Abstract：
When solving mathematical problems, young children will perform better when they can use gestures that match mental representations. However, despite their increasing prevalence in educational settings, few studies have explored this effect in touchscreen-based interactions. Thus, we investigated the impact on young children\'s performance of dragging (where a continuous gesture is performed that is congruent with the change in number) and tapping (involving a discrete gesture that is incongruent) on a touchscreen device when engaged in a continuous number line estimation task. By examining differences in the set size and position of the number line estimation, we were also able to explore the boundary conditions for the superiority effect of congruent gestures. We used a 2 (Gesture Type: drag or tap) × 2 (Set Size: Set 0-10 or Set 0-20) × 2 (Position: left of midpoint or right of midpoint) mixed design. A total of 70 children aged 5 and 6 years (33 girls) were recruited and randomly assigned to either the Drag or Tap group. We found that the congruent gesture (drag) generally facilitated better performance with the touchscreen but with boundary conditions. When completing difficult estimations (right side in the large set size), the Drag group was more accurate, responded to the stimulus faster, and spent more time manipulating than the Tap group. These findings suggest that when children require explicit scaffolding, congruent touchscreen gestures help to release mental resources for strategic adjustments, decrease the difficulty of numerical estimation, and support constructing mental representations.
摘要：
解决数学问题时，当幼儿可以使用与心理表征相匹配的手势时，他们会表现得更好。然而,尽管它们在教育环境中的患病率越来越高，很少有研究在基于触摸屏的交互中探索这种效果。因此，我们调查了在进行连续数字行估计任务时,在触摸屏设备上拖动(执行与数字变化一致的连续手势)和敲击(涉及不一致的离散手势)对幼儿表现的影响.通过检查数字线估计的设置大小和位置的差异，我们还能够探索相同手势的优势效果的边界条件。我们使用了2（手势类型：拖动或点击）×2（设置大小：设置0-10或设置0-20）×2（位置：中点左侧或中点右侧）混合设计。总共招募了70名5岁和6岁的儿童（33名女孩），并随机分配到Drag或Tap组。我们发现，一致的手势（拖动）通常有助于改善触摸屏的性能，但具有边界条件。完成困难的估计时（大集合大小的右侧），Drag组更准确，对刺激的反应更快，和花费更多的时间操纵比点击组。这些发现表明，当儿童需要明确的脚手架时，一致的触摸屏手势有助于释放心理资源以进行战略调整，降低了数值估计的难度，并支持构建心理表征。
