>> overview Educational television
Knowledge and documentary
programmes for children in 2002-2003
In children's television scheduling,
entertainment and fiction are the most ubiquitous genres.
Conversely, parents/educators try to encourage the consumption
of non-fiction genres such as documentaries but report that
these types of programmes are less attractive to children.
This research project carried out by the IZI investigates
educational programmes in order to learn more about what features
of these programmes are attractive for children, as well as
how this content might impact upon learning. This research
is theoretically grounded in present educational learning
theories, which see children as active participants in knowledge
construction.
As a topic, children's television
consumption and content have been the focus of much academic
research, but since concrete facts are relatively rare, a
broad-based investigation will be conducted.
Pilot study
The pilot study was carried out about the children's programmes Willi
wills wissen and Felix und die wilden Tiere. The
children watched one episode, discussed the content with an
educator, drew what they liked most, and in the end talked
to the programmes' hosts, Willi and Felix, about the programmes.
A few weeks later telephone interviews were conducted to find
out what the children still remembered from the programme.
In total 16 children aged between
7 and 11 participated in three groups. The aim, in addition
to consulting the producers about the development of these
formats, was to work out a suitable methodological repertoire
for the main phase of the research.
Main phase
The main aim of this study was to research the structure of
educational and documentary programmes that are attractive
for children (7-11 years old) and that contain moments encouraging
education.
Research questions:
- For children, what is central
in the programme?
- Wherein can learning- and
memory outcomes be discovered (learning understood as construction
of meaning) directly after watching the programme and 4
weeks later?
- Are there correlations between
attention during the programme and learning- and memory
outcomes?
- Are there any gender- and
class-specific differences?
- Are there any correlations
to intended humour?
- Are there any indications
as to the manner in which information may best be embedded
so as to be particularly successful in encouraging learning-
and memory outcomes?
Method
300 children from day-care centres in Munich were shown one
episode of a current educational programme for schoolchildren.
The six chosen programmes were:
- Willi wills wissen (BR)
- Wissen macht Ah! (WDR)
- Null-Acht-13 (WDR/SFB/ MDR)
- Was ist was TV (Super RTL)
- Felix und die wilden Tiere
(BR)
- Anja und Anton (ZDF)
During their viewing the children were
recorded on video. Subsequently, they drew what they liked
best. In individual interviews they were questioned about
the drawing, the programme and about their individual acquisition
of information.
3-4 weeks after the investigation there
was a second wave. The children drew what they remembered
best about the programme and described what they thought they
had learnt.
The first results regarding humour
were introduced at the IZI
conference on December 12th 2002; the complete results
were published in TelevIZIon
2004/1 (only available in German).
|