Since recently watching Patricia Kuhl: The Linguistic Genius of Babies, I have been thinking about how whether or not small children can learn from television. This talk discusses a study on babies’ ability to learn a language. The results of the study show that babies need a human being to interact with them in order to learn. I found this very interesting because there are many educational television shows and movies geared toward very small children.
Prior to watching this talk, I had never really felt strongly about whether or not small children should watch television. I believed that they should watch very little television, if any, at a very young age, but I was under the impression that educational television would be beneficial to preschool-age children. Professor Linda Pagani of the University of Montreal recently did a study on how television in early years effects student achievement in kindergarten. Pagani’s study (2013) shows that even an hour of television beyond the recommendations given by the American Academy of Pediatrics can be detrimental to success in kindergarten. She suggests that this television viewing could be detrimental to not only a child’s development in vocabulary and math skills, but also to attention skills as well as gross motor development.
As a kindergarten teacher in Baltimore City, I have many students who clearly watch a lot of television at home. This becomes clear when students are sharing about their time spent at home, or when students are making connections to a story read aloud. I see a much shorter attention span in the students I am currently teaching than students I have taught in the past. I am not sure exactly how much each of my students are spending in front of the television, but I can usually get a rough estimate by talking with parents. Many parents work long hours or night shifts, and the children get very little adult interaction while at home. I can tell that the students who have more adult or peer interaction in their home have the ability to stay on task longer. These students are able to focus much better, and they seem to have a greater attention to detail. When children are watching television, they are constantly visually stimulated. The screen is changing every few seconds, and the shows are usually changing every 15-25 minutes, with many commercial breaks in between the actual content of the show. This may get kids used to being constantly stimulated by both visuals and sounds, and this could cause a drop in focus and attention at school. It is also obvious that children who spend most of their time indoors in front of the television are lacking exercise and outside time. Time to play outside or even inside enhances a child’s gross motor development. Parents who allow their children to remain seated all day are hindering their child’s gross motor development. If more parents were able to interact with their children or have their children construct their own knowledge through play, students may be more prepared for kindergarten. I would be interested in finding more studies done on the effects of television in preschool and pre-K years.
Sources:
Linda S. Pagani, Caroline Fitzpatrick, Tracie A. Barnett.Early childhood television viewing and kindergarten entry readiness. Pediatric Research, 2013; DOI:10.1038/pr.2013.105
Patricia Kuhl. (2010, October). The linguistic genius of babies [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html
