Explanation as a guide to learning

Although prior research with adolescents and adults has demonstrated that self-explanation benefits learning (Chi et al., 1994), little is known about the effect of self-explanation on learning in young children (but see Crowley & Siegler, 1999). The objective of the present study is to investigate the relationship between explanation and learning, and most importantly, to measure learning more directly by comparing self-explanation to other potential learning mechanisms such as exploration and attention. Does constructing a causal explanation benefit learning more than exploration or simple observation?