Gabrielle A. Strouse

Age, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Patterns in Early Computer Use A National Survey

Parents were interviewed about the media habits of their 6-month to 6-year-old children. For children who had used computers, linear increases in computer usage occurred across this age range with a shift from using a computer on a parent’s lapat aboutage 21/2 to autonomous computer and mouse use at about age 31/2. There were almost no gender differences in early computer patterns. Families with higher incomes and higher education levels were more likely to own computers and to have Internet access from home. Latino families were least likely to own a computer; Latino and African American families were less likely than Caucasian families to have Internet access at home. Parents perceived computers favorably for children’s learning. No relationship was found between the frequency with which children play computer games and the likelihood that they can read, but increased nongame computer use was associated with increased likelihood of reading.

Do Babies Learn From Baby Media

In recent years, parents in the United States and worldwide have purchased enormous numbers of videos and DVDs designed and marketed for infants, many assuming that their children would benefit from watching them. We examined how many new words 12- to 18-month-old children learned from viewing a popular DVD several times a week for 4 weeks at home. The most important result was that children who viewed the DVD did not learn any more words from their monthlong exposure to it than did a control group. The highest level of learning occurred in a no-video condition in which parents tried to teach their children the same target words during everyday activities. Another important result was that parents who liked the DVD tended to overestimate how much their children had learned from it. We conclude that infants learn relatively little from infant media and that their parents sometimes overestimate what they do learn.

Effective coviewing: Preschoolers' learning from video after a dialogic questioning intervention.

Young preschoolers rapidly acquire new information from social partners but do not learn efficiently from people on video. We trained parents to use Whitehursts dialogic reading questioning techniques while watching educational television with their children. Eighty-one parents coviewed storybook videos with their 3-year-old children in 1 of 4 conditions: dialogic questioning (pause, ask questions, and encourage children to tell parts of the story), directed attention (pause and comment but do not ask questions), dialogic actress (show the videos with dialogic questioning by an on-screen actress embedded in them), or no intervention (show the videos as usual). After 4 weeks, children in the dialogic questioning group scored higher than children in the directed attention and no-intervention groups on story comprehension and story vocabulary measures. Scores from the dialogic actress group fell in between. On a standardized measure of expressive vocabulary, children in the 2 parent-interaction groups exhibited significant improvement over their pretest scores. Results indicate that parent-led questioning enhances childrens learning from video stories at age 3 and that a video incorporating an on-screen dialogic questioner may also be effective. Mechanisms behind the effect of dialogic reading-style interventions are discussed.

What’s next for research on young children’s interactive media?

Abstract Since early in the development of children’s television, research has informed policy and practice involving young children’s media use. To increase the likelihood that new media support children’s development, research in the coming decade must stay current with advancing technology. With the advent of various forms of interactive digital media, key research questions involve social and physical interactivity. How should adults appropriately support children’s use of different kinds of media to promote children’s creativity, learning, and development? How does co-viewing (social interaction) overlap with and differ from contingency built into the medium itself? When a device interacts, does that change the kind of support required of a co-viewing adult, or eliminate the need for such support? How does the introduction of new technology impact the lives of families? Issues related to video chat, touchscreen and motion capture technology, artificial intelligence, and electronic books and games are discussed.

Toddlers’ word learning and transfer from electronic and print books

Transfer from symbolic media to the real world can be difficult for young children. A sample of 73 toddlers aged 17 to 23months were read either an electronic book displayed on a touchscreen device or a traditional print book in which a novel object was paired with a novel label. Toddlers in both conditions learned the label within the context of the book. However, only those who read the traditional format book generalized and transferred the label to other contexts. An older group of 28 toddlers aged 24 to 30months did generalize and transfer from the electronic book. Across ages, those children who primarily used screens to watch prerecorded video at home transferred less from the electronic book than those with more diverse home media experiences.

Are Prompts Provided by Electronic Books as Effective for Teaching Preschoolers a Biological Concept as Those Provided by Adults

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Prior research indicates that shared book reading is an effective method for teaching biological concepts to young children. Adult questioning during reading enhances children’s comprehension. We investigated whether adult prompting during the reading of an electronic book enhanced children’s understanding of a biological concept. Ninety-one 4-year-olds read about camouflage in 3 conditions. We varied how prompts were provided: (a) read by the book, (b) read by a researcher, or (c) given face to face by the researcher. There was an interaction between children’s initial vocabulary level and condition. Children with low vocabulary scores gave fewer camouflage responses than their high-vocabulary peers, and this effect was particularly pronounced in the book-read condition. Children’s executive function was also measured and discussed. Practice or Policy: Our findings indicate that under some circumstances electronic prompts built into touchscreen books can be as effective at supporting conceptual development as the same prompts provided by a coreading adult. However, children with low vocabulary skills may be particularly supported by adult-led prompting. We suggest that adult prompting be used to motivate children to test and revise their own biological theories. Once children have learned strategies for updating their concepts, electronic prompting may be useful for scaffolding children’s transition to using the strategies when reading alone.

The Role of Book Features in Young Children's Transfer of Information from Picture Books to Real-World Contexts

Picture books are an important source of new language, concepts, and lessons for young children. A large body of research has documented the nature of parent-child interactions during shared book reading. A new body of research has begun to investigate the features of picture books that support childrens learning and transfer of that information to the real world. In this paper, we discuss how childrens symbolic development, analogical reasoning, and reasoning about fantasy may constrain their ability to take away content information from picture books. We then review the nascent body of findings that has focused on the impact of picture book features on childrens learning and transfer of words and letters, science concepts, problem solutions, and morals from picture books. In each domain of learning we discuss how childrens development may interact with book features to impact their learning. We conclude that childrens ability to learn and transfer content from picture books can be disrupted by some book features and research should directly examine the interaction between childrens developing abilities and book characteristics on childrens learning.

Parent–Toddler Behavior and Language Differ When Reading Electronic and Print Picture Books

Little is known about the language and behaviors that typically occur when adults read electronic books with infants and toddlers, and which are supportive of learning. In this study, we report differences in parent and child behavior and language when reading print versus electronic versions of the same books, and investigate links between behavior and vocabulary learning. Parents of 102 toddlers aged 17–26 months were randomly assigned to read two commercially available electronic books or two print format books with identical content with their toddler. After reading, children were asked to identify an animal labeled in one of the books in both two-dimensional (pictures) and three-dimensional (replica objects) formats. Toddlers who were read the electronic books paid more attention, made themselves more available for reading, displayed more positive affect, participated in more page turns, and produced more content-related comments during reading than those who were read the print versions of the books. Toddlers also correctly identified a novel animal labeled in the book more often when they had read the electronic than the traditional print books. Availability for reading and attention to the book acted as mediators in predicting children’s animal choice at test, suggesting that electronic books supported children’s learning by way of increasing their engagement and attention. In contrast to prior studies conducted with older children, there was no difference between conditions in behavioral or off-topic talk for either parents or children. More research is needed to determine the potential hazards and benefits of new media formats for very young children.

Promoting preschoolers’ emotional competence through prosocial TV and mobile app use

ABSTRACT This study explored the relationship between preschoolers’ exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood television programming and its accompanying mobile app and preschoolers’ emotion knowledge and use of emotion regulation strategies. An experiment involving 121 parent-child dyads from 3 US metro areas found that children who played with the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood app, and those who both played with the app and watched episodes of the program, employed the emotion regulation strategies taught by Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood media more frequently 1 month later than children in a control condition. Preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) also exhibited higher levels of emotion knowledge 1 month after playing with the app. In addition, watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood TV episodes in the home led to increases in parents’ provision of active mediation. Implications for families, educators, and producers of educational media content are discussed.