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Little scientists: Children prefer storybooks that explain why and how things happen:

Children have an insatiable appetite to understand why things are the way they are, leading to their apt description as "little scientists." While researchers have been aware of children's interest in causal information, they didn't know whether it influenced children's preferences during real-world activities, such as reading.

A new study in Frontiers in Psychology finds that children prefer storybooks containing more causal information. The results could help parents and teachers to choose the most engaging books to increase children's interest in reading, which is important in improving early literacy and language skills.

Children have a burning urge to understand the mechanics of the world around them, and frequently bombard parents and teachers with questions about how and why things work the way they do (sometimes with embarrassing consequences). Researchers have been aware of children's appetite for causal information for some time. However, no one had previously linked this phenomenon to real-world activities such as reading or learning.

"There has been a lot of research on children's interest in causality, but these studies almost always take place in a research lab using highly contrived procedures and activities," explains Margaret Shavlik of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee.

"We wanted to explore how this early interest in causal information might affect everyday activities with young children -- such as joint book reading."

[...] The study gives the first indicator that causality could be a key to engaging young minds during routine learning activities. Future studies could investigate if causally-rich content can enhance specific learning outcomes, including literacy, language skills and beyond. After all, learning should be about understanding the world around us, not just memorizing information.

Journal Reference:

Margaret Shavlik, Jessie Raye Bauer, Amy E. Booth. Children’s Preference for Causal Information in Storybooks. Frontiers in Psychology, 2020; 11 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00666

Original Submission