The Effects of Interactive Screen Media and Desirable Difficulty on Word Learning in Young Children

Screen media usage has greatly increased in recent years, even for children. Screen media can be very useful, and has been shown to be an effective tool for learning in children older than two years of age (Kirkorian, Wartella, & Anderson, 2008). However, children under the age of two experience what is called the video deficit effect; that is, they do not learn from screen media (Linebarger & Vaala, 2010). The majority of past research looking at the video deficit effect has focused on viewing videos as screen media. Yet, as technologies have advanced more and more children have gained access to increased amounts of interactive screen media. This study aims to look at learning with interactive screen media through a word-learning iPad application. The application utilizes the idea of desirable difficulty, the theory that there is a certain level of difficulty at which learning is enhanced, to maximize word learning by examining the role of semantic similarity and previous knowledge when selecting words for learning by the application. This study finds that the video deficit holds true even for interactive screen media. Furthermore, desirable difficulty design within the application does not impact performance on testing. These results indicate that a word-learning application, even an interactive one, may not be the best platform for increasing young children’s vocabularies. EFFECT OF INTERACTIVE SCREEN MEDIA AND DESIRABLE DIFFICULTY 3 The Effects of Interactive Screen Media and Desirable Difficulty on Word Learning in Young Children The use of mobile devices is rapidly becoming ubiquitous as these technologies advance. This is especially true for usage among children. In a recent review by Common Sense Media (Fall 2013), it was found that 72% of children aged 0-8 had ever used a mobile device for some type of media activity, up from 38% in 2011. This increase is seen in even the youngest children as it was found that 38% of children under the age of two had ever used a smartphone, tablet, or similar device for playing games, watching videos, or engaging in related activities. This is up from 10% in 2011. Because there has been such a dramatic increase in screen media usage for children, it is important to understand how media usage affects learning.