Learning From Fantasy and Real Characters in Preschool and Kindergarten

Abstract

Abstract In three experiments, 3½- to 6-year-old children were presented with analogical problems in which the protagonists were either real people or fantasy characters. Children were more likely to transfer solutions from the stories about real people rather than the stories about fantasy characters. These results suggest that the use of a fantasy character might not be an effective strategy for teaching children information that is meant to be applied to the real world. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Angeline Lillard for her feedback and assistance with this project as well as the teachers, parents, and children who participated in this research.