Division of Counseling and Psychology in Education, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA; Center for Brain and Behavior Research, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2021 Mar;203:105041. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105041. Epub 2020 Dec 3.
Story picture books with examples can be used to teach young children science concepts. Learners can abstract relational information by comparing the analogical examples in the books, leading to a more abstract transferrable understanding of the concept. The purpose of this study was to determine whether manipulating the content or arrangement of the examples included in a picture book would support children's generalization and transfer of a relational concept, namely color camouflage. In total, 81 3-year-olds and 80 4-year-olds were read one of four books at two visits spaced approximately 1 week apart. Examples were manipulated in a 2 (Object Similarity: high or low) × 2 (Arrangement: interleaved or blocked) design. At each visit, children were asked forced-choice questions with photographs (generalization) and real animals (transfer) and needed to explain their choices. At the first visit, only 3-year-olds who had been read a book with high object similarity displayed generalization and transfer. After they were read the same book again at the second visit, 3-year-olds in all conditions performed above chance on generalization questions but made more correct selections if they had been read the books with blocked examples. The 4-year-olds showed no book-related differences on forced-choice questions at either visit but gave better explanations at the second visit if they had been read interleaved books. Our study provides evidence that picture books with analogical examples can be used to teach children about science but that different types and arrangements of examples may better support children at different ages and with different amounts of prior experience.
故事绘本可以用来教授幼儿科学概念。学习者可以通过比较书中的类比示例来抽象关系信息，从而对概念有更抽象的可迁移理解。本研究旨在确定操纵绘本中包含的示例的内容或排列是否会支持儿童对关系概念（即颜色伪装）的泛化和迁移。共有 81 名 3 岁儿童和 80 名 4 岁儿童在大约 1 周的间隔内分两次阅读了四本书中的一本。示例以 2（物体相似性：高或低）×2（排列：交错或分组）设计进行操纵。在每次访问中，孩子们都需要根据照片（泛化）和真实动物（迁移）回答选择题，并解释他们的选择。在第一次访问中，只有阅读了高物体相似性书籍的 3 岁儿童表现出泛化和迁移。在第二次访问中再次阅读同一本书后，所有条件下的 3 岁儿童在泛化问题上的表现都超过了机会水平，但如果他们阅读了分组示例的书籍，他们的选择就更正确。4 岁儿童在两次访问中都没有表现出与书籍相关的差异，但如果他们阅读了交错的书籍，他们在第二次访问时会给出更好的解释。我们的研究提供了证据，表明具有类比示例的故事绘本可以用于教授儿童科学知识，但不同类型和排列的示例可能更适合不同年龄和具有不同先前经验的儿童。
