Pre-schoolers' childhood companions (2009-10)
Cuddly toys acquire a major importance in children's lives. But how can one recognise the furry friends which have the potential to become truly significant for children and to support them in their development process? A mix of methods permits a glimpse into children's living environments and their thoughts on this subject. By means of diary entries and individual interviews, 30 mothers and fathers report on their children's approach to their “friends”, and approximately 50 kindergarten children talk about their relationship with their favourite cuddly toy. At a representative level, surveys are used to examine the types of toy companions and their characteristics in play situations.
Project management and realization: Andrea Holler (IZI), in collaboration with the Institute “Chancen für Kinder durch Spielen” (Wiesbaden)
Licensed cuddly toys in tests with children (2009)
Merchandising, or the production of licensed products, are now standard practice even for public television broadcasters. However, in the context of the discussion on quality, there is an urgent need to ask what actually constitutes “quality” for these products. 50 kindergarten children select their favourite and least favourite characters from a choice of licensed cuddly toys and justify their decision. Project management: Dr. Maya Götz, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Attentiveness in pre-school groups (2008-9)
When do pre-school programmes win the visual attention of their target audience, and when do they lose it? This question was investigated by observing over 200 children in 17 different countries. Project management: Dr. Maya Götz; project realization: Franziska Gruber (IZI)
Understanding stories (2008-2009)
How do pre-school children understand stories? Using selected cartoon clips, the understanding of emotion and narrative development was tested among 40 children between the ages of 3 and 6.
Project management: Dr. Maya Götz, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann, Julia Cada (IZI)
Documentaries for pre-school children (2008-2009)
Are pre-school children interested in documentaries about other pre-school children? What topics and forms of presentation are especially attractive? Using selected examples, this question is explored with 26 children. Project management: Dr. Maya Götz, Monika Gröller, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Sense of humour in pre-school children: 3 (2008-2010)
In a secondary analysis of the reports of various reception situations given in diverse studies on this topic, an investigation is made into the question of which scenes and types of humour actually make pre-school children laugh.
Project management: Dr. Maya Götz, Franziska Gruber, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Sense of humour in kindergarten children: 2 (2008-2009)
What approach is suitable for arousing the involvement of kindergarten and pre-school children, and what type of humour is understood by this age group? These questions were investigated with the aid of a media analysis of 45 clips from Die Sendung mit dem Elefanten with Anke Engelke and a subsequent reception study involving 47 children between the ages of 2 and 6.
Project management: Dr. Maya Götz, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Sense of humour in kindergarten children: 1 (2006-2007)
Does the humour in a pre-school programme still work on repeated viewing? An analysis of three animated elephant sequences from Die Sendung mit dem Elefanten in terms of their humorous content for pre-school children and an observation of 33 pre-school children during their first and fourth viewings of these elephant sequences aim to provide answers.
Project management: Monika Gröller
Learning English with pre-school programmes: 2 (2007)
In “immersive learning” children develop a basic feeling for the sound and sense of individual words in a foreign language. Die Sendung mit dem Elefanten has adopted this approach in that it repeatedly presents short songs, counting rhymes, and stories in English. But does it make more sense to show the English version first or the German version? This question is investigated in a study involving 36 kindergarten and pre-school children.
Project management: Dr Maya Götz, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Literature: Andrea Holler/Sabrina Bachmann/Maya Götz: Peppa Pig – erst die englische oder erst die deutsche Version? Ein Beitrag im Kindertest. In: TelevIZIon, 20/2007/1, p. 24 (only available in German)
Learning English with pre-school programmes: 1 (2006-2007)
Pre-school children find learning foreign languages particularly easy, and the medium of television can offer such learning opportunities. In the course of this study, involving 160 children from Munich kindergartens, four conceptually different programmes were evaluated.
Project management: Prof. Angelika Speck-Hamdan (LMU Munich), Michael Kirch (LMU Munich)
Literature: Michael Kirch/Angelika Speck-Hamdan: One, two, three with Dora, Elefant & Co.: Learning English at preschool age – A comparison of programme concepts.
In: TelevIZIon, 20/2007/E p.28-33.
The “mommy bar”: from prototype versions to broadcast (2007-2008)
The “mommy bar” was specifically developed for the pre-school programme Die Sendung mit dem Elefanten and tested in several studies for acceptance and effectiveness.
Project management: Dr Maya Götz, Andrea Holler, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Literature: Maya Götz: Der “Elternticker“: Neue Wege im Vorschulfernsehen.
In: TelevIZIon, 21/2008/2, pp. 53-57 (only available in German)
The “mommy bar”: a concept to support parents' teaching? (2006)
On behalf of the IZI, experiences with the “mommy bar” in several forms are tested in the USA. A line of text at the bottom of the screen gives background information on the programme and stimulates the promotion of learning. But do parents accept it? Does it really promote communication between mother and child? A total of 90 mothers and their children took part in this study in the New York area.
Project management: Dr. Shalom M. Fisch (MediaKidz New York)
Literature: Shalom M. Fisch: The “Mommy Bar”. In: TelevIZIon, 20/2007/E, pp. 44-46.
Functions of television in the everyday life of children between the ages of -0.5 and 5, and from the mother's perspective (2006-2009)
Watching television is part of everyday life for many families, in academic and non-academic households. What are mothers' motives for introducing television into the everyday lives of their infants and babies? In diary entries and individual interviews, 36 mothers and 2 fathers from the Munich area with children between the ages of 0 and 5 reported on their actual experiences with television. This was supplemented by a representative survey of mothers on the question of whether, and for what reasons, parents allow their children to watch television. Project management: Dr Maya Götz, Sabrina Bachmann (IZI)
Literature: Maya Götz: Television viewing from before birth up to the age of 5. A review of research literature. In: TelevIZIon, 20/2007/E, pp. 12-17.
Maya Götz/Sabrina Bachmann/Ole Hofmann: Just a babysitter? Functions of television viewing in the daily life of children up to 5 years old from a parental perspective. In: TelevIZIon, 20/2007/E, pp. 35-39.
