ARTICLE Effects of tangrams on learning engagement and achievement: Case of preschool learners Cathy Weng 1 | Sarah Otanga 1 | Apollo Weng 2 | Khanh Nguyen Phuong Tran 1 1 Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan 2 Department of Digital Multimedia Design, China University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Correspondence Sarah Otanga, Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No.43, Keelung Rd, Sec. 4, Da'an District, Taipei City 10607, Taiwan. Email: sarahotanga@gmail.com Funding information The Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Grant/Award Number: MOST 105-2511-S-011-005-MYZ Abstract The purpose of this research was to compare the effectiveness of physical and virtual tangrams on preschool children's learning engagement and achievement. Children lis- tened to an e-storybook narration and solved puzzles individually. The experimental group (N = 31) completed puzzles embedded in the e-storybook using virtual tan- grams, while the control group (N = 30) completed the same puzzles using physical tangrams on outlines drawn on a paper. Results indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher overall engagement than the control group. The experi- mental group had significantly higher learning achievement (time taken to complete outlines) when using virtual tangrams. It is hoped that the study will be beneficial to classrooms concerning how to use tangrams in teaching and learning and to instruc- tional designers on how to design an e-storybook for young readers. KEYWORDS achievement, e-storybook, engagement, preschool, tangram 1 | INTRODUCTION Learning mathematics can be difficult for children as most mathemati- cal concepts could be abstract and not easy to savvy due to the cogni- tive challenge that the subject gives. Thus, most of these young learners get demotivated to learn mathematics, yet engaging this kind of learners is quite a challenge for teachers (Sedighian & Klawe, 1996). This is because to engage the learners, they need to consider the learning of mathematics activities as enjoyable and interesting and thus participate in willingly without any form of coaxing (Marcum, 2000). Engagement is essential in effective learning as it ensures that learners are affectionate and enthused with the learning activity (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). According to Trowler (2010), learner engagement refers to the extent to which learners are occupied and involved in a learning activ- ity that results in a high-quality outcome. That is, the quality of effort learners devote to educational-driven activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes. Willms (2003) defines learner engage- ment as learner's willingness, need, and desire, and compulsion to par- ticipate in, and be successful in the learning process. When learners' are engaged, they show sustained behavioural involvement in all activities to do with learning accompanied by noticeable interest. Thus, engagement is more than involvement or participation as it requires feelings and making sense out of activities (Marcum, 2000). In the study by Skinner and Belmont (1993), the authors ascertain that engaged learners select tasks at the border of their competencies, ini- tiate action when given the opportunity and exert intense effort and concentration in the implementation of learning tasks; they show gen- erally positive emotions during ongoing action, including enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity, and interest. Belenky and Nokes (2009) illustrates that teaching aids such as manipulatives can be used to engage young learners and to motivate their participation in the learning activities as these manipulatives assist learners to relate the abstract concepts being taught to their physical counterparts, which could be quite a challenge (Björklund, 2014). Manipulatives may be physical or virtual objects that are used to engage students in the ‘hands-on’ learning experience to introduce, remediate, or practice a concept, and able to represent abstract ideas concretely. Physical manipulatives are physical objects that can be picked up, turned, rearranged, and collected; for example, tangrams, fraction bars, and geoboards, among others (Perl, 1990). Advancement in technology has led to the development of manipulatives that Received: 1 June 2019 Revised: 19 September 2019 Accepted: 17 November 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jcal.12411 J Comput Assist Learn. 2019;1–11. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcal © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1