A US study of transfer of learning from video to books in Toddlers

Abstract

Few empirical studies of word learning from video during toddlerhood have been conducted. Children aged 18 to 33 months viewed a 10-minute commercially available video about different shapes daily for 15 days. The experimental group video included the novel word and shape crescent; the control group video did not. The experimental group was significantly more likely to correctly point to the crescent shape at test than children in the control group. Groups did not differ on four other high frequency shapes (square, circle, rectangle, triangle) that were included in both videos. Results indicated that toddlers were able to learn a novel word from video and apply that information in a different context. Results are discussed in the terms of the cognitive challenge of transfer of information across context and the ecological validity of ongoing research on young children's ability to learn from video.