Effect of instruction medium and modality on learning spatial concepts

Abstract

Children are exposed to screen media at an early age. However, less is known about the relative effect of video instruction on learning as compared to live instruction, particularly in contexts where the instruction is accompanied by gesture. We know from earlier work that children benefit from observing gesture during live instruction—a positive gain that has not been fully examined in video instruction, particularly at the younger ages. In this study, we examined the relative benefits of using video-based instruction, compared to in-person instruction for young children within the domain of spatial language—a domain known to be closely associated with children’s later academic success. We asked whether children would learn as readily from video instruction as they do from in-person instruction, and whether we can improve children’s learning further by instructing them in both gesture and speech than in speech-alone. We predicted that children would show no effect of instruction medium (live, video) but an effect of modality (with gesture, without gesture), with better learning outcomes when instructed with gesture. We tested these predictions by examining the responses of 3- to 5-year-old children to questions about different spatial descriptions—half with gesture and half without gesture—using either a video or a live instruction. Our analysis showed no effect of instructional medium or modality, suggesting that children learn equally well in video and live instruction—whether it is presented with gesture or without gesture. Overall, our findings highlight how screen-based animated programs serve as equally efficient platforms in providing educational content as in-person instruction across modality types to young learners.