Teaching nutrition to preschool students using the temporal contiguity principle

Multimedia learning has become increasingly popular as it proceeds to understand how different senses such as the visual and auditory systems work together to present information. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of temporal contiguity, a principle of multimedia learning, while displaying images and narration of fruits and vegetables to increase memorization of content. 21 preschool students between the ages of 4 and 5 from Arizona State University’s Child Study Lab were recruited for the purpose of the study. Students received one of two versions of a short video while inside the classroom. The two videos displayed information either at the same time or successively. Children’s knowledge was assessed with a drag and drop categorization game. The findings show there were no significant differences between the two conditions. Future studies should consider a longer training period when developing multimedia learning technology to ensure content is retained.