Manipulating objects during learning improves comprehension, and virtual manipulation can be as effective as physical manipulation¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Children's manipulation of toy objects as directed by a narrative improved story recall, understanding of spatial relationships, and inference drawing compared with reading alone. → Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers 2011 q2 i? Children learned and transferred a control-of-variables strategy equally well whether they manipulated a physical apparatus or virtual objects on a computer screen. → Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers 2011¶

Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers. (2011). Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: an Embodied Perspective. Educ Psychol Rev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9173-8

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports Glenberg et al.'s experiment in which young children read a farm-scenario text and manipulated real toys to portray the passage's actions, improving recall, spatial understanding, and inferences versus reading alone; imagined manipulation showed similar findings after training. No effect size is printed.

"Compared to reading alone (i.e., no toy manipulation), children 's manipulation of toy objects as directed by a narrative improved their story recall, understanding of the spatial relationships, and these children were better at drawing inferences from the story."

Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers 2011 (2)¶

Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers. (2011). Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: an Embodied Perspective. Educ Psychol Rev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9173-8

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports Triona and Klahr's study comparing physical versus virtual manipulation with a computer interface mimicking the physical materials and the same instructional script; learning and transfer were equal across conditions. The review concludes physical manipulation is not always necessary; no effect size is printed.

"Triona and Klahr showed that children learned this control of variables strategy and transferred this skill to a new domain equally well whether they manipulated a physical apparatus to construct experiments or whether they manipulated virtual object on a computer screen."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Physical Experience Enhances Science Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• Manipulatives Improve Math Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• Virtual objects in shared VR environments can serve as effective media for collaborative knowledge building among in-service teachers manipulating geometric shapes — related
• Multi-modal representations created during collaboration act as metaphors that shape joint reasoning and meaning making — related
• Physically or imaginatively manipulating objects during reading improves children's reading comprehension — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)