What is a good explanation?

For 4-year-olds and 6-year-olds

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. Your child and the experimenter will be reading a story together and answering questions about new and fun characters from a distant planet! Your child will be helping decide what the characters are doing and generating explanations for their behaviors.

There has been conflicting research regarding the type of explanations as well as how much detail within explanations children prefer and learn from. Here, in this study, we systematically examine the level of detail within different types of explanations that satisfy children's curiosity and aid in their learning. By determining the optimal explanation, we can help parents and educators understand which types of explanations foster better understanding and exploration in young children.

20-30 minutes

$5 Target gift card
To receive compensation, the child needs to be in the age range and the child needs to be visible for the duration of the experiment. Compensation is only given once for each child.