A Field Study of Children's Television Programs

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at children's television programming. The field study was done by watching three different television programs: Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Blue's Clues, and Sesame Street and the conclusions were made according to child psychology teachings.

From the Paper:

"Television is not simply an electronic toy or one of the many forms of entertainment" (Craig, 320). It is a pervasive influence in the lives of children, and this is what sparked my interest in children's television programming for this research project. For my field study, I watched Mr.Roger's neighborhood, Blue's Clues, and Sesame Street over Thanksgiving break. After viewing these programs, some patterns in their methods of teaching their audience became evident. Different methods were used to encourage cognitive development of the young children who watch the shows. All three of the television programs were common in the fact that they aimed at education as well as entertainment for their audience. This fact is crucial, especially since most children watch a lot of television when they are growing up, while they are in their optimal learning period of life. The education/ entertainment mix is crucial for these programs to be successful. If a television show were merely educational without any attempt at being entertaining, children would not want to watch them. It is true that many children show signs that they like learning, but they also have a short attention span, so a television show must be entertaining to keep their attention on the show long enough to learn from it. On the flip side, it would defeat the purpose of trying to make television educational for children to watch show that is merely entertaining. This is why a mix of the two is necessary for an educational program to succeed."

More papers on A Field Study of Children's Television Programs:

• Article Review # 144774 : "Article Review: "A Longitudinal Study of Palliative Care"
• Article Review # 129722 : "Industry Competition on Television Programs"
• Essay # 55292 : "Children's Programs and Violence"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: