摘要：This study investigated the effect of young children`s interaction with a teacher and computer environments on their development of representational competence cf replay,the children`s ability to construct and reconstruct actions. A pretest-posttest design with one experimental group and one control group was used;quantitative analyses,including interview assessments and coded observations of children`s work in the context of educational interventions were supplemented by qualitative analyses of this work. Thirty-nine children (2-5 years of age) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The educational intervention provided to the experimental group involved a sequence of twenty sessions incorporating a series of three computer environments. A teaching strategy,based on Vygotsky`s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Sigel`s distancing theory,was used to mediate children`s interaction with these computer environments. Results indicated that children`s representational competence kept developing and reached a higher stage and the educational intervention fostered the development of representational competence,with strong evidence of near transfer but no evidence of far transfer. These results suggest that representational competence is a teachable concept and that a complex mediating structure allows children to reconstruct their previous experiences and apply them to problem situations.
