ABSTRACT:
This research project surveys forty-nine parents of children that are students at the UCLA University Village child services/preschool who are between the ages of two to five years of age. Their children’s media usage is further investigated and findings show that out of all the media available to children for educational purposes in this age bracket, parents allow their children to engage in books 73.5% of the time as opposed to all other forms of media. Television comes in second at 57.1%. Even though more than half of our participants believe that video games as a learning tool does not equate to violent aggression and social disorders, parents are still hesitant to use video games more as an educational tool. The reason for this hesitancy is because of the lack of substantive evidence of new media forms such as the computer or video games. In conclusion, children at this age need to be constantly supervised by their parents to reap benefits instead of negative behaviors from the plethora of digital/ traditional educational media that are available for consumers today. It is not the actual medium (either television, books or video games) that could lead to detrimental effects in a young child but more so the actual content a young child is exposed to, therefore content supervision is vital. The participants used for the survey are also from a higher educational level since most are either parents that work or study at the University of California in Los Angeles, so that factor may explain their particular views when it comes to their child’s media usage, particularly video gaming as an educational tool.
This paper addresses concerns of parents that have children between the ages of three to five years old and their children’s’ media usage, with a specific interest in video
games as an educational tool of as opposed to other forms of media available in the market for young children.
Children are being exposed to our rapidly evolving digital technologies at a much younger age today than ever before. With the variety that parents have to choose for their young off-springs, it can be overwhelming and confusing as a consumer. Parents, those in particular who want to actively participate in teaching their young children how to build important learning skills such as reading ,math and arts have recently been turning to video games as an educational tool. There are many different forms of media a parent can use to help educate their children, by combining digital and traditional technologies to foster a varied approach to learning. A branch of science that closely relates to this research study is child psychology, a branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children. This project specifically looks at pre-school/ kindergarten age children because this is around the time where children start reading, writing their name, doing basic math skills and a time when kids really begin to play out their incredibly creative imagination. Since there is a critical “educational” developmental window during this age, it is important to look at all of the media options that are available in the market for parents to help their children foster a desire for learning. We shall look at the various forms of media as an educational tool, how often children at this age are being exposed to them by parents who send their children to the UCLA University Village School and the general consensus of parents on allowing their young child to play videogames as opposed to other media options for learning.
Children at this age need to be constantly supervised by their parents to reap maximum benefits from the plethora of digital/ traditional educational media that are available for consumers today. The three predictions foreseen are the following:
1. Parents such as myself are somewhat still reluctant to introduce other forms of educational tools that they were not raised with, such as video games and computer use over television or watching dvd’s.
2. We also predict that out of all the forms of media available for preschoolers today, it is still the traditional print era of books that parents are more comfortable using as an educational tool as opposed to the computer or video game.
3. And lastly, parents will allow their child to watch television out of all media options available. Educational television shows such as Sesame Street is an examples of a show parents allow for viewing most often.
However, what parents need to understand is that this passive and sedentary form of entertainment of watching television albeit the educational shows available such as Sesame Street and the like still pale in comparison to the benefits of “playing” educational videogames and computer games. Supervision and moderation are the keys to combating the fear of parents to these new digital mediums.
Hypothesis
I test my hypothesis by conducting a survey of seventeen questions. I analyze the data collected from my survey of fourty-eight (48) parents of young children between the ages of two to five years old( 2-5 ), which are students at the UCLA University Village childcare facilities located on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The survey questions parents on the various forms of media such as television, online computer games( which is categorized as a video game), video games on traditional gaming consoles, educational DVD’s such as the LeapFrog Series, music from cd’s and radio and the least popular form of media among parents- films in the traditional movie theatre.
The various forms of entertainment available to children today have many educational benefits from what parents presume. This is how parents justify this new media form of play as opposed to traditional “outside time” or playground play in the sanbox. Three reasons that parents have been restricting their children to play outside are the growing fears of an unsafe world as rampantly depicted in the news, no access to parks, paygrounds or backyards because of either location or living situation ( apartments as opposed to houses with backyards) and lastly, because parents are continuously multitasking and merely exhausted to venture outside and would rather stay indoors, their children included.
Existing Research Available on Young Children’s Media Usage
There is existing research available today about preschool children and their new media use. A national survey entitled: “Age, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic
Patterns in Early Computer Use” claim that at the as early as 2 1/2 years of age, children are introduced to computer use by being placed on a caregivers/ parents lap and by the age of 3 ½,children are usually allowed to autonomously use a computer on their own, with parental supervision. This survey specifically addresses the effects of early computer use on young children and dispels a report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics which recommended limiting exposure to “screen time” (television and Computer use). Socio- economics of families were also investigated and families from a higher income bracket were obviously more than likely to own a computer or have access to the internet. The findings indicate that no relationship was found between the frequency with which children play computer games and the likelihood that they can read, but increased non- game computer use was associated with increased likelihood of reading (STROUSE, 2005).
In another survey, children under eleven and their media usage (television, computer and video games) were investigated. Their findings indicate that a combined video and computer game usage exceeded television usage. Both children of low- and high-income parents are at risk for certain behaviors associated with television usage and parents whose children watched more television were more likely to be concerned about the amount of television their child watched (DIMITRI A. CHRISTAKIS, 2004).
A report published for the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation in the Fall of 2003 had some overwhelming statistical data that reinforces how media usage among young children continue to have unknown effects which requires more investigative and scientific research. From a national survey the institution conducted by collecting data from 1,000 parents of 6 month to 6 year olds, their findings indicate the following: Children six and younger spent an average of at least two hours a day in front of a screen, either television or video. Television also is introduced early on before the medical community recommends. Fifty percent (50%) of children from the ages of four to five years of age have already been exposed to video games and seventy percent (70%) have used a computer. This clearly indicates that young children are using new digital media much younger than expected. Two out of three children are in an environment where the television is left on without anyone watching and one third of the time a television is on around the clock, or all the time. These children in these environments also read less than their counterparts that shut the television off when noone is watching. Parents justify their childs exposure to media because they see media as an important education tool. Lastly, television watching has direct effects on their child’s behavior, where positive attitudes are copied more frequently than negative attitudes.(Rideout, Vandewater, & Wartella, 2003).
Another interpretive study of children’s social interactions was held in a family child care setting, where children were seen to spend a significant portion of their time playing, watching others play, and distracted by video games. When children were focused on video games, their interactions with another child were disjointed and rushed. Because children’s interactions are considered to be important learning opportunities, the prevalence of video games in child care settings and the implications of their use should be studied more closely (Bacigalupa, 2005).
The lack of examination on the value of computer use for play purposes has led to a research study published in 2003 which analyzed the different theoretical approaches of play and their developmental value on a child’s psychology. By examining the ways in which video game play contributes to a child’s development in the early stages of childhood, caregivers and educators can make an informed decision on what particular software children can benefit from. A next step in this study claims the need to further investigate the criteria of computer software designed for young children as a guideline for designing developmentally appropriate games (Irina Verenikina, 2003).
Methods:
I test my hypothesis by conducting a survey via php ESP that analyses the data collected from forty-nine (49) parents of young children between the ages of two to five years old( 2-5 ), which are students at the UCLA University Village childcare facilities located on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The following data was collected:
1. Age of their child
2. What kind of media do their children engage in most frequently/ least.
3. How many hours a day do they let their children watch television, play on the computer or video games.
4. What kind of Video Games they have let their child play in the past with options of various video games for the young child market.
5. If parents believed that children who play video games are more prone to violent behaviors and social disorders and their explanations for such beliefs.
6.If parents believed there were any benefits to children playing video games.
7. If there were any people beside their child who played video games in their home and what kind.
8. How their child reacts when they are told to stop playing video games.
9. If the parents themselves have do play or have played video games in the past and what kind.
10. And finally, what effects parents think video games have on their child's psychology.
Complications that have arisen during data collection that were unexpected was how the executive director of the child care services at the University village school asked me if I had an IRB for this research project. An Institutional Review Board is a committee that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects according to Wikepidia. Because of that slight confusion that I needed to have one in place for my survey, I was not able to get my survey out to parents sooner than I anticipated. Other than that little confusion, parents were very willing to participate in my project and share their thoughts on how they feel about their child's video game and media usage. Another complication that needs to be addressed is the distinction between playing on the computer as opposed to playing a video game. For the purposes of this survey, playing an online game on a website such as PBS, Nick Jr. and Disney is considered a videogame. This will be explained in more length in the discussion portion of this paper.
The participants used for the survey are also from a higher educational level since most are either parents that work or study at the University of California in Los Angeles, so that factor may explain their particular views when it comes to their child’s media usage, particularly video gaming as an educational tool. A future study correlating socio- economic factors with a young child’s media usage might have very different results as the ones presented in this paper.
Results and Discussion:
Fig 1
Fifty one percent (51%) of the parents surveyed currently have children in the four year old age group followed by parents of five year old children.
Fig 2
The figure 2 graph above indicate that parents allow their children to engage in books 73.5% of the time as opposed to all other forms of media. Television comes in second at 57.1%. The least frequent form of media that children in this young demographic are exposed to are films in the theatre with a percentage of 51% followed closely by the radio/music in 49%.
Fig 3
The Figure 3 graph above indicates the hours they allow their children to engage in the three most popular forms media. 34.7 %, which is seventeen (17) out of fourty-nine (49) parents allow their child watch between thirty (30) minutes to an hour a day. Surprisingly, none of these parents let their child watch TV as an incentive program for a reward for good behavior. Only four(4) out of fourty-nine (49) parents, which makes up 8.2 % do not monitor their child’s TV hours. Computer play is much more regulated than television for young children, according to our surveyed parents. 40.8% of parents only allow less than thirty (30) minutes of play a day, with only one(1) parent not monitoring their child’s computer play hours at all. Interestingly, 14.3% of parents use an incentive program to play on the computer. When it comes to video games however, 26.5 % of parents use video games as a reward for good behavior followed by 28.6% of parents that limit video game play to less than 30 minutes a day. Finally, there is still resistance of parents to allow their child at this early age to play video games at all since 24.5% of parents do not allow their child to play video games yet.
Fig 4
For the purposes of this study a clear distinction must be made if playing on the computer can be defined as playing a video game. Since the computer games that these children engage in at this early age are mostly online websites mentioned in the above graph, I argue that they indeed can be categorized as a video game because the keypad of the computer replicates buttons found on the consoles of various video game controllers. It is also important to recognize that these online videogames such as PBS, Nick Jr. and Disney are supplemented by television conglomerates to extend their brand online as an educational tool for young children. Another factor to consider but is an entirely different paper all together is that these websites have advertising on the website as opposed to their television cartoon versions.
From what we can see in Figure 4, Video games that are available from online websites are played on a home computer 55.1% as compared to other forms of video games. This may be due to the fact that most people today own home computers and the cost of playing does not require a parent to purchase a separate console specifically to play video games on. The Wii/ Wii fit is the next video gaming console that a young child has played on in the past besides online computer games and this reasoning is being justified by parents because it requires active participation, which in turn motivates a parent to allow more usage as opposed to the other options of video games available for young children that are physically more sedentary.
A big percentage of parents (95.9%) believe that there are many benefits to playing video games. The table below are some excerpts from the survey conducted on why parents believe video games are beneficial for their young children:
Computer technologies
Practicing writing letters/numbers on a machine vs. Paper.
Games enhance creativity- makes them learn how to strategize , to think and use their minds.
Video games are interactive, build on motor skills and cognitive skills.
Development of hand- eye coordination, gross & fine motor skills, defining spatial relationships, strategizing and thinking ahead and developing knowledge of historical or events on the subject of the game.
Children can exercise now while playing video games, it can also stimulate your brain- hand coordination.
Brain exercise
Video games are now complex and requires a lot of critical thinking and logic.
Help to develop math or word spelling ability.
Only 8 out of 49 parents, 16 % claim that no one else in the household plays video games but the 85 % of parents say that either an older sibling, parent or one of their cousins play videogames in their household. Parents however give their children a time limit on how long they can play and when a child is asked to stop playing video games, mostly all children comply, with only a small number asking for an extension of not more than five more minutes to play. Interestingly, only a handful of parents have played video games in the past and if they did, they are mush different from the educational options available for children in this generation. The parents that have played are mostly arcade games or first generation games on a home console such as Pacman, Space invaders, Tetris, Donkey Kong and Super Mario.
Conclusion:
Fig. 5
Findings show that there are still parents that think video game play can have negative benefits to a child such as aggressive behavior (28.6%)s and social disorders (34.7%). The consensus of parents suggest that parental supervision is required especially at this early age and because it really depends on what video game a child plays as opposed to the mere exposure to any sort of video game that could prove to be detrimental in the future. More parents understand the importance of guiding their children and monitoring which games they play. It is not the form of media that effects the behavior of a child as much as the content of the media the child is exposed to. A study done in 1987 claims that violent video games arouse children in much the same way as violent television cartoons and can have detrimental effects on a child’s behavior (Steven B. Silvern, 1987) and parents today still agree with these findings. . An overwhelming 95.9 % of parents believe that video games are beneficial to young children. Video Games when monitored and supervised are like other mediums such as television where it is not the medium that could lead to negative behavior but the content of what a medium reinforces. My prediction that books out of all media forms still rank as the #1 educational tool that parents feel most comfortable is substantiated by the survey conducted. Our hypothesis is supported by the surveys finding that parents need to be active participants in their children’s media usage because it is the content and not the form of media that could possibly lead to aggressive and social disorders in the future.
Works Cited
Bacigalupa, C. (2005). The Use of Video Games by Kindergartners in a Family Child Care Setting. Early Childhood Education Journal , 33 (1), 25-30.
DIMITRI A. CHRISTAKIS, M. M. (2004). TELEVISION, VIDEO, AND COMPUTER GAME USAGE IN CHILDREN UNDER 11 YEARS OF AGE. Child Health Institue, Department of Pediatrics, . Seattle: University of Washington.
Irina Verenikina, P. H. (2003). Child’s Play: Computer Games, Theories of Play and Children’s Development. IFIP Working Group 3.5 Conference: Young Children and Learning Technologies, Theoretical Perspectives (p. 8). Paramata: Australian Computer Soceity, Inc.
Rideout, V. J., Vandewater, E. A., & Wartella, E. A. (2003). Zero to Six: Electronic MEdia in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers. Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park.
STROUSE, J. L. (2005, January). Age, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Patterns in Early Computer Use . American Behavioral Scientist , 590-607.
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