From show, to room, to world: a cross-context investigation of how children learn from media programming

We conducted a year-long, naturalistic study that investigated what actually happens when children watch television. We video-recorded children’s actions and interactions while watching television and simultaneously recorded the video stream from the television screen; these data were supported with parent diaries and interviews with parents and children. This paper describes two case studies, in which we consider children’s interactions with others while watching television and the ways in which their television viewing influences other parts of their everyday lives. We find that both children actively applied knowledge they obtained from visual media to other contexts. In addition, they both shared their media viewing experiences with others, either by directly teaching others about what they had viewed or by creating new content based on what they had viewed. Television viewing remains an activity that consumes a great deal of young people’s time (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). Television programming has been criticized for many reasons, including its potential to influence children’s behavior and absorb time that might otherwise have been used more productively (Buckingham, 1993; Fisch, 2004; Kirkorian, Wartella, & Anderson, 2008; Maccoby, 1952). Zimmerman, Christakis, and Meltzoff (2007) found that viewing television was associated with slower vocabulary development in children under three years of age. Another recent study (Christakis et al., 2009) found that audible television in a child’s environment is associated with lower levels of adult and child interaction. Additionally, Christakis, Zimmerman, Di Giuseppe, and McCarty (2004) suggest that young children’s television viewing may have some relationship to attention problems. In response to studies like these, France banned educational television for children under three (France bans broadcast of TV shows for babies, 2008) despite the existence of other research that found benefits of children’s viewing (Fisch, 2004; Fisch & Truglio, 2001; Kirkorian et al., 2008; Pecora, Murray, & Wartella, 2006). This project is informed by studies of how people learn in informal environments and situates itself among similar research studies investigating social interaction and learning (Stevens & Hall, 1998; Stevens, 2000; Stevens, Satwicz, & McCarthy, 2007). Our study directly examines what happens when children watch television in order to understand what types of learning may occur. In this paper we describe how two children in our study watch and respond to television and YouTube videos, and how their viewing affects other aspects of their everyday lives. We employ an “in show/in room/in world” framework (adapted from Stevens et al., 2007) for the description of children’s media viewing and learning. “In show” refers to the television, structure, and conventions of a specific television show. For example, some educational children’s shows use conventions, such as dialogue in which TV characters directly address viewers with questions or requests (e.g., to “help” them solve a problem or complete a task), in order to achieve their learning goals. These characters elicit viewer actions by ”talking” directly to viewers and leaving time for viewers to respond. Typical prompts include asking viewers to repeat words, actions, and phrases, or to sing along. However, unlike the “in game” designation from Stevens et al. (2007), which was a study of digital games, the viewers of television shows cannot change the action on screen. All interaction occurs entirely in the room. “In room” refers to the social and material characteristics of the environment in which the viewing takes place, particularly the interactions with others that occur there. Finally, “in world” refers to the ways in which the show and viewer responses elicited by the show or by others viewing in the room manifest in other aspects of a child’s everyday life. Methods We collected data for 6 months, followed by 6 months of analysis and follow-up interviews. The study included 16 children, 8 boys and 8 girls, aged between 9 months and 6 years. Children were observed and videotaped in their homes for 1-2 hours approximately once each week as they watched different types of media (such as television programming, DVDs, movies, and YouTube videos), and interacted with parents, friends, siblings, toys, and pets. During each session, a videotape record was created and ethnographic field notes were written. A goal in this study was to record as accurately and completely as possible children’s actual experience of watching television in their homes. In order to do this, we scheduled sessions at times when the children were most likely to be watching television in order to avoid interfering with their schedules and routines. We simultaneously recorded the in-show video stream from the television and the in-room activity of children and ICLS 2010 • Volume 1