Television, like other media, can work as a platform for promoting learning. This article illustrates the value of multimodal discourse analysis for evaluating the potential of a children's television show as a vehicle for fostering knowledge and skills in a specific subject area. Drawing on social semiotic principles and systemic functional genre…

This paper presents a curriculum and design analyses of an Emmy-award winning children educational television series, Cyberchase. Using Posner's (2004) four process of curriculum analysis framework, this paper addresses each of the components and relates it to the design principles undertaken by the Cyberchase production team. Media and document…

Designed to serve as a resource book to aid decision making by Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) staff and advisory panels, this report consists of a review and analysis of the current state of children's television programming. Major sections of the report are devoted to describing and analyzing children's television programming in the…

Documentation of the status of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Television Department's Cable Television Communications Research Project is provided, along with a report of an evaluation which was undertaken both to determine the impact and effectiveness of the EduCable program service to cable system subscribers and to assess the viability of…

Analyzes the transfer of "Sesame Street" to Brazil and Mexico. Explains how the short-run success and long-run failure of the transfer can be found in the nature of the supplier-receiver relationships and in the emphasis on product transfer rather than process modification and adjustment. (PD)

The Anik-B project is part of the two-year communications experiments for which the Anik-B satellite is being used. The project was designed to explore the possibilities of using Interactive Instructional Television (IITV) to provide distance postsecondary education for people living in widely scattered and sometimes inaccessible areas of British…

Reported in this document are findings from an evaluation of three kinds of prosocial children's programming broadcasted by the NBC network during the 1980-81 season. The prosocial programmings evaluated were "Drawing Power,""Play Alongs," and "How to Watch TV". The primary goals of the study, as stated by NBC, were…

A study of the use of television scripts and viewing to involve students in reading found that both teachers and students thought the CBS Television Reading Program had a positive effect upon student reading comprehension, enjoyment of reading, listening, and class participation. (CMV)

An evaluative research study was undertaken to provide the South African broadcasting industry with information on the feasibility of using video mass media approaches for public education on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Specifically, the research was designed to determine public knowledge of and attitudes toward AIDS and shifts…

Ready to Learn is an outreach initiative designed to increase the potential of PBS children's television programs to teach children cognitive and social skills. The program funds workshops for parents and teachers, materials supplementing children's television programs, children's book distribution, and "PBS Families" and "PBS para…

This report presents basic information on the Austin Independent School District's (AISD) Cable Channel 8 which began broadcasting in 1982. Information was collected through a review of Cable 8 schedules and 1983 surveys of AISD administrators, teachers, and parents and community members. Channel 8 broadcasts 24 hours a day with about 12 hours of…

A summative evaluation of the effectiveness of the educational television series, "Statistics," that aired on South African television is presented. The two episodes chosen from the six-episode series covered pie charts, pictograms, and pictographs (episode 1); and point-of-view interpretations of statistics (episode 4). The evaluation…

The Emergency School Assistance Act Television Program (ESAA-TV) provides funds through grants and contracts for the production, duplication, promotion, and distribution of racially integrated children's programming. The programming is designed to help eliminate racial isolation, fear, and distrust and to provide compensatory education material.…

A French program to educate young television viewers and its results are discussed. The program increased the children's critical judgment about television and found that they became more independent in their attitudes toward television as they grew older. (IS)

Described here is a study on the efficacy of a media-rich curriculum based on the idea that children can learn best from "media synergy," that is, when children have opportunities to learn a focused set of skills by engaging in repeated practice with them in many different formats and media. Participants in this study were low-income…