Does educational television help or harm the cognitive development of children

1
Does educational television help or harm the
cognitive development of children?

• Brandy Skarupa
• Sarah Lamb
• Odette Haight

2
6 months 2 years
Development Stage
3
6 months-2 years

• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued
  new guidelines for parents in 1999 recommending
  that children under the age of 2 should not watch
  TV.

4
6 months-2 years

• The purpose for such a recommendation, according
  to Toddlers Today, is to get parents to spend
  more time interacting with their babies and less
  time using TV as a babysitter.

5
6 months-2 years

• Shows targeted for children under 2
• Baby Einstein
• Brainy Baby
• According to a producer, this show Helps
  stimulate intellectual development in young
  children.
• Sesame Beginnings

6
6 months-2 years

• A 2004 study published in the journal of
  Pediatrics reported that each 2.9 hours of TV
  viewed by one year old children increased the
  likelihood of attention-deficit disorders by
  28.
• (The Oregonian)
• Anderson and Pempek suggest that children
  younger than age 2 have difficulty comprehending
  television content, which may result in little
  learning from television before
• age 2. (American Behavioral Scientist)

7
6 months-2 years

• Poussaint, a Harvard professor of psychiatry,
  insists that TV can interfere with sleep
  patterns and stifle creative play.(Boston
  Magazine)
• According to Dr. Miriam Bar-On, Most PBS
  programs are very good, just not for kids under
  2.

8
6 months-2 years

• 74 of children younger than 2 have watched TV
• 26 of toddlers have a TV in their bedroom
• 45 of parents use TV to occupy children while
  busy
• 43 of parents favorable towards TV say it helps
  with learning
• 21 of parents say TV doesnt have much affect on
  learning
• 27 of parents said TV was harmful to learning
• (Washington Times)

9
2 years 4 years
Development Stage
10
2 years-4 years

• In an experiment done at Vanderbilt University it
  was determined that children learn better from
  direct communication than video.

11
2 years-4 years

• A second experiment done at Vanderbilt University
  shows that children learn more and are more
  attentive to an interactive video conversation
  than a non-interactive video conversation.

12
2 years-4 years

• Educational shows, such as Blues Clues and
  Sesame Street are designed for older children
  who have already mastered the basics of language.
• children younger than 2 typically do not benefit
  from these shows

13
Language

• Dr. Deborah Linebarger, University of
  Pennsylvania, researched the potential language
  benefits of children's TV programs for infants
  and toddlers
• followed babies from 6 months to 30 months of
  age, meeting with them, their caregivers and
  their families every 3 months

14
Positive Effects on Language

• Watching Arthur and Friends, Clifford the Big
  Red Dog, Dora the Explorer, or Blues Clues was
  positively related to both vocabulary size and
  expressive language use(i.e. single/multiple word
  utterances).
• Watching Dragon Tales was positively related to
  expressive language use and unrelated to
  vocabulary size.
• Watching Barney and Friends was positively
  related to expressive language use and negatively
  related to vocabulary size.
• (LITERACY Today)

15
Positive Effects on Language

• Viewers of Dragon Tales had 1.07 more words in
  their vocabulary at 30 months than non-viewers
• Viewers of Arthur and Clifford had 1.10 more
  words in their vocabulary at 30 months than
  non-viewers
• Viewers of Blues Clues and Dora the Explorer had
  1.78 more words in their vocabulary at 30 months
  than non-viewers

16
Negative Effects on Language

• Watching Sesame Street was negatively related to
  expressive language use and unrelated to
  vocabulary size.
• Watching Teletubbies was negatively related to
  both vocabulary size and expressive language
  use.
• (LITERACY Today)

17
Negative Effects on Language

• Viewers of Barney and Friends had 11.68 fewer
  words in their vocabulary at 30 months than
  non-viewers
• Viewers of Teletubbies had 10.18 fewer words in
  their vocabulary at 30 months than non-viewers
• Viewers of Sesame Street had 1.49 fewer words in
  their vocabulary than non-viewers

18
Educational Television

• GOOD
• Blues Clues
• problem solving through play and direct
  interaction
• preschoolers pause
• mix of live action and cartoon
• repetition
• familiarity

• BAD
• Teletubbies
• depicts an unreal world
• uses baby talk which undermines language
  development
• program contains no real language at all
• too much play and dancing around doing
  meaningless things

19
Conclusions

• Age appropriateness, content, and time restraints
  are key factors in learning from television
• When paired with direct interaction from another
  human being and physical interaction from a
  healthy environment, TV can be a source of
  education

20
References

• Book(s)
• Buckingham, D. (2002). Small Screens Television
  for Children. London and New     York Leicester
  University Press.
• Journals
• Linebarger, D. L., Dr. (2004, September). Young
  children, language and     televison. Literacy
  Today, 20-21.
• Linebarger, D. L., Dr., Walker, D. (2005,
  January). Infants' and Toddlers'     Television
  Viewing and Language Outcomes. American
  Behavioral Scientist,     48(5), 624-645.
  Abstract retrieved October 14, 2006, from
  Ebsco     database.
• Rideout, V. J., Vandewater, E. A., Wartella,
  E. A. (2003). Zero to Six     Electronic Media
  in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and
  Preschoolers.     Henry J. Kaiser Family
  Foundation, 39. Retrieved October 11, 2006,
  from     ERIC database http//www.kff.org/entmed
  ia/loader.cfm?url/commonspot/     security/
• Troseth, G. L., Saylor, M. M., Archer, A. H.
  (2006, May/June). Young     Children's Use of
  Video as a Source of Socially Relevant
  Information.     Child Development, 77(3),
  786-799. Retrieved October 11, 2006, from
  ERIC     database.
• Wartella, E. A., Vandewater, E. A., Rideout,
  V. J. (2005, January). Electronic     Media Use
  in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, and
  Preschoolers. American     Behavioral Scientist,
  48(5), 501-504. Retrieved October 14, 2006,
  from     Ebsco database.

21
References

• Newspaper
• Davidow, J. (2005, July 5). Reading, memory
  adversely affected, UW researchers     say.
  Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 9,
  2006, from     http//seattlepi.nwsource.com/prin
  ter2/index.asp?plocbreferhttp//...
• Guernsey, L. (2006, September 5). When Toddlers
  Turn On The TV and Actually     Learn. The New
  York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2006, from ERIC
  database     http//select.nytimes.com/search/re
  stricted/     article?resF50F12FE3D550C768CDDA00
  894...
• Hall, A. (2006, August). Tune In, Tune On, Spit
  Up. Boston Magazine. Retrieved     October 25,
  2006, from Lexis Nexis database.
• Hill, M. (2006, July 10). Comcast jumps into
  children's TV. Philadelphia     Inquirer.
  Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Lexis Nexis
  database.
• Davidow, J. (2005, July 5). Reading, memory
  adversely affected, UW researchers     say.
  Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 9,
  2006, from     http//seattlepi.nwsource.com/prin
  ter2/index.asp?plocbreferhttp//...
• Neergaard, L. (2006, May 16). The news for
  multimedia babies is good, and bad.     Associate
  d Press. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Lexis
  Nexis database.
• Pearson, M. (2006, May 16). No pause button in
  debate about DVDs for toddlers.     The
  Oregonian. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Lexis
  Nexis database.
• Stewart, T. W. (2006, May 25). Skip TV Play is
  Best for Babies. Madison     Newspaper.
  Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Lexis Nexis
  database.
• Wetzstein, C. (2003, October 29). 'Tuned-in'
  toddlers need a TV timeout. The     Washington
  Times. Retrieved November 12, 2006,
  from     http//www.washingtontimes.com/functions
  /print.php?StoryID2003...
• World Wide Web
• Pantley, E. (n.d.). Should Babies and Toddlers
  Watch Television? In Google.     Retrieved
  October 4, 2006, from http//www.pedsforparents.co
  m/articles/     2995.shtml
• Television and Your Toddler. (1999, August).
  Toddlers Today. Retrieved November     9, 2006,
  from http//toddlerstoday.com/resources/articles/n
  otv.htm
• Zundel, I. H. (n.d.). Toddlers and Television.
  In Google. Retrieved October 4,     2006, from
  http//www.partnershipforlearning.org/article.asp?
  ArticleID1549