Scholarly Article Review

Part 1: Article Summary

According to Wright (2011), the Sesame Street developed a television show, which was premiered on the public broadcasting service, to test its effects to the young viewers. The show was developed after conducting more than one thousand experiments and studies, and also involving a research. The hypothesis of the research was that carelessly developed television shows affected the attention of young viewers and subjected them to poor cognitive and social behaviors. This impact prolonged even to their old ages hence affecting their families negatively. The researchers used two methods in testing the impact of the Sesame Street television show. The first method was a formative research that involved in-house investigation and laboratory-based tests in determining whether the show was attractive to young viewers.

The formative research utilized the concepts of behaviorism theory; which is a psychology movement that   provides reasons to various behaviors in the society. The researchers combined all the necessary recommendations which would make the show attract the attention of young viewers effectively. They performed studies on the earlier children shows that had been programmed in order to discover their faults and avoid them.

The second method of research was independent summative evaluation. This research was conducted by Educational Testing Service, and it was done over a significantly long duration within which the show was being aired. It was aimed at testing the educational impact of the show on the young viewers. The researchers invented attention testing tools for young viewers in order to monitor their change in behavior due to influence of the show. All the data collected during this research was analyzed by the researchers as the study progressed hence making the necessary recommendations to the producers on the areas which required improvement.

The research generated findings that the effectiveness of a television show to children did not depend on the expense incurred in the production. The researchers revealed that the segment entitled ‘The Man from Alphabet’ did not attract attention of most children despite its high expenses of production. However, the other segments scored above 85% in attractiveness to children within the fourth season of the show. It was also revealed that children learned effectively when actively engaged in singing or speaking the content of the show. Careful watching made them improve their mental ability hence performing well even in their academics. During the fifteenth episode, the academic performance of viewers and non-viewers was tested and compared. Few differences were noticed during this period. Another comparison was done three weeks later and revealed more differences in performance between the viewers and the non-viewers. However, it was discovered that the viewers could only remember few letters or words from the show. According to the multiple-intelligence theory, the producers were forced to change the show to encompass short films and animation in order to boost children comprehension on the single topics developed.

Part 2: Review

The researches were conducted comprehensively in order to test multiple aspects of children attention and also behavior influence due to television watching. However, there are several challenges that might have been incurred during the data collection process hence making the researchers compile biased data. Children do not like being subjected to tests hence when such an incidence occurs they get scared. They generate mental tension hence making them to forget most of the things they have learned. This aspect could have been an influential factor to the findings collected. Moreover, children are generally uncomfortable while interacting with strangers. The researchers were new to them, and they did not take adequate time to familiarize with the site of study. They also failed to involve one of the most conversant persons to the children in order to make them free while responding to the research questions.

Despite the few faults in the methodology of the research, there are three aspects that are inspiring about the research. First, it was conducted comprehensively while observing the faults which were made by the earlier children show producers and avoiding them. Its concepts were related to the already published theories such as behaviorism and multiple-intelligence in order to generate reasons behind various aspects noticed. Secondly, the independent summative evaluation was conducted over a long period. This aspect awarded the researchers a good opportunity to monitor change in performance by the viewers and compare the performance with that of the non-viewers. They were able to show a clear trend in performance difference between the participants hence convincing their audiences on the impact of television watching on children. Thirdly, the research was conducted by qualified persons who had adequate experience in the field. The formative research was conducted by Edward Palmer and Shalom Fisch; who had long-term experience in conducting child and development studies. On the other hand, the independent summative evaluation was conducted by experts from the Education Testing Service whose credibility was promising for a quality research.

The research implies that child development should be guided carefully since the content that young people get exposed to affects both their social and cognitive behavior. Its findings can be used by other children show producers for referencing regarding the most appropriate content to develop. The research holds a potential impact of revolutionizing the Children Entertainment Industry to become more educative and supportive to the societal welfare.

Reference

Wright, J. (2011). The Early Window Project: Sesame Street Prepares Children for School. Journal of Child and Family Development, 121-142. Retrieved from APUS Online Library.