In a 12-week kindergarten trial, the benefit of tablet-app handwriting training over paper-and-pencil-only training depended on children's initial handwriting level, as shown by a three-way interaction between condition, initial level and time¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Design limits · Nathalie Bonneton-Botté 2020: groups were assigned but students were analysed as independent (read from the study by two models, 2026-10-29)

Subclaims¶

q2 i? A 2 (teaching program) x 3 (initial level) x 2 (time) ANOVA on paper-and-pencil writing scores revealed a significant three-way interaction between experimental condition, initial level and time, F(1, 231) = 3.95, p = .03, with no main effect of condition. → Nathalie Bonneton-Botté 2020

Evidence¶

Nathalie Bonneton-Botté 2020¶

Nathalie Bonneton-Botté, Sylvain Fleury, Nathalie Girard, Maëlys Le Magadou, Anthony Cherbonnier, Mickaël Renault, Eric Anquetil, Eric Jamet. (2020). Can Tablet Apps Support the Learning of Handwriting? An Investigation of Learning Outcomes in Kindergarten Classroom. Computers and Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103831

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Between-groups quasi-experiment with 233 kindergarteners in 22 classes (tablet group n = 138, traditional n = 95), pre-test–12-week training–post-test. The 2x3x2 ANOVA "failed to reveal a main effect of experimental condition, F(1, 231) = 1.26, p = .261"; the three-way interaction was reported separately as significant, F(1, 231) = 3.95, p = .03. No effect sizes printed.

"This analysis failed to reveal a main effect of experimental condition, F(1, 231) = 1.26, p = .261, but there were significant main effects of time, F(1, 231) = 106.78, p < .001, and initial level, F(1, 231) = 114.14, p = .001."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Writing Skills — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Kindergarteners with a high initial handwriting level showed no learning effect on the transfer task in either the tablet-app or the traditional condition — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Kindergarteners with a low initial handwriting level improved significantly in both conditions, with no detectable advantage of tablet-app training over traditional instruction — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Kindergarteners with a medium initial handwriting level made significantly greater paper-based progress when handwriting training partially used the tablet app than when it was entirely traditional — a narrower finding that bears on this claim