Effects of Microworld Training Experience on Sorting Tasks by Young Children

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Abstract
The effects of microworld microcomputer training on sorting behaviors of 124 two-and three-year-old male and female day care children were studied. Subjects were divided into two age groups (mean ages were 2.5 and 3.0 years) and then into three treatment groups (microworld, real world, and combination) and a control group (no intervention). All treatment groups received one and one-half training hours on an inside/outside a house sorting task using ten familiar, age-appropriate objects. All subjects were pretested and posttested. To assess learning transfer, the posttest included objects on which the children were both trained and untrained. Findings from a 2 × 4 ANCOVA showed a significant age group difference on posttest objects for which children were not trained (p = .0317) and a near significant trend on objects for which the children were trained (p = .0654). Three-year-olds learned better than two-year-olds (p = .0001), with learning increasing over time. One-third of the three-year-olds manipulated the computer and task independently. The abstract microcomputer task was shown to be no more difficult for young children than was the concrete doll house task.