Educational mathematics applications
One goal of the present study is to determine how successful tablet computers are at directing children’s attention towards intrinsic and germane educational content (cf., extraneous content). In this context, child-tablet interaction is mediated through application use. To assess the role applications have in user engagement, two applications on each of the tablet computers were chosen. The applications in the present study were chosen because (a) in a previous study they were found to be more engaging than applications on competing tablet computers (McEwen & Dubé, 2015) and (b) the applications represented diametrically opposed approaches on how to engage users, simplicity vs. complexity. Simple applications focused on one type of mathematics content, contained one type of learning mechanic, and had relatively plain visuals. Complex applications contained multiple types of mathematics content and learning mechanics and used relatively dynamic visuals (see Table 1).