本研究之目的為探討兒童網站之視覺複雜度、美感與學童年齡之間的關係，並以Berlyne的美感理論作為研究之出發點，他的理論說明：美感偏好與複雜程度具有相關性，人們較偏好複雜程中等的刺激物，複雜程度越高或越低，則越不受歡迎。因此，本研究欲探究以三年級和五年級的學童而言，他們看待美感的方式是否有依照Berlyne的美感理論。本研究以2x3獨立樣本作為實驗設計，五十一（22位三年級，29位五年級）位學童參與實驗，以自行設計三個不同視覺複雜程度的兒童網站作為測試樣本，並請學童依其美感偏好做評分。實驗結果顯示不同年齡之學童認為不同視覺複雜程度的網站與整體美感偏好之間並無顯著的差異，但是在不同年齡的學童與不同視覺複雜度之間有交互作用的存在，研究顯示三年級的學童偏好視覺複雜程度低的網站勝於視覺複雜程度中和高的網站。五年級的學童偏好視覺複雜程度高的網站勝於視覺複雜程度中和低的網站。美感偏好中的表現性美感在年齡上也具有顯著性，三年級的學童偏好視覺複雜程度低的網站勝於視覺複雜程度中和高的網站，五年級的學童偏好視覺複雜程度高的網站勝於視覺複雜程度中和低的網站。本研究結果對於網頁設計師在設計兒童網站時可以參考，設計師可透過視覺複雜程度的改變來增強或降低學童使用學習網站時的愉悅程度。

This experiment examined children's preferences with respect to perceived visual complexity of self-designed websites. It applied Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference to these websites: a theory that suggests that individuals prefer stimuli of a medium level to stimuli of a high or low level. The aim of this research was to find out whether third grade and fifth grade aesthetic preferences conform to Berlyne's theory. A 2 x 3 between-subject research design was conducted. In the experiment 51 children (22 third grade, 29 fifth grade) were asked to rate self-designed websites for their aesthetic preferences. The findings showed that there was no significant difference between the visual complexity and aesthetic preference among different age of children, but it showed that there was the interaction between third grade and fifth grade children and different levels of visual complexity. Third grade children preferred websites of a low level of visual complexity to websites of a medium or high level of visual complexity. Fifth grade children preferred websites of a high level of visual complexity to websites of a medium or low level of visual complexity. They also showed that expressive aesthetics judgments were related to age, third grade children gave websites with a low level of visual complexity higher scores than medium and high level of visual complexity. Nevertheless, fifth grade children gave websites with a high level of visual complexity higher scores than medium and low.The findings had implications for web designers working on children's websites as findings suggested that by manipulating visual complexity viewing pleasure can be enhanced or depreciated.