Educational Engagement: Television Plus School Increase Memory for Children

Growing up the love for children show grew from the awkwardness to the new adventures our characters have embarked on. Even though these shows were great it has constantly been separated from the educational system which is why, if used judiciously can be well made comedic educational television programming benefits children and should be implemented in school? School and comedy are two things that are rarely placed in the same sentence together to the point it almost seems foreign. As children are constantly surrounded by forms of entertainment in this day in age, it is mainly found when they turn on the television. From the classics like Johnny Bravo, He-Man, and Tom and Jerry; know these are great shows looking more into educational shows that still have kids tuning in to watch like Curious George, Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street and more. “What is meant by using shows judicious in schools.” Well, educational shows like Sesame Street will be a great way for kids to watch what they are learning and give them more of a reason to focus in the classroom. If we incorporate about 30 minutes to an hour of television time for children to watch in schools that are related to class topics are more engaging and beneficial to the student; after all, go should be exciting.
Before diving into why children shows should be implemented into the school’s, first, we need to talk about what is a well-made show. The words well-made shows can mean plenty of things besides comedy, educational and schools we are looking for a structure that appears to ascertain audience, which can be tricky, so we will need something to be funny, also we will need it to relate as well as made simple enough for kids to comprehend, but not too simple to where they are not learning anything. Since this needs to be in some form for an education environment it also needs to be somewhat appealing to the teacher so it can flow well with the curriculum. We already have educational shows that offer an entertaining and educational concept along with comedic as well. Shows like Sesame Street along with The Electric Company. Now saying all of this about children’s shows is not to discredit great shows such as SpongeBob and Scooby-Doo because these are great show, but they are targeted to children’s for pure entertainment. Even though it can be argued in some cases where an educational was brought to these shows before which is true, but for the most part not really. Which does not make them a low rating shows it just means they are made for pure entertainment, the shows do not focus on educating children. Now that we discussed how it is time for to discuss how to make comedy effective in a television show.

Zillmann & Bryant (1988) Discussed how everyone loves a good chuckle from here to there, but executing a joke can be a challenge. Guidelines for the effective use of humor in children’s educational television programs. First, when making shows they have to be different to the point it draws in the viewer without being too repetitive. This is important because of no matter the show comedy or not when watching something and it becomes repetitive interest is lost relatively quickly in that thing that was being watched. Needless to say, having a clear target on the message that is trying to be conveyed to the audience, which makes tons of sense due to if the topic supposed to be learning about numbers, but a joke about the color it becomes irrelevant to the whole discussion which kills the joke. Also, it depends on how the joke is being delivered, now if a character in the show is not the brightest and he or she says a color over a number can create a funny situation because we know the correct answer, but that character just was not the brightest to answer the question. Constantly spewing educational information from these programs also help children gather new shows they may be interested in so they can never get bored and always have something to look forward to. Lastly and probably the most important make it comprehensible to that audience. If an adult having kids watch Curious George, but having jokes from the Big Bang Theory incorporated it loses value so, must keep in mind the audience that is being targeted for these shows (p.20(1–2), 201–221.). There are plenty of benefits when it comes to children shows in schools, but first, discuss the reasons why parents don’t like the idea of incorporating children’s shows into schools and just issues with television time for kids. Television plus children equals violence seems to be one of the main concerns of parents which they should care what their kids are laying their eyes on especially at a young age, but most parents never considered shows like Tom and Jerry that tend to be more violent can create less violence in a child because they are building a moral point of view on things. For example, any time Tom messes with Jerry and chases him around the house Tom never wins the “battles” with Jerry which teaches kids being a bully and messing with people is never a good outcome so do not do it. If children are taught how they should act (not violently) they are more likely to behave in a less radical manner. Peters & Blumberg, 2002 stated, “parents need to help their kids interpret violent content in shows because when children are never taught acting out in that way was wrong then they will always believe its right.”(p.143–147) This shows children learn from what they see whether it’s right or wrong which means the adults in that child’s life to let them know whether what they watch is right or wrong it is not because they are just watching television.

Having educational platforms along with comedic ones is extremely important for kids to start off successfully in school and one of the biggest news corporations in the world agrees.NBCUniversal Is Building Its Own Children’s Channel (2017) ranked fifth in the world for most watch new station is deciding to partner with Dreamworks to start their own television network aimed at a younger audience to create educational shows as a way for their viewer’s kids to have something to watch. Besides this being a great business move on their part it can also be looked at the fact they are willing to spend billions of dollars on this project because they believe children can be educated through shows (“In a new salvo in the children’s television wars, NBCUniversal is creating its own Disney Channel,”2017). This is just one example of what companies are doing, especially due to Dreamworks, they have no reason for doing partnering with NBC to do this project, it just shows they know the importance of educating the youth because NBC and Dreamworks know children are the future and there have some huge shoes to fill.

Why should educational shows for kids be incorporated in schools? It allows children to be more engaged and remember more. Gunter, Baluch, and Duffy (2002) conducted an experiment to test the memory of children. The way they conducted this experiment was with an advertisement with a cartoon character and they show another advertisement only this time it did not have any cartoon character and they noticed a significant difference. After advertisements, they asked the participants about what they learned. They found that more of the children who watch the commercial that had cartoon characters in it the participants remember by far way more than the children who did not have any cartoon characters in them. They also found the longer the days went on the non-cartoon advertisement participants forgot about with the advertisement compared to cartoon advertisement kids (p.171–190). This proves the point children who have cartoons incorporated into the school environment they will be beneficial as long as it’s educational because this experiment has shown the kids who had cartoon characters in the advertisement allowed children to remember what they were watching which like watching a tv show like Sesame Street filled with colorful characters allows them to remember what they are watching on an educational level. It also shows that it’s harder for children to focus in class when the teacher telling them important information for the course instead of having some kind of vision which have been proven to keep a child in tune with what they need to know. An argument, it also supports, children tend to be more engaged when they are watching the television because they were able to comprehend exactly what’s going on in the advertisement as well as understand what they were watching to the point they pass their surveys with flying colors showing that children would be more engaged with what like visually is incorporated with their educational shows. Children’s memory experiment also shows argument in which the teaching system that we already have set up in schools is not working because younger kids find the class to be less engaging, interesting, and they just find it away, do something they don’t want to or need to do when it actually kids need to learn these basic skills so, “why don’t schools change up the old standard way of teaching and have it to actual content to be appealing to an audience such as children that makes school entertaining?”

To conclude, when comedy is inserted into television that is educational for children it becomes beneficial for children long term, then if it was not being there, to begin with. Also if comedy is improperly implemented into children show the outcome of trying to educate children will become pointless because it’s not just to be funny watching educational shows it takes away from the purpose of making it educational. To understand the joke or understands why the joke is important to the conversation, it needs to make sure it makes sense. With that being said, it also needs to be targeted towards a younger audience so they can comprehend what is being discussed.

With children shows variety matters; it is extremely important to have a variety of options, so they can remain engaged with what they are watching it cannot be just one thing being played over and over again because for anyone who has to watch something over and over eventually it becomes boring. See educational shows should be incorporated into schools because schools and districts obviously see the teaching system is not working for the most part. Over the past years, we became a technology motivated Society. Applying children shows into schools would not be that large of a hassle. The use of projectors in monitors is the norm, so pulling up a YouTube 30-minute educational show, have it played, and then have a discussion right after or if they don’t have enough time for discussion, therefore, teachers can have students take their papers home and write about what they have watched and how it relates to the class.

Expecting this to be a daily thing is too much of a switch, but expecting a compromise to where educational shows are shown regularly through a few days of the week, for example on Tuesday and Thursday put on at least 30 minutes of just a clip educational show and discuss what was watched. In time teachers can put up a portion of it and call it a day as long as it’s an important part that will be effective for children and fits perfectly or relatively close their curriculum. Another reason why implementing children’s tv shows will not be that complicated is because the use tablets have already been enforced and that was argued to be a distraction for years when it was implemented and now it is in school and became beneficial. Know that it will be the same for children so it can even have the students watch the shows on the tablet because there are apps that can be downloaded like the PBS app so worrying about children going doing everything, but the given topic would not be an issue. Using educational television judicially has been proven to benefit children and will be proven the benefit of them even more on an educational level when it is integrated into schools.

References

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