Television As Teacher: Storytelling in Children's
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TELEVISION AS TEACHER: STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA Item Type Electronic Thesis; text Authors Bravin, Ryan Citation Bravin, Ryan. (2020). TELEVISION AS TEACHER: STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA (Bachelor's thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA). Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 04:17:30 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/650923 TELEVISION AS TEACHER: STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA By RYAN NICKOLAS BRAVIN A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors degree With Honors In Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MAY 2020 Approved by: Dr. Jennifer Stevens-Aubrey Department of Communication STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 2 Abstract This content analysis seeks to uncover the relationship between the stories told in children’s educational media and the educational content they also include. Because media of this type have grown tremendously within the past decade while also become more readily available for the average consumer, this research most certainly has the potential to impact the lives of parents and teachers of young children. The present study involves analyzing quantitative data from 40 different episodes that represent a total of 10 children’s television shows, where we consider how well each episode tells its story in addition to how well it incorporates educational content throughout. This involves looking at the narrative structure, the characters present, the nature of the conflict, the degree of clarity given to the educational content, and the degree of separation between narrative and educational content. The results indicate that while children’s educational television episodes are effective in balancing engagement with education, there is a tendency for these shows to have a stronger emphasis on education than they do on engagement. With this in mind, the discussion focuses on the implications of this and revolves around how parents, teachers, and other stakeholders in the lives of young children might practically respond to these findings. STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 3 Statement of Purpose and Relevance Children’s educational media is on the rise. Looking to Common Sense Media’s list of Educational TV shows for kids (2019) reveals that of the 12 shows listed as appropriate for preschoolers (ages 2-4), eight of them were released in 2010 or later. This increase in the availability of educational television within the past decade coincides with its increased demand, as children’s daily media consumption in 2017 hit its highest amount to date at over two hours and fifteen minutes per day (Common Sense Media, 2017). In addition, research from the Center for Children and Technology dating back to 2004 has consistently shown that people generally remember about twice as much content when they see it and hear it. “Thus, television’s combination of sound and imagery renders it a powerful aid to learning” (Coonrod, 2004, p. 2). Television clearly acts as a resource that parents, teachers, and other stakeholders use to help young children engage in early formal learning. For these reasons, children’s educational television is most certainly a relevant issue to research. By conducting research revolving around the current state of children’s educational television, we hope to investigate the ways in which children’s television conforms to principles of childhood learning while also adhering to principles of narrative and storytelling. Because the goal of these media is to strike a balance between achieving their targeted learning objectives and keeping their audience members engaged, this research hopes to identify how this is being done. The necessity for producing engaging material has been apparent since the 1880s, when psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus pioneered landmark research in the field of retention and learning. In an article written about his famous diagram called the “forgetting curve,” he suggests that the fully developed human brain forgets 56% of information after one hour, 66% after one day, and 75% after one week (Terada, 2017). When we consider the implications of STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 4 this research, we find that retention rates are comparable—if not worse—when compared to a younger and less developed brain. In response to this, many parents and educators find themselves turning to narratives and stories as a means for their children to learn and retain educational material. Many studies in narrative theory have shown just how powerful storytelling can be in fostering increased attention span, retention rates, and long-term recall, pointing to its relevance in the world of children’s educational media (Feitelson, 1986; Zak, 2013, Moorman, 2015). Packaging targeted learning objectives through storytelling and narratives has historically been shown to be an effective means of maximizing learning— especially in younger children—and this fact serves as the inspiration for the present study. However, there are many examples of children’s educational media that rely too heavily on the storytelling involved, while virtually ignoring their expressed learning outcomes. Although these media might be advertised as educational in nature, a critical evaluation of them reveals that they are nothing more than pure entertainment. Without being properly informed of this, many parents may find themselves allowing their children to consume media that looks “educational” on the surface when in reality, its educational benefits are minimal. The goal of this research is to observe children’s educational television from both a narrative standpoint and a learning standpoint. By identifying how effectively these media conform to the hallmarks of conventional storytelling in addition to observing how explicitly these stories connect with their educational content, we hope to uncover a pattern that will allow us to effectively evaluate examples of children’s educational media. Educational Media in Childhood In Common Sense Media’s most recent census from 2017, we learn much about children aged 0-8 and their relation to the media. These are a few of the key statistics from this census: STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 5 (a) Children from ages 0-8, on average, spend nearly one hour per day watching television. (b) 98% of children from ages 0-8 live in a home with access to a television set. (c) For children from ages 0-8, television and video viewing take up 72% of their daily screen time. These statistics clearly show that television usage is pervasive in the lives of children. Regardless of race or socioeconomic status, television will undoubtedly touch every child’s life in one way or another. Moreover, this census also analyzes the use of mobile devices and the Internet in children from ages 0-8, which reveals that habitual media use is widespread: (a) Since 2013, the amount of time that young children spend on mobile devices has tripled from 15 minutes per day to 48 minutes per day. (b) 98% of children from ages 0-8 live in a home with access to a mobile device, a 40% increase since 2011. (c) 84% of parents of children from ages 0-8 report that their children use a mobile device on a regular basis, an increase of almost 50% from 2011. All of these statistics point to the fact that media use—whether through a television, a mobile device, or the Internet—has become nearly universal in the lives of our children. Although the specific media content that children are consuming varies across different genres, it is likely that educational media constitutes a large percentage of their use. The same census from Common Sense Media (2017) reveals that 67% of parents agree that their children’s consumption of screen media helps with their learning process, and 57% say that their child’s consumption of screen media helps with their creativity. We can also look to the prevalence of streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Xfinity, YouTube, and even the STORYTELLING IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 6 recently launched Disney+; as many of these streaming services devote entire subsections of their materials to children’s educational content. The bottom line is this: children have more access to educational media than they ever did before. Because parents act as the gatekeeper between their young children and their media intake, this steady increase in available educational media requires parents to become even more critical of the media they allow their children to consume. Thus, the goal of this research is to give parents, educators, and other stakeholders in the lives of young children an accurate measure by which they can act as effective curators of high-quality content. A literature review on the following theories will ground the present study: (a) Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory and Five-Part Narrative Structure, (b) Propp’s Seven Fairy Tale Characters. (c) Strauss’ Theory of Binary Opposition, and (d) Fisch’s (2000) Learning Capacity Model as it relates to explicitness and distance. After analyzing these theories and relating them to our research questions, we will conduct a content analysis of children’s educational television shows. With this, we hope to see first-hand exactly how our sample of shows are functioning as both narrative and education. Literature Review Todorov’s Five-Part Narrative Structure Examining theories regarding narrative structure are important to understanding children’s educational television because many children’s educational television shows rely on recognizable narrative patterns. The more simplistic and identifiable the narrative is, the fewer cognitive resources a child must use in processing that narrative, leaving more resources for processing the show’s educational content.