Dragging but not tapping promotes preschoolers' numerical estimating with touchscreens

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Technology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Young children's mathematical performance is linked to gesture use matching mental representations.
• Touchscreen-based interactions are increasingly common in education, but their impact on gesture-math performance is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of congruent (dragging) versus incongruent (tapping) gestures on touchscreen devices for children's number line estimation.
• To explore boundary conditions for the superiority of congruent gestures based on set size and number line position.

Main Methods:

• A 2x2x2 mixed design study with 70 children (5-6 years old) comparing drag vs. tap gestures, set sizes (0-10 vs. 0-20), and number line positions (left vs. right of midpoint).
• Children were randomly assigned to either the Drag or Tap group.

Main Results:

• The congruent drag gesture generally improved touchscreen performance, with specific boundary conditions.
• The Drag group showed greater accuracy, faster response times, and more manipulation time for difficult estimations (right side, large set size).

Conclusions:

• Congruent touchscreen gestures, particularly dragging, can scaffold young children's numerical estimation by freeing mental resources for strategic adjustments.
• These gestures decrease task difficulty and support the construction of mental representations in mathematical problem-solving.