Microworlds, mother teaching behavior and concept formation in the very young child

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Abstract
Forty‐one preschool children, 21 two‐year‐olds and 20 three‐year‐olds, and their mothers were randomly assigned to two treatment groups: A microworld designed to teach the concept on inside/ outside via item sorting on screen and a computer experience designed to drill the alphabet. Daily videotapes of mother/child dyads were coded and scored using a revision of the Wood and Middleton (1975) Assisted Problem Solving Scale (r = .80). A sorting task patterned after the microworld followed treatment. Micro‐world mothers teaching strategies differed significantly from alphabet mothers with software type affecting dyad interaction. A 2x2 ANOVA yielded no significant main effects for group or age on the post‐test. However, the age/group interaction approached significance (p = .053) with three‐year‐olds in the microworld group correctly sorting more objects. A repeated measure mixed model ANOVA revealed a highly significant within‐group effect; three‐year‐olds within the microworld group were significantly more successful in correct item sorting on a daily basis.

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