Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an educational
television program.
Design: Experimental STudy. Random assignments. Pre- and post-tests.
Subjects and Setting: 369 Turkish preschoolers from low-income families with stay-at-home
mothers (children’s mean age = 5.25 yrs).
Intervention: Participants in the econtinued
Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an educational
television program.
Design: Experimental STudy. Random assignments. Pre- and post-tests.
Subjects and Setting: 369 Turkish preschoolers from low-income families with stay-at-home
mothers (children’s mean age = 5.25 yrs).
Intervention: Participants in the experimental condition were asked to watch a TV
show referred to as “BOM” in the paper every weekday for 13 weeks. This is a TV
program intended to "improve the developmental trajectories of young
children" and promote school readiness among 4- to 6-year-olds from low
SES backgrounds. The control participants were asked to watch another
entertainment program in the same time slot. The natural observation participants
were informed about “BOM” but received no further instruction.
Outcome Measures: Basic arithmetic readiness, categorization, spatial analogies,
syllabification, and vocabulary. Independent variable: actual exposure to “BOM.”
Results: Children in the experimental condition who watched BOM at least once a
week showed significant gains in basic arithmetic readiness, categorization,
and spatial analogy skills (p
< .05, p < .01, p < .05,
respectively). Amongst the experimental participants who watched BOM at least
once a week, improvements were especially prominent for children with
below-average pre-screening scores.
Conclusions: The program was effective in improving cognitive skills of preschool
children who had at least a moderate level of exposure to it. The program had
some compensatory effects, in that it benefited the children with below-average
pretest scores more than other children. Researchers suggest that a sound
public policy encouraging educational television programs, especially those
targeted to the disadvantaged population, is desirable. © Center on Media and
Child Health
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