3. Media & Learning Flashcards
REDUCTION HYPOTHESIS
consuming high amounts of media leads to poor academic achievement
what is media use correlated with?
- Academic performance
- Test scores
- Poorer educational achievement
time displacement
media takes away from intellectually beneficial activities (Media consumption replaces time spent on academic activities)
exception of time displacement
screen media displaces reading in young children (impacting reading acquisition)
why is time displacement not fully supported by data?
- media displaces other media (viddy games displace TV)
- media only affects reading for young children (choosing TV over reading) dont see this pattern in older kids
when does reading displacement really make a difference?
young kids (older kids are already good at reading)
mental effort theory
media use is passive, and causes passive thinking to become the norm
- Reduces our thinking
- No evidence to support this
Attention & Impulsivity theory
media use shortens attention spans, and increases impulsive behaviours
- Media is fast-paced and therefore reduces our attention spans
- No evidence to support
what are the main arguments for reduction hypothesis (3)
- time displacement - little evidence
- mental effort - no evidence
- attention and impulsivity - no evidence
mental effort
media use is passive, and causes passive thinking to become the norm (reduces our thinking)
is there evidence to support mental effort?
no. when watching media with young children, they are often interacting with the material, asking questions, etc.
explain Attention & Impulsivity
media use shortens attention spans, and increases impulsive behaviours (no evidence here either)
how long per day do 2-10 yr olds spend consuming educational media
1hr / day
informal vs. formal education
informal -> - often involves social skills and prosocial skills
- Eg: Blues Clues → problem solving, DragonTales → pro-sociality, sharing
formal -> in school
what is the correlation between educational media and academic outcomes?
positive.
- Kids consuming more educational media did better in academics
- Strongest for the younger age group
what is the correlation between entertainment media and academic outcomes?
negative–increase in media = poor academic performance
in a 10 year study of 5 year olds, what was the relationship b/w educational content and academic performance?
positive for BOYS ONLY
what skills does sesame street teach
academic and socio-emotional
file drawer effect
researchers tend to not file things that don’t show effects
who funds a lot of media research?
the media itself
where else has benefits of educational media been found?
blues clues, dora, dragon tales, etc.
what research design is mostly used?
correlational (but some experimental)
What factors matter in whether educational media is successful?
- educational goals
- age of child
- media features
where has success in educational goals been seen?
teaching children vocabulary, spelling & literacy skills, prosocial skills
what is not successful to teach children
more complex skills eg: grammar
how does age of child impact?
Infants under ~17months-2years may not have the same positive effects of educational media (video deficit, unable to understand media)
- spinach effect
- less good educational tv for older kids? (not a lot fits this genre)
media features affecting media?
- moderate discrepancy
- repetition
- participatory cues
Moderate discrepancy
children attend to and learn from media that differs moderately from what they know and understand (Don’t want to try and teach very young children algebra…)
Participatory cues (benefits?)
Shows that have more engagement (Blues Clues, Dora) are more beneficial
capacity model
Educational media has narrative and educational content (narrative = plot, educational = lesson)
idea behind capacity model
We have limit cognitive resources, particularly working memory
- Attending to the narrative and educational content will compete for these resources
- Impacted by the distance between narrative and educational content → how well they are connected
- With further distance (between narrative and education), we may struggle to learn
how is learning more difficult via capacity model
The less related the plot is to the educational component, the more it will stretch your memory and will lose the education
- If it is too hard to keep track of, we will focus on narrative rather than the educational content
in a 10 year study of 5 year olds, what was the relationship b/w VIOLENT content and academic performance?
negative for GIRLS ONLY
how is learning more difficult via capacity model
The less related the plot is to the educational component, the more it will stretch your memory and will lose the education
- If it is too hard to keep track of, we will focus on narrative rather than the educational content
