Children's Mathematical Learning from Male and Female Intelligent Characters

Abstract

Two studies utilized data from an experiment that examined how preschool-aged children’s (N = 90; 49 girls, 41 boys; Mage = 4.42 years) parasocial interactions (e.g., talking about math) with a same-or opposite-sex unfamiliar intelligent character, and children’s gender-stereotyped toy preferences, impacted their performance on add-1 math problems. A survey of a sub-sample of these children (N = 57; 32 girls, 25 boys; Mage = 4.42) and their mothers also examined the extent to which children’s favorite characters were rated as gender-typed. Children who engaged in more math talk, particularly with an unknown same-sex intelligent character, demonstrated better performance on the math task in the virtual game and in a transfer task with physical objects. Children also reported liking unknown media characters more if the character matched their sex and chose favorite characters who were rated as gender-typed in sex, appearance, and personality traits. The results suggest that children who engage in contingent interactions about math with intelligent characters and who share a salient aspect of identity with children, in this case sex, can facilitate children’s learning of foundational math skills.