Reexamining models of early learning in the digital age: Applications for learning in the wild.

Abstract

Young children are growing up in an increasingly complicated digital world. Laboratory-based research shows that it is cognitively demanding to process and transfer information presented on screens during early childhood. Multiple explanations for this cognitive challenge have been proposed. This review provides an updated comprehensive framework that integrates prior theoretical explanations to develop new testable hypotheses. The review also considers how the research can be generalized to the "wild" where children engage with multiple commercial products daily. It includes real-world applications for improving children's learning and memory from screen-based media by adding supportive cues and reducing distraction and interference. The review concludes with a call for future collaborative research between researchers, content developers, and families to better understand age-related changes in both short-term and long-term learning from digital media. Finally, policy makers need to be involved to ensure equitable access and to create a safe digital space for all families.

Improving learning from screens for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Barr and Kirkorian (2023) describe difficulties that toddlers and some preschoolers have with learning from screens, such as not being able to replicate a video demonstration with real objects. In this essay, I examine eight evidence-based principles for designing multimedia lessons based on 40 years of research with adults and adolescents that could be adapted and tested for improving onscreen learning by toddlers and preschoolers (Mayer, 2021).

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“…Transfer deficits highlight the challenge of how to design screen-based learning experiences for young children that are educationally effective. Barr and Kirkorian (2023) present a thoughtful, evidence-based discussion of this problem and offer a useful theoretical framework. They focus on how to help toddlers and preschoolers learn from onscreen instructional messages such as video demonstrations and eBooks.…”

“…Techniques for Guiding Attention Barr and Kirkorian (2023) note that watching an instructional video on a tablet can be distracting for young learners, so they may need help in guiding their attention. In the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, we offer the signaling principle, which states that people learn better from multimedia lessons when the important material is highlighted (Mayer, 2021;van Gog, 2022).…”

“…For example, the coherence principle suggests that video presentations should be as simple as possible, restricted to the key objects and actions. Signaling and coherence may be particularly helpful techniques in light of Barr and Kirkorian's (2023) suggestion that young children may experience impoverished perception of elements presented on two-dimensional screens.…”

“…Techniques for Managing Cognitive Load Barr and Kirkorian (2023) argue that cognitive load can protract the transfer deficit, such that it is worse when the tasks are more difficult and therefore more likely to overload the learner's processing capacity. This issue of lessons that create cognitive overload is addressed in the cognitive theory of multimedia learning by suggesting evidence-based techniques for managing cognitive load, such as the segmenting principle and the pretraining principle (Mayer, 2021;Mayer & Fiorella, 2022).…”