LD
When Toddlers Turn on the TV and Actually Learn
By: Lisa Guernsey, Adapted from: New York Times, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/health/psychology/05tots.html
1. Sit down with a 3-year-old to watch “Blue’s Clues” or “Dora the Explorer,”
and see the shouting erupt. Whenever a character faces the camera and asks
a question, children out there in TV land are usually answering it. Active
engagement with television has been an answer to criticism that TV creates
zombies. “Blue’s Clues,” which celebrated its 10th anniversary last month, has
been credited with helping young children learn from the screen. Indeed,
academic research has shown that viewers ages three to five score better on
tests of problem solving than those who haven’t watched the show.
2. But what happens with children younger than three years old? Should
babies and toddlers be exposed to television at all? Is there any chance that
they could actually learn from the screen? While debates continue among
parents, pediatricians, and critics of baby videos, developmental
psychologists are conducting research to find answers to these questions.
Questions
1. Why does the writer mention the example of “Blue’s Clues”?
The writer mentions “Blue’s Clues” because it is an example of a TV show
that:
a. has been around for the past 10 years
b. interactively involves young viewers
c. creates passive zombies
d. causes young children to shout
2. Which children were able to solve problems better?
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3. Read paragraph 2. Based on this paragraph, how do you expect the writer
to answer the questions?
a. by explaining the opinions of various educators
b. by comparing different educational TV shows
c. by presenting evidence from research
d. by giving examples of children who learned from TV
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3. Experiments conducted at Vanderbilt University, described in the May/June
issue of Child Development, provide some information about toddlers.
Georgene L. Troseth and Megan M. Saylor, psychologists at Vanderbilt, and
Allison H. Archer, an undergraduate student there, designed the study to find
out if toddlers would learn from video if they considered the onscreen actors
to be, as they put it, “social partners.”
4. The experiments compared two video experiences. One was based on a
videotape. Watching it was similar to watching “Blue’s Clues”; the actor
onscreen paused to simulate a conversation, but back-and-forth interaction
with the viewer was impossible. A different group of children experienced twoway live video. It worked like a Web cam, with each side responding in real
time.
5. The test involved a hiding game. First the two-year-olds watched the video
— either the tape or the live version. The screen showed a person hiding a
stuffed animal, Piglet, in a nearby room, often under a table or behind a
couch. When the video ended, the children were asked to retrieve Piglet.
Those who saw the recorded video had some trouble. They found him only 35
percent of the time. Children in the other group succeeded about 69 percent
of the time, a rate similar to face-to-face interaction.
6. This experiment shows that 24-month-olds are more likely to use
information conveyed by video if they consider the person on the screen to be
someone they can talk to. Without that, the children seemed unable to act on
what they had seen and heard.
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Questions
4. Read paragraphs 3-6 to fill in the table below about the study at Vanderbilt
University.
I. Research
Question
II. Methods
A. Participants
Group 1: __________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Group 2: __________________________________________
__________________________________________________
B. Procedure
Step 1: The children had a video experience.
Step 2: The children _________________________________
III. Results
Group 1 was BETTER / WORSE than group 2.
IV. Conclusion
Children learn better from videos when __________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
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7. Does this mean that TV programs that simulate interaction are doing
nothing for young children? Not necessarily, the researchers say. A few of the
children in the recorded video group were especially responsive to the games
and pauses, and they were the few children in that group who retrieved the
toy. “We found that if children gave evidence of treating the video as a social
partner,” Dr. Troseth said, “they will use the information.”
8. Developmental psychologists say the Vanderbilt research offers an
intriguing clue to a phenomenon called the “video deficit.” Toddlers who have
no trouble understanding a task demonstrated in real life often have problems
when the same task is shown onscreen. They need repeated viewings to
figure it out. This deficit got its name in a 2005 article by Daniel R. Anderson
and Tiffany A. Pempek, psychologists at the University of Massachusetts, who
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reviewed literature on young children and television. Child-development
experts say the deficit confirms the age-old wisdom that real-life interactions
are best for babies. Parents can be assured, they say, that their presence is
more beneficial than TV.
9. But psychologists still want to get to the bottom of what might explain the
difference. Is it the two-dimensionality of the screen? Do young children have
some innate difficulty in remembering information transmitted as symbols?
“It’s definitely still a puzzle, and we’re trying to figure out the different
components to it,” said Rachel Barr, a psychologist at Georgetown University
who specializes in infant memory.
10. The Vanderbilt research offers the possibility that the more socially
engaging a video is, the more likely the deficit will disappear. But Dr. Troseth
and other psychologists stress that in-person connections with parents are by
far a child’s best teacher. However, this probably doesn’t include those
moments when busy and tired parents are so distracted that TV characters
are more responsive than they are.
Questions
5. (par. 7) According to the article, can TV programs that simulate interaction
be useful?
YES / NO
Explain your answer.
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6. a. What is the “video deficit”?
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b. Do researchers have a clear explanation for this phenomenon?
YES / NO
Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
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7. In paragraph 9 the author says that “psychologists still want to get to the
bottom of what might explain the difference.”
What difference is the author referring to? (Fill in the blanks to answer.)
The difference between _________________ and _________________.
8. Under what condition might the video deficit disappear? (2 WORDS)
When the video is ___________________________________.
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