The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report yesterday entitled A Teacher in the Living Room? Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers. It reviews the claims about educational media products (videos and DVDs, computer software, and video games) for very young children and what research has been conducted to validate their educational value. [Click here for NYT coverage.]
The report found that the overwhelming majority of the media products for very young children are advertised as being educational for kids, including three-quarters (76%) of the top-selling videos/DVDs listed for babies from birth to two years old on Amazon.com, and almost all of the top-rated software and video game products. While some companies conduct in-house research to test the effectiveness of their product, the report found that there are no published studies on cognitive outcomes for any of the educational video/DVDs, computer software programs, or video game systems currently on the market for children ages 0-6 years.
Excerpts from the study:
… as a rule, products for the home market tend to be less strictly curriculum-based than those developed for schools. And while products for the classroom may go through a formal review and approval process, the main tool many parents have to assess the quality of products for in-home use is the product’s own marketing and advertising. Many of these home-based products are created for very young children, for use at an age that is critical to children’s brain development, but when the effectiveness of media as an educational tool is, at this point, unproven. In fact, preliminary research indicates that the various media may be less effective in educating very young children than are the other activities that they may well be displacing – such as one-on-one parental interaction.
In some cases, company representatives say they are specifically targeting their marketing to parents who want their child to have every advantage in preparing to meet the increased academic demands of today’s preschool and kindergarten environments. Other companies say they direct their efforts toward parents who worry that they lack the skills or knowledge to adequately prepare their young children for school. Several of the companies interviewed for this report pointed out that when it comes to determining the impact of these media on children, it is ultimately the responsibility of parents to decide whether and how their children use media.
Recommendations of advocates cited in the report, but not endorsed, include (1) Vastly increase research on the impact of educational media products on very young children, (2) Create an independent, non-profit review service that would make professional assessments of educational media products available to parents free of charge, (3) Consider creating clearer standards for products marketed to parents as educational, (4) Support the development of non-commercial educational media content for young children.
The first five years of life are broadly recognized as the most critical years for child (especially brain) development, and there are numerous state and local initiatives, as well as white papers on the subject by groups such as the National Governor’s Association. Some states, such as California, have explicitly asked for social marketing expertise to support the development of programs addressing healthy development, school readiness and universal access to preschool. The report also raises the question for social marketers as to what role ‘critical marketing’ might play in improving the quality and efficacy of the products as well as providing consumer protection safeguards. "[Social marketing} can not only help define problems by examining [commercial] marketing [practices] dispassionately and realistically, but, crucially, map out solutions."
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