This report presents two research studies. The first, an experiment using 176 fifth graders, tested three hypotheses: (1) When content is held constant across messages, different formats of a medium differentially call for mental skills. (2) Formats which call for the same skills in different ways affect learners differently. (3) The TV formats…

Compares Japanese and American television programs most often watched by children and evaluates frequency and quality of portrayal of older characters. American television was found to portray older characters more frequently and more positively than Japanese television. (NRB)

Details a survey of 264 Canadian elementary school teachers to determine their views on the influence of television advertising language on students' ability to learn standard English usage. Calls for research to ascertain whether the cause and effect relationship seen by a significant portion of the respondents has a basis in fact. (RBW)

Television viewing has negative effects and positive potential for young children. It is evident that children need to be educated in television viewing in order to understand the differences between fantasy and reality, and sponsor motives. (DF)

The impact of the Children's Television Act, which requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational programs for children, was examined by having 141 second through sixth graders watch 16 popular and unpopular television programs and then assess the motivational appeal of, and children's learning from, these programs. Popular and…

Contributes to scholarship on the effects of television on children. Finds that the most important characteristics valued by both Dutch and U.S. children 6 to 11 years old were comprehensibility and action, closely followed by humor, "interestingness,""innocuousness," realism, violence, and romance. Finds boys in both samples…

A qualitative study analyzed images of science and scientists in children's educational science programs on television to determine whether they conveyed the images found in other media. Four episodes of each of four 30-minute, non-animated programs ("Beakman's World" broadcast on CBS, "Bill Nye, The Science Guy" shown on…

While "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" has won numerous awards and is currently the number one rate household animated children's television program in the United States, the contradictions and complications of instilling environmental values in children through the medium of television are apparent. A content analysis of 15 episodes…

The purpose of this study was to assess developmental differences in children's visual attention to, and comprehension of, a prosocial television program as a function of varying "preplay" formats. (Preplays were defined as advance organizers designed to help a child select, order, and integrate critical televised content into a memory…

This study examined the portrayal of eight specific behaviors in prime time television in general, and on those television shows preferred by 1,042 children in preschool through grade 6 who were surveyed to determine their favorite television shows, books, and school subjects. Researchers examined prime time television programs for a period from…

This report describes the content of the 115 programs comprising "Square One TV" after two seasons of production, relating that content to the three goals of the series. Appended is a listing of the shows, with complete specification of each segment's content, description, format, length, and other information. The goals and the extent…

Ninety-four children, aged 5 to 12 years, were subjects of a study of recall of television literacy messages (drop-ins). The 30-second "How To Watch TV" (HTWTV) segments were designed for broadcast on Saturday mornings by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to convey to children some information and values about television (e.g., animals do…

Children's attention to and comprehension of television programs were studied by comparing the effects of viewing continuous stories (i.e., those with meaningful plots brought to resolution) and magazine-format programs containing unrelated bits of entertainment. Effects of program pacing were also studied. Multiple programs, differing in content,…

Most educators argue that the time children spend watching television detracts from their homework time and leisure time reading, that television watching cultivates skills different from those needed for print literacy and encourages preference for its easier means of acquiring information, and that television content is often nonintellectual and…

A study of the cognitive aspects of children's television watching addressed the following questions: To what degree is processing capability mediated by one's attentional set, as opposed to skills that one brings to the viewing situation? If attention is a significant mediating factor, is this true across various kinds of information one can…