Children & Fantasy

 

Learning Scientific Concepts from Educational Television

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Building on previous research into children’s understanding of pretend intentions and actions, we have been examining the factors that influence whether preschool children will transfer information learned in fantasy stories to real-world situation. In a newer line of research, we have begun studying the influence of media exposure on cognitive development by focusing on how children view information learned in media contexts and the effectiveness of using different forms of media as educational tools.

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Despite the popularity of children’s television we still know little about how children are learning scientific concepts from education television.

 

The purpose of this research is to examine:

1) how children’s relationships with television characters; and

2) stereotypes about science influence how children learn and enjoy science.

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To be eligible for the study, your child must be between 3y 11m to 5y 11m of age of all races & ethnicities are eligible; Hispanic/Latino families are especially encouraged to participate. English must be the primary language spoken in the home, bilingual families are welcomed.

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Affiliations

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• Southern California Working Group on Culture, Cognition, and Religion

• Social Science Research Council

• Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program