When the Sun Sings Science, Are Children Left in the Dark? Representations of Science in Children’s Television and Their Effects on Children’s Learning

Bonus, James Alex; Mares, Marie‐Louise

doi:10.1093/hcr/hqy009

Cited by 30 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In domains such as politics, health, science, and law, practitioners are frequently tasked with translating technical details to audiences who lack training in these areas. Indeed, a vast amount of research in translational communication has been devoted to providing practical advice that strives to improve audience understanding and engagement with complex topics (e.g., Bonus & Mares, 2018; Brooks, 2017; Krieger & Gallois, 2017; Rice & Giles, 2017; Shulman & Sweitzer, 2018b). Research has shown that the use of technical jargon by experts when communicating to lay audiences remains a common occurrence (Howard et al, 2013; Sharon & Baram-Tsabari, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Jargon on Processing Fluency, Self-Perceptions, and Scientific Engagement

Shulman

Dixon

Bullock

et al. 2020

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

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In this experiment ( N = 650), we integrate ideas from the literatures on metacognition and self-perception to explain why the use of jargon negatively affects engagement with science topics. We offer empirical evidence that the presence of jargon disrupts people’s ability to fluently process scientific information, even when definitions for the jargon terms are provided. We find that jargon use affects individuals’ social identification with the science community and, in turn, affects self-reports of scientific interest and perceived understanding. Taken together, this work advances our knowledge about the broad effects of metacognition and offers implications for how the language of science may influence nonexpert audiences’ engagement with complex topics in ways beyond comprehension.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Jargon on Processing Fluency, Self-Perceptions, and Scientific Engagement

Shulman

Dixon

Bullock

et al. 2020

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

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“…First, we included all shows coded in a prior content analysis that fit our criteria (Bonus & Mares, 2018). Online sites such as Amazon.com and Common Sense Media provided recommendations based on these TV series and were used as tools to guide further selections.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How does their presence relate to the media’s target educational material? To our knowledge, only two prior content analyses have been conducted specifically on children’s educational science media (Bonus & Mares, 2018; Charpentier, 2007), and both only investigated TV-based media. To build on this work, we analyze both videos and books, aiming to categorize the various unrealistic elements that these media present and to describe these elements’ relation to the scientific content that these media aim to teach.…”

Section: Impact Of Unrealistic Story Elements On Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

What does the Cat in the Hat know about that? An analysis of the educational and unrealistic content of children’s narrative science media.

Chlebuch¹,

Bodas²,

Weisberg³

2023

Psychology of Popular Media

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Educational media can be a helpful supplement to early childhood education, especially for science, which is not as supported as other topics in classrooms and home environments. However, narrative educational media often contain unrealistic or fantastical elements, which may make it challenging for children to extract the target educational lessons. To document the nature of children's science educational media, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of books (n = 110) and videos (n = 142) with narrative content aimed at teaching science to children in preschool and early elementary school. We found that these media primarily teach about animals (including dinosaurs) and astronomy, leaving many science topics unexplored. In addition, 81% of these media contain at least 1 unrealistic or fantastical element, and these elements often intersect with the media's target educational material (e.g., media teaching about animals were more likely to contain anthropomorphic animals). This work provides a baseline for understanding how media teach about science and paves the way for future empirical work on this topic. Public Policy Relevance StatementEducational media, which are widely available to children of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, can supplement early science education. But even though these stories are designed to be educational, they often contain unrealistic elements, such as talking animals. This study quantifies the educational and unrealistic content of stories designed to teach science, taking a first step toward understanding how such media can be used to help young children learn science.

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“…Deploying the above social psychological theories, it would seem that children's media creators leverage the dynamics of agency and communion: anthropomorphized animals might help bridge gaps of understanding and also might be a conduit J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f for social connection, respectively. In terms of the former, the effects of such representations are mixed, with some research suggesting that anthropomorphized animals undermine learning about the biological world (Ganea et al, 2014;Waxman et al, 2014), whereas other research documents learning benefits (Bonus and Mares, 2018;Geerdts et al, 2016;McCabe and Nekaris, 2018). In terms of the latter, anthropomorphized animals are used to promote learning about human social dynamics and morality (Mierek, 2010), though such efforts may ultimately fail to produce anticipated prosocial outcomes (Larsen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Anthropomorphism: Concept and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropomorphism in comparative affective science: Advocating a mindful approach

Williams

Brosnan

Clay

2020

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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When the Sun Sings Science, Are Children Left in the Dark? Representations of Science in Children’s Television and Their Effects on Children’s Learning

Cited by 30 publications

References 38 publications

The Effects of Jargon on Processing Fluency, Self-Perceptions, and Scientific Engagement

The Effects of Jargon on Processing Fluency, Self-Perceptions, and Scientific Engagement

What does the Cat in the Hat know about that? An analysis of the educational and unrealistic content of children’s narrative science media.

Anthropomorphism in comparative affective science: Advocating a mindful approach

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