Fred Rogers's television program, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", connected with young children and educated them about difficult concepts for more than 30 years. The author analyzes and discusses several principles and pedagogical techniques that were used in Rogers's television program, including communicating with children,…

Children's television programming frequently uses interactive characters that appear to directly engage the viewers. These characters encourage children to answer questions and perform actions to help the characters solve problems in the televised world. Children readily engage in these interactions; however, it is unclear why they do so. To…

Early childhood education in Australia is currently undergoing a period of change and renewal. Times of change offer opportunities to revisit the perspectives of the past, to respond to current choices and challenges, and explore future opportunities within the national provision of early childhood care and education. Such opportunities also exist…

Australian "Play School" is a children's television programme developed in collaboration with early childhood educators. It is screened free to air across Australia. Two hundred and twenty-four adult carers of young children aged 1-8 years completed an online survey via a link on the "Play School" website. The survey addressed…

Background: Children with autism have difficulties in emotion recognition and a number of interventions have been designed to target these problems. However, few emotion training interventions have been trialled with young children with autism and co-morbid ID. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an emotion training programme for a group…

Over time children's educational television has successfully modified programming to incorporate research-based strategies to facilitate learning and engagement during viewing. However, research has been limited on whether these same strategies would work with preschool deaf children viewing videos in American Sign Language. In a descriptive…

Moses discusses research findings about television, young children, and literacy. She addresses research on a number of topics: How much and what kind of programming do children watch? What is the literacy content in popular children's programming? Does programming send positive or negative messages about literacy? What is television's impact on…

This study described the relations among the amount of child-directed versus adult-directed television exposure at ages 1 and 4 with cognitive outcomes at age 4. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were 1 and 4 years of age. At age 4, their children also completed a series of cognitive measures and parents…

Notes the correlation between television-viewing habits and children's level of creativity, aggressiveness, and social skills. Highlights better quality programming, noting that most of it is on cable rather than network television. Cautions against the less controllable factors such as commercials and "teasers" for other programs and movies. (HTH)

Examines research on television violence and links violence to specific programs commonly watched by young children. Maintains that television violence is related to aggressive behavior, lessened sensitivity to the results of violence, and increased fear. Examines public reactions to children's educational television programs. (Author/KB)

Currently all non-exempt television shows are given one of six "age-based" ratings, such as TV-14. The industry also agreed to add "content descriptors" to the age-based ratings in certain instances, letting parents know when some programs contain particular types of content such as violence, sex, or adult language. The ratings…

For more than a quarter of century, researchers have been studying the effects of TV viewing on both children and adults. Although controversies still exist, the data presents a clear picture of increased aggression in all age groups following the viewing of ?violent? TV. In this article, the author discusses how to help a child who is negatively…

Examines young children's gender role development, focusing on the impact of television viewing. Maintains that role models and imitation are extremely influential factors shaping gender-typed behavior. Identifies gender bias in television programming, including music television and commercials, and discusses gender bias in children's television…

Summarizes findings of the Television Violence Study indicating that the context of much television violence is dangerous to viewers, perpetrators go unpunished in the majority of programs, negative consequences of violence are often ignored, guns feature prominently, and presentation of violence differs greatly across networks and across…

Outlines the effects of the deregulation of television advertising and marketing on children's play and behavior. Discusses what early childhood educators can do to counteract these effects. (HTH)