanding on the novel animal scenario p < .001, and familiar animal scenario, p = .001. Figure 1 and comparison of odds ratios (OR) indicate that, relative to the storybook condition, children in the animation condition improved more from pretest to the immediate generalization test (Storybook OR = 22.76, Animation OR = 223.15), the delayed novel animal test (Storybook OR = 24.77, Animation OR = 86.76), and the delayed familiar animal test (Storybook OR = 5.50, Animation OR = 37.13).

These results suggest that second graders can learn the counterintuitive mechanism of speciation whether it is presented via a joint-attentional read-aloud of a static storybook or via the non-joint-attentional, but more visually-dynamic, medium of animation. Notably, the animation actually led to somewhat greater learning on all three generalization tests. Additional study findings (that we will discuss) revealed no marked benefit to a storybook over an animation for children’s learning of smaller-scale evolutionary processes (i.e., adaptation by natural selection). Together, these results provide much-needed optimism in a context of increasing demands for scalable solutions for effective remote learning.

Authors

• Sarah A Brown, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Samuel Ronfard, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erin Doncaster, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma Pitt, Northeastern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angela Li, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Deb Kelemen, Boston University
  Presenting Author