When Preschoolers Use Tablets: The Effect of Educational Serious Games on Children’s Attention Development

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of an educational tablet app based on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences with game mechanics and multiple-media features on young children’s attention. Participants (N = 128) aged between 3 and 4 years from a preschool in a northeastern city of China were divided into the experimental and the control groups based on their gender and age. The experimental group underwent training in using the app twice a week for 12 weeks, while the control group followed regular activities. Gaze duration (which indicates sustained attention) and first fixation latency (which reveals attention orientation speed) were analyzed before and after the training. Although Children’s fixation latency was not associated with the intervention, compared to the control group, the experimental group showed significant improvement in gaze duration, suggesting a better-sustained attention development. The result reinforces the previous findings that educational digital game apps could promote young children’s attention development.