Media as Social Partners: The Social Nature of Young Children’s Learning From Screen Media

Abstract

Television has become a nearly ubiquitous feature in children's cultural landscape. A review of the research into young children's learning from television indicates that the likelihood that children will learn from screen media is influenced by their developing social relationships with on-screen characters, as much as by their developing perception of the screen and their symbolic understanding and comprehension of information presented on screen. Considering the circumstances in which children under 6 years learn from screen media can inform teachers, parents, and researchers about the important nature of social interaction in early learning and development. The findings reviewed in this article suggest the social nature of learning, even learning from screen media.

Putting Education in “Educational” Apps

“…Given that media in all forms is overwhelmingly populated by humans and human-like characters, viewers are really sharing a type of interaction with another social partner (Reeves & Nass, 1996;Richert et al, 2011;Strommen, 2003). If media are perceived as providing social partners, even two-dimensional representations of puppets, it will impact how children react to them.…”

Lapsevanemate hinnangud juhendamisstrateegiatele puutetundliku ekraani kasutamisel väikelapseeas

“…Scientists have different views on this subject. Children's ability to learn from the screen has been linked with the active participation of parents (Sims & Colunga, 2013) also from a lack of understanding of the symbolic medium: Infants do not know how depicted objects differ from real ones (Richert et al, 2011;Zack et al, 2009). Different studies (Anderson & Pempek, 2005;Barr, 2013;Zack et al, 2009) reveal that the infants' ability to transfer learning from screen to real-life situations is relatively poor and that is why infants and toddlers learn more from live personal interactions than from screens.…”

“…Laste õppimist ekraani vahendusel on seostatud ühelt poolt sellega, et lapsevanemad toetavad aktiivselt väikest last puutetundliku ekraani kasuta misel (Sims & Colunga, 2013), teisalt aga väikelaste ja imikute vähese ekraanilt õppimise võimega, mida mõjutab ekraani tajumise, sümbolite ja ekraanilt nähtud informatsiooni vähene mõistmine (Richert, Robb, & Smith, 2011;Zack, Barr, Gerhardstein, Dickerson, & Meltzoff, 2009). Mitmed uurijad (Barr, 2013;Zack et al, 2009) toovad välja, et väikelastel on keeruline ekraani sümbolilist maailma päriselu situatsioonidesse üle kanda ning uute teadmiste omandamine on silmast silma interaktsioonidest seetõttu eba tõhusam.…”

‘Play School’ –a catalyst for play

“…The notion that this is achievable for Play School can be viewed through theoretical frameworks considered relevant to contemporary early childhood education and care (DEEWR, 2009) such as the Socio-Constructivist Approaches to learning (Rogoff, 1998;Vygostky, 1978) and Social Cognitive Theory. Socio-Constructivists assert that children co-construct knowledge in the social context and Social Cognitive Theory suggests that the child learns from observing others with whom they interact, such as peers and adults, as well as those that operate as behavioral models via the mass media (Bandura, 1986;Li-Vollmer, 2002;Mastro & Stern, 2003;Richert, Robb, & Smith, 2011). Additionally, Play School relies on Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1995), which recognizes the interactive and complex nature of the various systems that impact on the child's experience.…”