It doesn’t take a psychologist to tell you child development is slower than most parents would like. But it did take one to find a way to speed things up a bit.
 Want a child genius? Just say no to pop-up books, suggests UVA psych Professor Judy DeLoache. |
In a study appearing in the November issue of “Developmental Psychology,” UVA psychology Professor Judy DeLoache concludes that children whose parents use color-photography picture books to educate them will learn better than those using cartoon imagery or black-and-white drawings. “We asked, ‘Does the nature of the picture make a difference in what toddlers learn?’ DeLoache says of the research. “And the answer is, very clearly, yes.”
The study involved more than 100 boys and girls ages 18- to 30-months-old. Deloache observed half at UVA; the other half were seen by her co-researcher Gabrielle Simcock in Queensland, Australia. In the study, some children were shown color-photo images of a child building a simple rattle and others were shown a series of drawings of the same rattle-building. The result? All age groups, especially the youngest, did better assembling a rattle after seeing the photographs than after seeing the drawings. DeLoache and Simcock surmised that toddlers need the incentive of having the book image clearly reflect the actual object.
“Often the hardest task for a child is learning symbols and relating them to the real world,” DeLoache says. “If you want to teach children the names of things, then picture books with color objects in photo form are best.”
Next for DeLoache are two ongoing studies. The first is research on the child phenomenon of scale errors, in which, for example, children will sit in a child-sized chair or car, have them replaced with tiny toy models, and then try to sit on the toy chair or get into the toy car. The second study is closer to the newly published work: the effectiveness of “manipulative” books (or pop-ups, as most of us would say). So far, DeLoache is discovering that the pop-up books actually distract kids from learning rather than helping them learn. Says DeLoache: “I’m not saying don’t ever use these books, but if you want to teach your child something, don’t use a pop-up book.”
