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Learning from explaining: does it matter if mom is listening?
Bethany Rittle-Johnson1, Megan Saylor, Kathryn E Swygert
1Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. bethany.rittle-johnson@vanderbilt.edu
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|November 21, 2007
Summary
Explaining solutions to others, like moms, significantly boosts learning and problem-solving transfer in young children. Even explaining to oneself aids learning, showing the power of active explanation for cognitive development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Children's learning is often enhanced through active engagement.
- The role of social interaction and explanation in early childhood learning requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if explaining concepts to another person improves learning and problem-solving transfer in young children.
- To compare the effects of explaining to a listener versus explaining to oneself versus simple repetition.
Main Methods:
- Fifty-four 4- and 5-year-old children participated.
- Children solved classification problems and received feedback.
- Intervention groups were prompted to explain solutions to their mothers, to themselves, or to repeat solutions.
Main Results:
- Generating explanations, whether to oneself or a mother, enhanced posttest problem-solving accuracy.
- Explaining solutions to their mothers resulted in the most significant problem-solving transfer.
- Children as young as 5 years benefit from explanation prompts.
Conclusions:
- Explanation prompts are effective tools for facilitating learning and transfer in early childhood.
- Social explanation, specifically explaining to a listener like a mother, yields superior transfer outcomes compared to self-explanation or repetition.
- The social context of explanation plays a crucial role in enhancing children's cognitive abilities.
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