No one is going to be able to say anything meaningful about these two huge categories called “kids” and “media” until they dig into the complexities underlying each category. Two new resources can help.
- The Center for Media and Child Health, which is connected to Children’s Hospital in Boston, has a free online database of research on how screen time and digital media affect children.
- The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop has just released a report -- “D is for Digital: An Analysis of the Children’s Interactive Media Environment….” – that is based in part on a database of educational media products. (See more below.)
Both resources take distinct, and somewhat opposing, slants on how to think about the interplay of media and childhood. The Center for Media and Child Health has something of a physician’s perspective – hyper-alert for signs that technology may be leading kids’ astray. The Cooney Center has a rosier view of technology, no doubt instilled by the success of Sesame Street via television. I plan to keep tabs on both – and if you see any other clearinghouses I should know about, send them my way.
1 comments:
Thaks for the information on these resources Lisa and we will be delighted to continue the dialogue on what research tells us about the potential and lack thereof of digital media for children's learning and healthy development
Michael Levine
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