How do Audio-Visual Programs Affect the Brain?

Objectives

• Students will understand the true cognitive effects of audio-visual programs

• Students will be able to identify the Pros and Cons of examples given (activity #1)

• Students will acknowledge the strengths and apply to their own project (activity #2)

Introduction to the topic - 1 min

• Explain what early childhood development is cognitively

• Briefly discuss how audiovisual programs (TV) affect the brain and children

Activity #1 - Weighing Strengths and Weaknesses - 2 min

• Show examples of what productive and counterproductive TV shows are in order to clarify the point

• Examples:

  • Good: Dora the Explorer, Curious George, Octonauts

  • Bad: Spongebob and Calliou

• Discussion on what the strengths and weaknesses of each are

  • See if the class can identify the three good and three bad

Sesame Street - 3 min

• Talk about the planning and government funding that went into the show since it was on PBS

• Note the immediate academic feedback from children as young as kindergarteners

• Show clip from Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

• Include the factor of longevity

  • Sesame Street is on its fifty-second season and is still airing to this day, but eventually, it does have to come to an end. With the world of TV being full of mindless and dull shows for children to watch, what other shows will step up and make the necessary changes for the next generation?

Angela Santomero - 3 min

• Her work spreads all over the place, but at her core, she is a mother of two with a master’s degree in child developmental psychology and instructional technology & media from Columbia University. She later became a well-known television executive producer, co-creator of the show Blue’s Clues, and sole creator of the show Super Why!.

  • Blue’s Clues

    • Similar to Sesame Street encouraged children to want to learn, Blue’s Clues viewers academically outperformed their classmates who hadn’t watched

    • The show is critically claimed for teaching children the following:

      • planning and solving problems

      • extensive vocabulary and expressing themselves clearly

      • higher comprehension skills

      • preparing children for the classroom environment

    • Creating educational shows is beneficial from a business perspective as well since parents will prefer their children to watch productive and age-appropriate TV. However, this was not Angela Santomero’s intention at all.

  • Super Why!

    • Going to PBS for an educational show that was accessible to anyone with cable or nowadays anyone with access to the internet, could not have been a better move for Angela Santomero. Super Why! stretched across the nation to provide quality education on your TV. Being a psychologist, Santomero focuses a lot on minimizing the stress of parents while they can’t be present co-watching with their child. 

    • Super Why! is packed with the same kind of fundamental skills and learning opportunities as her previous project at Nickelodeon, but with a fun storytelling twist to it.

Activity #2 - Make your Own TV Show - Rest of Class

• As a class, we would come up with a concept to pitch to an imaginary producer that combines the best aspects of all the previous examples included to cement everything I covered

Materials

• Clips of TV shows

• Photos of Characters