Pedagogy

Human Development 2

Introduction

In todays society, televisions are everywhere and in almost every room of a household.  Kids in general are watching an enormous amount of TV as compared to past generations and are therefore being exposed to more and more violence, foul language, sexuality and advertisements than ever before.

Three developmental issues that I found surrounding television watching involve television watching versus doing school homework, advertisement exposure and time for family togetherness.  Children spend more than twice as much time watching television as they do on schoolwork. (Doherty, p.138)  So, either theyre not doing all their homework at home or theyre watching a lot of tv.

Children are exposed to an estimated 10,000 food advertisements per year, mostly on television. (Doherty, p. 139)  Just think of all of that influence.  Kids see other kids eating something and enjoying it on tv.  How does that effect the next time their parents take them grocery shopping  How does that affect their eating habits for the rest of their lives

A program watched together by all family members at least provides opportunities for family discussion. (Doherty, p. 140)  If done correctly, tv time can be a family time and can help nourish a childs mind and spirit.  It can also serve as a family bonding and unwinding time at the end of the day.

Different programs can have different impacts on a childs development depending on what age that child is.  Younger children are going to be more influenced by programming geared toward that age group.  The same is true for older children,

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however, the older the child gets, the more they can be influenced by shows geared toward adults.  In both cases there can be positive and negative effects on the childs development.  The positive being an educational experience that they can learn from and use.  The negative would be the child simply sitting in front of the tv in a trance-like state and being influenced by advertisements and negative behavior.

I watched three different shows geared toward children ages 2-6 to try to get a sense of what young kids are watching these days and to see if they are truly educational or not.  Being that these shows are all on Nickelodeon and Disney Im thinking that I will be able to find at least some educational value.

Method

I sat down and watched three childrens programs, Handy Manny on Disney, Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon and Blues Clues on Nickelodeon.  I watched them all in a row so I would be able to compare and contrast.  I took notes on all three in regards to what the show was about, the setting, the characters, any developmental or social issues in the show, the level and type of cognition used, the language being used and what age level the show was aimed at.

There was animation in each of the shows with Handy Manny and Dora the Explorer being all animation and Blues Clues being one real actor set in an animated world with some real props.  Ages were mixed with kids and adults in all shows as well as there was a mix in gender with all.  Handy Manny had a mix of Latino background

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with Caucasian background.  Dora is Latino and her friend Boots is a monkey.  In Blues Clues, Blue is a dog and Steve, the only human in the show, is Caucasian.

Results

In Handy Manny the character Ms. Hillary, who is the elementary music teacher, is having a bake sale to raise money for a band trip.  She asks Handy Manny, who appears to be a construction worker or handy man, to help to set up her tables for the sale.  While he is setting things up, a man with his cat walks in to see if he can buy anything.  His cat jumps out of his arms and onto the table with the baked goods and breaks the table.  The goodies all fall to the ground and the table needs to be fixed.  Here comes Handy Manny to the rescue  He and his talking tools go to the bakery and the hardware store to get the needed things.

Everything gets fixed and the bake sale is saved.

The slow pace of the show, the bright colors and the simple problems the characters overcome tell me that it is aimed at children ages 2-6.  There wasnt any interaction between characters and viewers but the story line displayed a good message saying that if you help others, good things will happen.

This would be a good program for a parent to watch with their child so that the message could be reinforced.  It would also work for a child to watch it on their own or with other children as the bright colors, animation like the talking tools and story line should keep them captivated.

In Dora the Explorer, Dora is a school aged child who has a friend Boots who is a monkey.  The show begins in a store where Boots wants to buy a ball.  He does not have

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enough money to pay so Dora gives him the rest that he needs.  They go outside and play with the ball and it bounces away down the path and eventually to a distant volcano.  They then go on a journey with the help from Map, a talking map, to find the ball.  They encounter different challenges along the way but eventually make it to the ball and get it back.  Throughout the entire show, the characters interact with the viewer and ask questions and allow the viewer time to give an answer when different options are given.

Again, with the pace of the show, the simplicity of the problems to overcome (like when Dora and Boots want the viewer to hop like a frog to cross the mucky mud) and the bright colors, I feel that this is a show aimed at 2-6 year olds.  I think that this show could be beneficial if viewed with a parent, especially for younger children, so that the interaction is done appropriately or that the message is conveyed.  However, viewing with other children or even by themselves could be appropriate as well.   The show tries to convey the you can do it attitude and gives positive reinforcement to accomplishments like when a little band comes out and plays a tune every time they complete a task.  It also tells you to beware of shady characters like Swiper the Fox who is only looking to steal the ball from Dora and Boots.  They shout out Swiper no swiping three times and he leaves.  It tries to teach kids to have confidence when faced with a problem.
The last show I watched was Blues Clues.  In this show, Steve is the only human character in an animated world.  His animated puppy is Blue and is the co-main character along with Steve.  The setting is in Steves house and there are many other characters that are talking objects such as Side Table Drawer, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper and Slippery

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Soap to name a few.  In this particular show, Blue has a dream and in order to figure out what she dreamed about the viewer needs to help Steve find Blues three clues.  The clues are marked with a big blue paw print.  When a clue is found, Steve writes it down in his notebook and after all three are found, he sits in his thinking chair and thinks with the viewer as to what it is that Blue dreamt about.  The three clues in this show were a leotard, a floor mat and rolling.  It is ultimately figured out that Blue was dreaming about doing gymnastics.  Afterwards a song is sung about how the viewer and Steve figured it out and that the viewer is really smart.

Like Dora, this show has the interaction factor, a lot of bright colors and very simple problems to solve and looks to be aimed at 2-6 years olds as well.  One of the main messages throughout the show is that if you are having a bad dream, you can change it if you think real hard.  The show does keep the viewer interested in that they need to help to find all three clues to figure out the answer.  I think that for younger children, it would be good to have a parent present to help with the interaction.  The 5 and 6 year old, though, should be able to figure it out on their own or with their peers.

Discussion

In this study, my purpose was to watch three different programs aimed at children to look at the social, cognitive, educational and entertainment value and to determine the age appropriation as well.  All of the shows seemed to be geared toward children ages 2 to 6 because of the simplicity, bright colored animation and low level problem solving taking place.  Not saying that children older than 6 wouldnt watch it, in fact, Id be

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willing to bet that 8 and 9 year olds still would find them entertaining.  But I think that the prime audience theyre trying to reach are the 2 to 6 year olds.

Dora the Explorer and Handy Manny interjected Spanish words and phrases in their shows in a kid friendly way.  Blues Clues was all in English.  Both Handy Manny and Dora are Latino but none of the other characters appeared to be so.  Everyone else was Caucasian.

Both Dora the Explorer and Blues Clues were interactive and prompted viewers to think and answer questions as well as help out by verbalizing to the characters what needed to be accomplished.

In each show, there is adversity throughout with something good accomplished at the end.  In Handy Manny, they saved the bake sale by fixing the table and getting more baked goods when a bunch are ruined.  In Dora, the viewer helps Dora and Boots get across the mucky mud and the troll bridge to get to the volcano and ultimately get Boots ball.  In Blues Clues, the viewer helps Steve search and find clues and put it all together in the end to figure it out.

I think that each of these shows are good for a childs education and development as long as the child is able to understand and even interact with the show.  The interaction could also help with a childs social interaction in that they become comfortable talking to the characters in the show.  Watching with a parent could definitely help with the childs understanding of the show, especially for the younger ones.

Each show ran uninterrupted for their duration, however, afterward there were a barrage of advertising  especially on Nickelodeon.  The kids get a good message and

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learn something in the show but then get inundated with products that they end up thinking they need because the kids in the commercials think theyre the best.

Ultimately, it is the parent that is responsible for what and how much television their children watch.  I do believe that with all of the violence, sex, advertising and foul language on tv that children and the shows they watch need to be monitored and limits should be set.  However, with good educational shows on tv like the ones I just viewed, its good to know that kids and parents have options.  The best television programming can be a nourishing part of a complete diet that includes times with parents and with other children, times of active play, times of quiet play, and of course, plenty of time for sleep. (Rogers, p. 33)