Own-Experience Learning in a Digital Playground: Measuring Children’s Causal Reasoning Using Video Games

EasyChair Preprint 13614

Abstract

The evolution of playgrounds into digital spaces within video games reflects a significant shift in how we can understand the importance of learning through play. However, specific mechanics of learning opportunities in video games, including visual exploration and manipulative investigation, have yet to be fully explored in relation to particular learning outcomes in children. This study examined causal reasoning through own-experience digital play in 4-5 year old children (N=37), and whether time constraints would impact learning. Results showed that children learned causal reasoning through exploration and own-experience in digital play. However, children were unable to transfer learned causal properties to a novel scenario. Moreover, time constraints had no impact on the children’s ability to learn causal properties. Implications from these findings suggest that video games present a valuable and efficient digital playground for explorative learning.

Keyphrases: causal reasoning, children, explorative play, self-experience learning, video games

@booklet{EasyChair:13614,
  author    = {Joshua Juvrud and Dana Glackin and Zoe Kross and Carolyn Stewart},
  title     = {Own-Experience Learning in a Digital Playground: Measuring Children’s Causal Reasoning Using Video Games},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 13614},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}