Giving Compass' Take:

• Researchers report that learning from digital storybooks helps children develop better comprehension skills and can lead to other learning benefits.

• How can philanthropists support more research on children's learning development as more technology permeates the education space?

• Learn more about the impact of technology on children.

“Digital platforms have exploded in popularity, and a huge proportion of the top-selling apps are educational interfaces for children,” says senior author Erik Thiessen, associate professor of psychology at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.

“Many digital interfaces are poorly suited to children’s learning capacities, but if we can make them better, children can learn better,” Thiessen says.

Shared book reading is a quiet moment that provides a child with the fundamental foundation for developing reading and language skills. The rise of digital platforms, like electronic books, computers, smartphones, and tablets, have raised concerns that children may be missing out on this key learning experience.

“Children learn best when they are more involved in the learning process,” Thiessen says. “It is really important for children to shape their environment through their behavior to help them learn.”

The researchers constructed the study in three parts that build on previous results. In the first experiment, an adult read to the child from either a traditional hardboard book or a digital book. In the digital platform, the pertinent noun/verb and a relevant image are animated upon the child’s first vocalization. They found the recall improved using the digital platform compared to the traditional book (60.20% to 47.35%, respectively).

“This kind of contingent responsiveness from our digital book (or from a parent or teacher) is rewarding. And reward has lots of positive effects on learning. As we get reinforcement, the brain releases dopamine that can serve as a signal for learning at the synaptic level,” Thiessen says.

“At the cognitive level, reward promotes maintenance of attention to help the child focus on what is important, which could be especially important for children who have less well developed attentional control.”

Read the full article about digital learning by Stacy Kish at Futurity.