Thank You, 'Reading for Sanity'

What a happy thing to wake up to on the first day of 2010: A web site that I've come to love -- Reading for Sanity -- has highlighted my book, Into the Minds of Babes, as one of the best reads of 2009. As the reviewer Emily wrote: "I think of something from this book at least once a week, it has influenced how I spend my time every day." (The full review is here.)

Reading Rockets webcast on e-media and early literacy

On November 16th, I wrote about participating in a Reading Rockets taping at WETA. The three-part webcast is now available online here. I'd love to hear what you think -- good and bad! And for a little more context, here is what I wrote about the video series for Early Ed Watch (which, by the way, is my full-time blogging base and my excuse for why Media Minds is looking a little sparse these days... come find me there.):

Research continues to show how important it is for children to be reading proficiently by third grade. And yet videos, online games and other electronic media have become a bigger and bigger part of early childhood. Is it possible to reconcile the two trends?

Yes. But it will take work on the part of teachers and parents. Exactly how to do it is the subject of a series of videos broadcast last week on Reading Rockets, an online site for teachers and parents produced by WETA, a public television station in the Washington, D.C. area.

The videos feature three experts -- Deborah Linebarger, an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; Marnie Lewis, an instructional technology coordinator in the Arlington County Public Schools; and yours truly, who was called on to talk about research described in my book, Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children From Birth to Age 5.

As I said in the video, I see three big questions hanging out there: What are the features that make videos and online games educational? What kind of social interaction do we need to make sure we couple with those features? And how do we examine claims of something being “educational,” when in fact it really isn’t, such as “when the videos are doing little more than throwing a bunch of letters, numbers, colors and objects up on the screen”?

Check out the video series for some early answers. There are studies showing how children can learn some early literacy skills – like new vocabulary words as well as letter and sound identification – from well-designed programs that are grounded in recent research. But I also point out that there are many things to avoid, such as background television (which can harm language development and interferes with children’s playtime), as well as TV and computer-based shows that rely on character dialogue that is not concrete enough for children to follow or retain to enhance their language skills.

If you haven’t come across Reading Rockets before, take some time to peruse the site, where you’ll find reports on the “ABCs of Teaching Reading,” a library of strategies that can be used in the classroom, resources for parents and teachers who are working with struggling readers, an archive of interviews with children’s book authors, various book-buying guides, including ones for the holidays, and more. I was honored to be part of their professional development web casts.

Reading Rockets is produced by WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital, and is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

A Conversation about Media and Literacy at 'Reading Rockets'

Reading and screen time. At first you might think that these two activities couldn't be further apart. If kids are in front of screens, they aren't reading books. And if they aren't reading books, they are missing out on the essential ingredient to building skills as strong readers. Right?

It's never so simple. In fact we've known for a while that Sesame Street viewing is linked to book reading in adolescence, and shows like Reading Rainbow (now out of production, I'm afraid) have been great at introducing children to the joys of books.

Now that digital media has become ubiquitous-- in the form of linear screen media like DVDs as well as Web-based videos and online games -- there are yet more opportunities to use screen interactions as jumping-off points for literacy learning. The first trick is knowing how to find the good stuff and following the research (where you can find it) on what has the potential, or better yet, has the evidence to show that kids viewing these programs become better readers. The second trick is being sure to give children opportunities and incentives to read as much as possible online and off.

Today I had the privilege of being part of a Reading Rockets roundtable discussion about this topic. The discussion was videotaped and will be produced as a four-part series on the Reading Rockets webcast section in the coming months. I was joined by Deb Linebarger, a leading reseacher in the field of literacy instruction via electronic media and an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and by Marnie Lewis, an instructional technologist who works with elementary school teachers in the Arlington County Public School System in Northern Virginia.

We had so much to talk about -- new research, tips for parents, resources for teachers, well wishes and warnings -- that our discussion could have lasted for hours. I'm looking forward to seeing the webcast online and hope that it will be useful to teachers and parents. I'll be sure to link to it here when it's available. As always, I would love to get your feedback.

P.S. If this blog seems abandoned at times, that's because I'm spending all my working days now at the New America Foundation where I'm the director of the Early Education Initiative. Please come on over and check out our blog, Early Ed Watch, and subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter. We provide news and commentary on policy and research related to children's learning environments (at home, in media and in center-based or school-like settings), birth to age 8.

“It’s Mine: Kids Carrying Their Culture Wherever They Go”

A year ago, I was asked to contribute a chapter to a new book edited by Allison Druin, director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland. I was eager to do some ethnographic reporting on children and technology, and this felt like the perfect opportunity. The book has now been published and I'm honored to be part of it. The title is Mobile Technology and Children (Morgan Kaufmann, 2009), and if you're interested in interactive educational technology, it's well worth a read.

The chapter I wrote is titled: “It’s Mine: Kids Carrying Their Culture Wherever They Go.” Here’s an excerpt:

You might recognize this snapshot of today’s “ zoned-out” children: They hold an electronic device with a screen as small as a playing card. They sit next to their parents at an airport gate. Or maybe they are at a restaurant, or on the school bus, or in the bleachers at a sporting event. Their eyes are focused on the screen, their ears are jammed with ear buds, and their thumbs and fingers wildly push buttons. They could be playing a video game, texting a friend, or listening to music. Maybe they are doing all three. For these moments, it is as though the world around them doesn’t exist. They are somewhere else, inside this inscrutable and infuriating little black box.

To many, it’s a disconcerting picture. But try to understand it through a child’s eyes and you might see something different. Clearly, the technology is powerful. But why? What does it mean to children? It’s a safe guess that they are drawn to their gadgets for different reasons than many adults have for loving their own gadgets. After all, we’re talking about the (hopefully) carefree days of childhood, absent of obligations to stay current with the latest news, keep up with developments in the workplace, or be accessible to the boss. So, aside from the too-easy retort that mobile devices are “fun,” why do so many children treasurethem?

In the summer of 2008 I resolved to find out. I conducted 22 in-depth interviews in three jurisdictions of Northern Virginia with children ages five to 12 who used portable gaming devices, video players, music players, and cell phones. I let them speak for themselves as much as possible. I wanted to document not only the allure of the devices but how the children used them and why.

What I discovered was children’s strong sense of ownership and control over the technology. They stored their devices in areas dedicated to their most important belongings, even under their pillows. They took the time to decorate and personalize them. And when they used them, they felt empowered. By having a device in their hands, where adults were less apt to insert themselves, children could make independent choices about what to do with their time — what games were worth playing, which characters deserved a laugh, what songs were allowed to play over and over in their heads....

Some recent writing, including upcoming Newsweek piece

The next issue of Newsweek (dated June 1, 2009) includes an essay I wrote about Sesame Street -- celebrating its extraordinary influence in its first few decades and yet worrying about its waning influence amid so much media competition for young minds.

As readers know, most of my writing time is now fully devoted to EarlyEdWatch.org, where I'm blogging for the New America Foundation and pursuing larger projects related to early education. But that doesn't mean that I've stopped writing about the intersection of technology and children. Here are two pieces that might be of interest:

Digital Media, Literacy Instruction And The Linchpin: Well-Trained Teachers, March 25, 2009

TV Research: Let’s Get Smarter About What Young Children See, Hear and Experience, March 9, 2009

Time for Change (In My Own Little Corner of the World)

On this historic day, with inaugural festivities still ringing in my ears, I happen to have a minute to announce a change of my own: I've decided to take a position with the New America Foundation. As of this month, I'm working as a senior policy analyst for its Early Education Initiative. It is a great opportunity for me to extend my writing about child development and the science of learning, while also delving into how pre-K programs work best. My mission is to raise awareness of what sound research can tell us about young learners -- and what they need most in classrooms, on playgrounds, and at home.

I will be writing regularly at Early Ed Watch, New America's blog on early education. But I'll continue to write for general-interest publications about innovations, conundrums and fascinating trends in early childhood research. Sometimes they will intersect with technology and media issues that I have focused on in this blog, in recent presentations and in my book. More often, they will cover a broader spectrum of questions about how children grow and how to give them the richest, most fertile ground for sowing their curiosity, creative spirits and compassion for the world around them.

Don't be surprised if you see this blog go into long periods of hibernation. But please check out Early Ed Watch and pop over to my Web site for recent articles.

Happy Change Day,
Lisa

"Making a Science of Education"

If you are interested in how technology is changing the way students learn -- and whether we have the research to prove it -- go get your hands on the January 2nd issue of Science.

A video introducing the special issue, which is dedicated to education and technology, spotlights many of the big questions and problems with simply assuming that technology will, or won't, help young people to advance in their understanding of the world.

“We need to build a honest knowledge base of what doesn’t work, what does work and why,” says Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science, “the way we have in science itself. I call it making a science out of education.”

A couple of articles that caught my eye include stories on rethinking the NSF's digital library and software that helps students hone their writing skills. I'm not a member of AAAS, however, so it will cost me $15 per article to read them... So I'm waiting to get to a library to be able to read the full issue. Hopefully many of you out there have a library or workplace that subscribes.