Research for educational psychology class

1. How Educational TV
Supports Children’s
Social Skills
MARIA DAVES
SOE 115
KENDALL COLLEGE

2. Overview
 Since the introduction of TV psychologists have raised a concern about its
impact on children’s behavior. There have been several studies that show that
TV can offer educational programs that have a positive impact on children’s
development.
 This presentation will focus on how educational programs particularly, Sesame
Street, can influence children’s development educationally and what are the
effects on children’s social skills. For example, the development of prosocial
behavior, social interactions and acceptance of others.
 I chose this topic because I want to learn more about how TV can be utilized to
support children’s developmental skills. As a mother and as a teacher, I think
it’s important to know more about updated research to use technology as an
educational tool with our young children.

3. Source # 1
 In “Children and Electronic Media” (2008), Wilson defines prosocial education
as “any voluntary behavior intended to benefit another person.” (web).
 In this study, author claims that Sesame Street was one of the programs that
promotes helping behavior, show interactions among different racial groups,
and has a positive effect in preschoolers’ social behavior. Children three to
five years were exposed to Sesame Street for 15 min a day. The study
followed their behavior before, during and after their exposure to the
program. Findings showed that children had a higher level of social contact
and physical affection to others. (Wilson, 2008).

4. Source # 2
 “Positive effects of TV on social behavior: a meta-analysis,” is a study made of a
compilation of studies that claims that television shows that depict sharing,
getting along with others, or rejecting stereotypes can improve social-emotional
skills in children.(Mares & Woodard, 2005). This study addresses that Sesame
Street program is one of the “prosocial” education programs with high level of
antistereotyping content. As, they exposed children to this program with
multicultural topics for 12 min, and children were more willing to play with a
nonwhite playmate.
 This study concludes that pre-school and grade-school children are the most
influenced on prosocial education when exposed to content like Sesame Street’s.
As, when children observe positive models of behavior they can show their
ability to follow rules, to play with other children and have less stereotyped views
of others.

5. Source # 3
 In “Media and Young Children’s Learning,” authors analyzed different
research studies addressing Sesame Street’s content to support
academically and socially children to enter school. They claim that
“preschoolers who view Sesame Street have higher levels of school
readiness than those who do not.”(Kirkorian, Wartella, Anderson, 2008,
47).
 This article addresses educational media as a way for children for
supporting and enhancing academic and social skills. They analyzed
several educational programs, and Sesame Street showed effective and
long-lasting effects with school readiness, especially with low-income
children. As they mentioned, these children don’t have the positive
interactions to develop school-readiness. Authors considered that non-
educational television programs have a negative influence on behavior
and academic achievement.
 According to the conclusion of this article, all programs designed with

6. Analysis
 All these three sources argue that Sesame Street is an educational
program that promotes prosocial education through its content. As their
findings address different social behaviors like sharing, helping others,
and acceptance of others, that enhance children’s social skills.
 However, each one of these studies portray some differences on the level
of influence of Sesame Street’s content according to the children’s age.
Preschoolers and school age children may be the more influenced than
toddlers and younger children.
 Furthermore, just one of the sources linked social skills to academic
success, and another encouraged adult-child discussion after exposure to
Sesame Street, to reinforce children’s understanding.

7. Connections
 Bandura’s Social Learning Theory supports that children imitate certain behaviors
by observing others. There is a strong influence of the environment and mass
media too. Bandura considers TV a strong source for behavior modeling, and
proposes parents’ guidance when selecting TV programs for their children.
 This theory postulates four stages during the process of learning: attention,
retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. (Bandura, 1977) Attention stage
involves perception and attention of what the viewer is observing in order to
reproduce the model’s behavior. Retention is required to code and retrieve
information into long-term memory. Motor reproduction stresses the physical
capabilities of the observer to reproduce the modeled behavior. In the final
stage, motivation, observer expects to receive positive reinforcements for the
modeled behavior.

8. Conclusions
 I think that media exposure has a strong influence on shaping behavior
on young children. As the studies mentioned previously show that
children’s behavior suffered some social change after their exposure to
Sesame Street. However, I do agree that it’s not just to place our children
in front of the TV and expect them to learn social skills, but rather, we
need to get involved into their experiences to explain, clarify and discuss
the TV content.
 It’s true that research shows that TV educational programs can enhance
children’s skills socially and academically, but it’s also true that parents are
the first models that children observe and learn from, and we cannot
expect children to learn from just watching these programs. As teachers
and parents, we should utilize educational TV programs like Sesame
Street as a support of our teaching experiences.

9. Communication with Families
 Television is good and bad, as there are good programs and bad ones. It
depends on our own criteria what choices we make. Parents can be more
selective when guiding their children’s TV exposure. They can enforce
rules of length and content of programs. Giving explanations and
clarifying to children what is fantasy and real life can help them
understand consequences of certain behaviors. We should see TV as a
resource to enhance children’s developmental skills.

10. References
 Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
PRENTICE HALL.
 Kirkorian, H.L., Wartella, E.A., and Anderson D.R. (2008). Media and young children’s
learning. In the future of children. The trustees of Princeton University, 18/1, 39-61.
Retrieved on August 12, 2016 from
http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/18_01_03.pdf
 Mares, M.-L., & Woodard, E. (2005). Positive effects of television on children’s social
interactions: A meta-analysis. Retrieved on August 13, 2016 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261623939_Positive_Effects_of_Television_on_C
hildren's_Social_Interactions_A_Meta-Analysis
 Wilson, B.J. (2008). Children Aggression, Fear and Altruism. Journal: Children and
Electronic media, Vol. 18 (1), The Future of Children Org., Princeton-Brookings. Retrieved
on August 13, 2016 from
http://www.futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=32&ar
ticleid=58&sectionid=271&submit