Draft-Do not cite
Early Learning and Academic Achievement
Ellen Wartella and Alexis Lauricella
Northwestern University
It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 45 years since planned
educational television programs aimed at preschool children entered American
life. The advent Sesame Street in 1969, the national distribution of Misterogers
Neighborhood in 1968, and the many subsequent educational television shows
has led to a considerable literature on the impact of planned educational
programming on preschool viewers. Decades of research have demonstrated
that for preschool age children quality educational television can have a positive
effect on academic achievement both during the preschool years and beyond (
Anderson et al. 2001; Ready to Learn , Wright et al., 2001). Today children
under 8 spend a substantial portion of their screen media time with screens that
are not traditional television programs (Common Sense Media, 2011)., which
leads to the question of whether these newer media platforms provide learning
opportunities for young children. Secondly, since the advent of preschool
educational programming in the 1960s, a whole new genre of screen media
(including videos, television programs, APPs) have been developed for babies.
In considering early learning from media, we will address the question of
whether baby educational media fulfills marketing claims of educating these very
young viewers. Thus, this review will examine the evidence regarding early
learning from educational programming for children from birth to age 8 and will
discuss what we know about the impact of newer digital platforms impact on
their users academic skills.
Draft-Do not cite
Importance of the Research Area
Sesame Street has become the iconic example of planned educational
programming that can use the formal features of television to engage, interest
and teach young children core academic concepts like numbers, letters and
literacy. From the earliest research on Sesame Street (Ball and Bogatz 1972),
evidence has amassed to demonstrate both the short term effects and the
positive effect of such programming on other academic skills for young viewers
as they grow older (Anderson, Huston, Schmitt, Linebarger & Wright, 2001).
Other skills, such as prosocial behaviors of sharing and cooperation have been
taught via television programming like MisterRogers Neighborhood (Friedrich &
Stein, 1972). These early programs were part of a national effort to prepare
preschool children for school and were developed simultaneously with other
national initiatives such as Head Start (196?) to especially help close the
achievement gaps between inner city and suburban, majority and ethnic
minority and wealthy and economically disadvantaged youth.
When they
began, there was a real question of whether television could be used to teach
young children academic concepts that would prepare them for schooling.
And while the answer has been “yes” quality educational television can be
successful in meeting its goal, the media landscape has changed considerably:
today children are born into a world of varying media technologies that provide a
broader range of content. It is important to understand how these newer
platforms can be used to enhance early learning and academic achievement of
both core academic concepts like literacy, math, science, but also how they
enhance academic achievement by aiding in the development of additional
academic related skills that are important for continued learning and success in a
digital world.
Draft-Do not cite
However, the media landscape today is different from the time when
Sesame Street was created in the late 1960’s (Common Sense Media,
2011) when public television programming was the primary media
platform for young children. As a result, while there is solid evidence for
preschoolers’ learning traditional academic content from educational
television programs, there are many questions about is there are a
range of questions that arise about learning from these newer
technologies for children of all ages.
The most recent national survey of young children’s media use
found evidence of young children using a range of media products
starting at 6 months of age (Common Sense Media, 2011). While TV
still dominates children’s media use (74%), but time spent with new
media devices is increasing. More than half (52%) of children have
access to newer mobile devices (smartphones, video iPod, iPad or other
tablet device) and 29% of parents have downloaded Apps for their
children to use. Computers, which most parents (69%) think helps
rather than hurts learning (Rideout & Hamel, 2006) are still used
frequently among children ages 4-8 years old (Common Sense Media,
2011).
Home isn’t the only place young children are using digital
technology; schools are also using technology in their classrooms. Even
though schools have increased their access to and use of digital
technologies, especially computers with internet, in classrooms, there is
still debate about the educational effectiveness of technology use in the
classroom (National Education Association, 2008). A report by
Draft-Do not cite
Grunwald Associates (2009) found that K-12 teachers are using digital
media often and Pre-K teachers (33%) use media in their classrooms
with preschool aged children. Recently, the National Association of the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center
(2012) released a position statement encouraging the use of
appropriate digital technology use in early child care settings. The
decrease in cost of digital technologies together with an endorsement
for proper use combined with teacher interest in technology is likely to
continue to increase the use of digital technologies for learning outside
of the home.
And the range of content available for children from birth to age 8
is vast and growing. Through the Ready to Learn initiative on PBS, as
well as the advent of such cable channels devoted to young children as
Sprout, Nick Jr., Disney, Baby First TV there are more than 40 preschool
television shows (most of which lay claim to some educational benefits)
for child viewers. While for most of the last 45 years television was the
major source of educational videos, that has changed in the past decade.
Now children can access old and newer television content online via
YouTube and other online video sites on demand. Moreover, newer
digital content is being developed for mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablet devices which seem to be especially successful
with capturing the interest of very young learners. And parents beliefs
that out of school educational media is important for their young
children to prepare them for school has helped fuel the explosion of
these educational products. Research, however, on these newer
devices and on attempts to educated children beyond the core math and
Draft-Do not cite
literacy concepts has been slow to develop. The combination of
increased digital technology use at home and at school combined with
the recent surge in types of digital media products for young children
and a wide array of child-directed content is resulting in a new range of
questions about the potential of these digital media and their impact on
academic achievement overall.