Young children’s representation of replay: Developmental stages and effects of mediated computer environments

This study investigated the development of the ability to recognize, anticipate, and plan the replay of recorded action sequences. A pretest-posttest design with one experimental group and one control group was used; quantitative analyses, including interview assessments and coded observations of children’s work in the context of educational interventions were supplemented by qualitative analyses of this work. Thirty-four children (2 - 5 years of age) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The educational Intervention provided to the experimental group involved a sequence of 20 sessions incorporating a series of three computer environments. A teaching strategy, based on Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) and Sigel’s distancing theory, was used to mediate children’s interaction with these computer environments. Results indicated that while Forman’s hypothesized stages of children’s construction of the ability to cognize replay of their actions did not meet strict criteria for developmental stages, they appeared to constitute stages in a less formal, descriptive, sense. The educational Intervention fostered the development of representational competence, with strong evidence of near transfer but no evidence of far transfer. These results suggest that representational competence is a teachable concept and that a complex mediating structure allows children to reconstruct their previous experiences and apply them to problem situations.