Effects of learning from interaction with physical or mediated devices

Abstract

Online learning tools and course materials have not only taken root: they are fully established and thriving. However, some wonder whether the missing interaction with physical, rather than virtual, tools may be undermining the foundation of more abstract spatial and cognitive skills. Sixty third-grade (28 male and 32 female) children with a mean age of 8.95 years (SD = .56 years) were randomly assigned to practice new math skills on a physical wooden Chinese abacus or a virtual Chinese abacus, programmed using Hypercard. Later; the children did equally well on a paper and pencil recognition test, but the children who had practiced with the virtual Chinese abacus were significantly worse at building on their knowledge to figure out how to use the abacus for more advanced computation than those who had practiced with the wooden Chinese abacus. This could have important implications for the early development of the foundation of mathematical, spatial, and cognitive skills.