In a longitudual study done by the Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, that concludes
“TV viewing before the age of 2 does not improve a child’s language and visual motor skills.”
The study done on children birth to age 3, published in the March issue of Pediatrics, didn’t measure any detrimental affects of television viewing. But the researchers say there are other indications that children younger than 2 should not watch television, which is the stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics as well.
“Contrary to marketing claims and some parents’ perception that television viewing is beneficial to children’s brain development, no evidence of such benefit was found,” Marie Evans Schmidt, Ph.D., lead author of the study, said in a statement.
BUT…programs like “Sesame Street,” “Between the Lions,” and “WordWorld,” all provided by PBSKids, have been shown to boost some of the pre-skills necessary for learning to read. There are even some efforts under way to help parents, child caregivers, and teachers of young children to use educational programming more formally. These programs also provide online support to enoucourage and enagage children into reading and words/languge skills.
Also, Tennessee Public Television is launching a program for children 3-8 that will enhance reading and the way kids learn to read. The program called “Raising Readers” is partnering with 20 PBS stations to bring reading to the fore front on education. Catching children early to start the fundamentals of reading and build the foundation through programs they watch everyday.
I know that my 5 year reads along with “Between The Lions” and “Word World” I too love playing the games online with him!
What do you see as the pros and cons of promoting educational television as a learning tool?
