Suchergebnisse

In 1990, Channel One, the 12-minute commercial news program for schoolchildren, was launched into middle and high schools across the United States. This article analyzes research investigating the alleged benefits of Channel One—the technology, student learning of current events, increased student interest in the news—and the major cost—the advertising. It concludes that outside uses for the technology remain modest. While the program can enhance students' learning of current events and spark their interest in the news, its ability to do so is largely dependent on supplemental activities by teachers. Teachers are constrained in their use by organizational factors and restrictive terms of the Channel One contract. More difficult to assess, due to limited research in this area, are the costs associated with Channel One's advertising to young people in a school setting.

Analyzes research investigating benefits (technology, student learning of current events, and increased student interest in the news) and costs (advertising) of this twelve-minute commercial news program for schoolchildren; since 1990, chiefly; US.

Flow theory offers an individualistic explanation of media enjoyment, while cooperative learning theory posits a social explanation for enhanced learning in groups. This classroom-based experimental study examines whether game players can experience both conditions and the influence of each on several types of civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. We find that high quality cooperative learning contributed to acquiring civic knowledge and skills. In contrast, flow was more influential for developing dispositions to empathy and interest in learning more about the game topics. Thus, we conclude that players can experience flow while engaged in cooperative learning, but that these two conditions may support different kinds of civic learning.

Digital simulations are increasingly used to educate about the causes and effects of poverty, and inspire action to alleviate it. Drawing on research about attributions of poverty, subjective well-being, and relative income, this experimental study assesses the effects of an online poverty simulation (entitled Spent) on participants' beliefs, attitudes, and actions. Results show that, compared with a control group, Spent players donated marginally more money to a charity serving the poor and expressed higher support for policies benefitting the poor, but were less likely to take immediate political action by signing an online petition to support a higher minimum wage. Spent players also expressed greater subjective well-being than the control group, but this was not associated with increased policy support or donations. Spent players who experienced greater presence (perceived realism of the simulation) had higher levels of empathy, which contributed to attributing poverty to structural causes and support for anti-poverty policies. We draw conclusions for theory about the psychological experience of playing online poverty simulations, and for how they could be designed to stimulate charity and support for anti-poverty policies.

Digital simulations are increasingly used to educate about the causes and effects of poverty, and inspire action to alleviate it. Drawing on research about attributions of poverty, subjective well-being, and relative income, this experimental study assesses the effects of an online poverty simulation (entitled Spent) on participants' beliefs, attitudes, and actions. Results show that, compared with a control group, Spent players donated marginally more money to a charity serving the poor and expressed higher support for policies benefitting the poor, but were less likely to take immediate political action by signing an online petition to support a higher minimum wage. Spent players also expressed greater subjective well-being than the control group, but this was not associated with increased policy support or donations. Spent players who experienced greater presence (perceived realism of the simulation) had higher levels of empathy, which contributed to attributing poverty to structural causes and support for anti-poverty policies. We draw conclusions for theory about the psychological experience of playing online poverty simulations, and for how they could be designed to stimulate charity and support for anti-poverty policies.

How does television affect children's reading skill development? The relationship between television behavior and reading achievement is examined within a conceptual framework of television and reading constructs such as media availability and parental media behavior, children's use of print and broadcast media, and measures of their attitudes and orientations toward television and print. The framework is examined for children at three different stages of reading development. Five principal constructs—socioeconomic status, print and television home environment, amount of media use, orientations toward print and television, and involvement with print and television—are used to predict reading achievement in regression analyses performed separately for each grade cohort.