Abstract:
Many studies have shown that children can learn from television, but few studies have explored how children process the information that is presented to them. The present study investigates this process through the constructs of the capacity model, which is built upon three basic components: the processing of narrative content, the processing of educational content, and the semantic distance between the two. According to the capacity model, a variety of factors influence the processing of narrative and educational content including cognitive maturity of the child, prior exposure to the material, the degree to which the educational content is integral or tangential to the narrative content (i.e., distance), and the complexity of the formal features in the program (e.g., pace). More specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine how the pace of children's educational programming and the semantic distance between educational and narrative content influence the acquisition of information for preschool children between the ages of three and five. In order to select the proper stimuli for the quasi-experimental portion of the project, a content analysis was conducted to examine the pace and distance of 80 programs on three child-oriented television networks--Nick Jr., PBS Kids, and Playhouse Disney. The results of the content analysis indicated considerable variability in pace and distance in E/I programming television and guided the selection of stimulus material for the main study. The quasi-experimental portion of this study used 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 135) in a 3 (pace) x 2 (distance) factorial, within-subject design to measure the acquisition of educational content and narrative content. Findings indicated that children typically acquired narrative content more easily than they acquire educational content, and as the complexity of a program increased, children's ability to process information decreased. Pace, distance, and children's cognitive maturity played a significant role in the acquisition of information, as well as liking and recognition. However, the sensitivity of these variables varied. Additionally, the results revealed that the degree of semantic distance and children's cognitive maturity played a significant role in their ability to acquire information from educational and narrative content.
