Preschoolers Favour Teachable Agent’s Action over Distraction

Abstract: Studies on teachable agents (TA) have repeatedly demonstrated their benefits in primary school pupils’ learning, but no study has yet been devised to investigate whether the same effects can be observed in preschoolers. Preschool age is an important time for development of executive functions (EF) and theory of mind (ToM), and it can be argued that preschoolers might not be able to pay enough attention to a TA due to underdevelopment of these cognitive abilities. In this study, visual distractions in the form of animated objects were incorporated into a mathematics game for preschoolers which utilises a TA. 65 preschoolers participated in the study which investigated whether they were able to ignore these distractions in favour of focusing on the TA’s actions. The results showed a statistically significant difference in preschoolers visual attention to the animations played during the TA’s action to those played after the TA’s action. This result is a crucial step forward in further development of TA-based games for preschoolers.