The effectiveness of a tablet-based video game that stimulates cognitive, emotional, and social skills in developing academic skills among preschoolers: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Evidence suggests that children from low-income families begin the preschool stage with less academic and non-academic skills development compared to higher-income families. There are several successful experiences of early stimulation of cognitive and social-emotional skills; however, th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current controlled trials in cardiovascular medicine 2022-11, Vol.23 (1), p.936-936, Article 936
Main Authors: Rojas-Barahona, Cristian A, Gaete, Jorge, Véliz, Mauricio, Castillo, Ramón D, Ramírez, Saray, Araya, Ricardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic skills
Behavior
Clinical trials
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive skills
Computer & video games
Cost benefit analysis
Early literacy
Emotional skills
Emotions
Evaluation
Executive function
Gender
Health aspects
Interactive computer systems
Intervention
Literacy programs
Management
Memory
Mental health
Methods
Preschool children
Preschool education
Preschools
R&D
Randomized controlled trial
Research & development
Research centers
Science
Social aspects
Social skills
Study Protocol
Tablet play
Video games
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Summary:Background Evidence suggests that children from low-income families begin the preschool stage with less academic and non-academic skills development compared to higher-income families. There are several successful experiences of early stimulation of cognitive and social-emotional skills; however, there is scarce evidence of the effectiveness of a video game that incorporates the stimulation of these skills simultaneously. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a video game in stimulating cognitive, emotional, and social competence skills in developing academic skills in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschool children. Methods A cluster-randomized controlled trial design will be used. A tablet-based video game that stimulates cognitive and socio-emotional skills to improve the development of academic skills is compared with a tablet-based game where students draw and paint with no explicit stimulation of cognitive and socio-emotional skills. Eighteen schools and 750 Chilean preschool students will be recruited. The effectiveness of the intervention will be assessed using a direct evaluation of children on literacy learning and pre-calculation skills at baseline, immediately after stimulation, and at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months post-intervention. The mediating effect of working memory, inhibitory control, emotion recognition, and prosocial behaviours will be assessed on the effectiveness of the intervention. Discussion The proposed study will be the first to test the effectiveness of a tablet-based video game stimulating cognitive and social-emotional skills to improve academic skills in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschool children in Chile, controlling for gender, age (in months), mental health, and baseline conditions of stimulated skills. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05224700. Registered on February 2022 Keywords: Cognitive skills, Emotional skills, Academic skills, Tablet play, Preschools, Randomized controlled trial
ISSN:1745-6215
1745-6215
DOI:10.1186/s13063-022-06875-9