Watching versus touching: The effectiveness of a touchscreen app to teach children to tell time

We examined the effectiveness of touchscreen media for teaching children to tell time from a clock. Experiment 1 was conducted with 123 preschoolers (M = 70.15 months, SD = 4.41) using two learning media: touchscreen and video, and three test media: iPad, toy, and paper, with between-subjects pre-and post-test design. After 10 min of exposure to the touchscreen or video learning media designed to teach children how to tell time, groups of children were tested with an iPad, a toy clock, or a clock printed on paper, respectively. Results showed that post-test scores across all groups were significantly higher than those at pre-test, for both learning media. Children in touchscreen-learning groups had a greater improvement from pre-test to post-test scores compared with video-learning groups. Moreover, children in iPad and toy test groups, had a greater improvement from pre-test to post-test scores than those in paper-test groups. Experiment 2 aimed to explore whether embodied cognition or the gesture as cues promoted children's learning and was conducted with 79 preschoolers (M = 70.92 months, SD = 4.80) using three learning media: touchscreen, gesture-watching, and nongesture-watching. Results showed that learning performance of the touchscreen group and gesture-watching group was better than that of the nongesture-watching group. Findings suggest that both the touchscreen and gesturewatching learning tools can improve young children's learning; children were able to transfer what they had learned on an iPad touchscreen to other media. Thus, it appears that gesture is a key factor in touchscreen learning.

Automated summary

The study found that touchscreen media is effective in teaching children to tell time from a clock, with better results compared to video media. Additionally, cues provided by gestures also contribute to promoting children's learning outcomes.