A New Day for Informal Learning Lessons from Research and Practice Presentation by Michael H. Levine, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the LEGO Ideas Conference on April 14, 2015.

1. A New Day for Informal Learning Lessons
from Research and Practice
LEGO Ideas Conference
Michael H. Levine
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center @ Sesame Workshop
April 14, 2015

3. About the Cooney Center
Joan Ganz Cooney’s 1966 report to Carnegie Corporation,
The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education
“How can emerging media help children learn?”

4. The digital learning landscape:
The Wild West
4
US National Archives, 111-SC-83746

5. The Cooney Center’s Mission
To foster innovation in children’s learning through digital media
What we care about
• Middle childhood (5 to 11-year-olds)
• Improving literacy: old and new
• Underserved populations
• Learning ecologies across formal and
informal environments

6. Be Child and Family Centered

7. Relationships Matter Most:
Ecological perspectives on development

8. Relationships Matter Most:
Ecological perspectives on development
Government
Agencies
Digital
Media
Market
Local
School
System
Church,
Library,
After-school
Spaces
School,
Teachers,
Peers
Digital
Media
Spaces
The
Neighborhood
Dominant
Beliefs
Cultural
Values
Mass
Media
Parents’ Work
Home,
Parents,
Siblings
Attitudes & Ideologies
National & State
Policy
Bronfenbrenner (1979); Takeuchi
(2011)

9. The New Co-Viewing
Joint Media Engagement

10. Lifelong Learning
The LIFE Center: Stevens & Penuel, 2010

11. Be Fair

12. Common Sense Media 2013

13. Participation Gap
Summary of preschool computer activity at libraries (Neuman & Celano, 2012)
Library in the Badlands Library in Chestnut Hill
Average age 7.2 years 3.1 years
Average time with adult/caregiver (assisting,
directing watching)
.23 minutes 3.9 minutes
Average time spent with material containing print 5.6 minutes 10.1 minutes

14. Promote Digital Equity
• Create new incentives for maximum digital participation
• Establish a digital learning place in every community
• Build community capacity: Integrate media use into professional practice
• Catalyze new public-private, federal-state digital equity partnerships
• Empower families to achieve digital equity

15. Be Playful

16. Why Video Games?
• Games are the most popular digital activity for children ages 2-14,
with 85% participating
• 97% of American teens play computer or video games
• A 9-year-old spends ~55 minutes on a
portable or video game console on a
typical weekday, over double the amount
of time spent by 6-year-olds

17. Digital Games and Family Life
Survey population
• 768 parents
– Predominantly middle income and white
– 70% female
– Mean age: 41.1 (SD = 6.452 )
• Parent asked to keep one 4–13-year-old
“focal child” in mind
– 33% girls
– Mean age: 8.3 (SD = 2.742)
• In 85% of surveyed households, at least one
parent plays digital games
Industry data
• 59% of Americans play digital games
• Average of 2 gamers per household
• 75% of moms play at least weekly
(Entertainment Software Association, 2013, 2014)
24%
13%
48%
4%
12%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Preschool Elementary Teenager Young
adult
Just
recently
How old were you when you first
started playing digital games?
17

18. Digital Games and Family Life
47%
40%
9%
3% 1% 0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Every dayFew days a weekAbout weeklyFew days a monthAbout monthlyVery rarely
Frequency of digital gameplay
18
5%
33% 33%
21%
6%
2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
< 15 min. 15-30 min.30-60 min. 1-2 hours 2-3 hours > 3 hours
Duration of a typical play session

19. Digital Games and Family Life
41%
67%
67%
77%
82%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Handheld console
Computer (PC, web)
Cell phone
TV console
Tablet
Platforms on which child ever plays digital games
19N = 768; check all that apply

20. Digital Games and Family Life
12%
16%
16%
19%
19%
20%
21%
23%
29%
45%
49%
60%
65%
79%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Game Creation (Scratch, Gamestar Mechanic)
First Person Shooters (Halo, Portal)
Fighting (Super Smash Brothers, All Stars Battle…
Music (Rock Band, Guitar Hero)
Virtual Worlds (Club Penguin, Moshi Monsters)
Physical (Wii Sports, Kinect Sports)
Adventure (Skylanders, Super Mario, LEGO)
Genres child usually plays
20N = 768; check all that apply
67% of parents make
“educational games” available
to their children (purchase,
rent, borrow, download, etc.)

21. Be Balanced

22. From Media Overload….
Kaiser Family Foundation Research

23. From Media Overload….
Kaiser Family Foundation Research

24. To Inspiration:
The National STEM Video Game Challenge

25. Passion
Now in its fourth year, the Challenge
aims to motivate interest in STEM
learning among America’s youth by
tapping into students’ natural passions
for playing and making video games.
Inspiration
Announced by the President at the White
House and inspired by the “Educate to
Innovate” campaign, President Obama’s
initiative to promote a renewed focus on
science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
(STEM) education.

26. Inspiring Change: Games in the Classroom

27. • Covers recent research on
game-based learning
• Features interviews with
experts, advice for
selecting and implementing
games for classrooms
• Explainers break down
jargon for practitioners,
developers, and funders
GamesandLearning.org

28. To a Balanced Media Diet
“There will always be some empty calories.
But the idea is to kick the balance toward the
more healthful, nourishing choices, the kind
of educational media that allow a child to
have a more purposeful experience when
they're seemingly being entertained.”
Chicago Tribune,
“Bringing up the iKid Generation”
September 15, 2012

29. Be Literacy-Driven

30. Think Global and Digital

32. Thank you!