Children’s Selective Learning from Fantasy and Reality Contexts

• In Event: Social Preferences in Childhood

Abstract

Picture books are important educational resources for children to learn new vocabulary, attain knowledge, and develop moral reasoning. However, a growing body of research shows that children do not learn and transfer information to the real world equally from different types of picture books. Rather, children can better learn and transfer information from picture books when the context of the story is proximal to the real world, rather than distant from reality, such as fantasy stories (Richert et al., 2009). Although, other research has identified some contexts in which children learn more effectively from fantastical rather than realistic stories (Richert & Schlesinger, 2017). These findings raise questions as to whether fantastical or realistic stories influence children's learning differently.
To address these questions, this study first aims to examine children’s ability to learn and transfer information from story books to reality based on (a) fantastical vs. realistic stories, and (b) solution-oriented vs. morally-oriented stories. Secondly, this study assesses the effect of pretend play on children’s learning and transfer of information. Pretend play may promote children’s internalization of acquired knowledge and ability to empathize with characters. Thirdly, this study investigates how individual differences in cognitive ability influence children’s ability to transfer information from the stories to the real world. For successful transfer of information, children need to demonstrate cognitive flexibility in order to adapt knowledge from their reading and apply it to new contexts in real life. It is hypothesized that children learn better when they are engaged in reality stories that are solution-oriented. Furthermore, we predict that children who participate in pretend play, are in an older age group, and demonstrate higher levels of cognitive ability are able to learn more effectively.
One hundred and twenty Korean children, either 3-years or 5-years-old, are included in this study (n = 60, each age group). Participants are first divided by age, and then randomly assigned to either a fantasy or reality story context (n = 30, each context group). Participants are subsequently divided to engage in pretend play or a picture matching activity after reading the story (n = 15, each activity group). Both books include identical events; however, the fantasy story involves a magical solution, whereas the reality story uses problem-solving strategies. After listening to the storybooks, the children are asked to solve problems in a real-life setting, which are similar to the problems featured in both stories. Children’s cognitive ability was assessed through a variety of standardized measurements (e.g. Wescheller’s Intelligence Test).
The results show that Children were more likely to transfer problem solutions from the stories in which characters were presented in the real contexts compared to the fantasy contexts, and there is no performance difference between solution-oriented vs. morally-oriented stories. Within the fantasy contexts, children had more difficulty performing when they learned from the contexts with violating real-world physical laws. Regardless of the storybook contexts, children who engaged in pretend play performed better than those who engaged in picture matching games. This study has practical implications for education and clinical work for children’s development.

Authors

• Soo Gyeong Ju, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Douglas A Frye, University of Pennsylvania