Zillmann 15 Fisch: Vast Wasteland or Vast Opportunity

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Zillmann 15Fisch Vast Wasteland or Vast
Opportunity
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His Basic Argument

• If TV can have negative effects (e.g. increase
  aggression), then it also should have positive
  effects.

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Educational Programs and Content

• Sesame Street Improves school readiness (e.g.
  alphabet, numbers, conceptual categories, social
  skills).
• Electric Company Improves reading, particularly
  for the low-end
• Square One Attitude towards and uses of math and
  problem-solving
• 3-2-1 Contact Attitude towards and knowledge of
  scientific principles

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BUT, Learning is specific

• Fisch mentions lots of other programs Mr.
  Wizard, Bill Nye the Science Guy, etc.
• But learning effects tend not to be at the
  Media category level and other factors also
  are operating

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Sesame Street

• After violence, this is the most-studied kind of
  television programming.
• 40 research centers looked at the Children's
  Television Network programming.
• Studies looked at the form that draws attention
  and the content that is learned.

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Studies of Form

• Children get better at parsing the form as they
  get older and more experienced.
• US kids like muppets, action (but not as much is
  needed as expected), humor, repetition.
• Jamaican kids hated muppets Israeli kids
  disliked action.
• 3-4-year olds are higher in attention inertia.
• 4-year-olds are transitioning to more fluid
  attention.
• 5-years-olds pay only partial attention and still
  understand the show.

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Electric Company

• Produced for 7-9-year-olds who are poor readers.
• The show had a predictable structure.
• There was conflict (violence?).
• Producers learned to design programs so that
  children would look where the important
  educational information was.

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Production Techniques for EC

• What is the educational goal?
• How are visuals designed? (How to measure?)
• How is audio designed? (How to measure?)
• How did the show change over time?

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What are the effects of age, viewing frequency,
and initial performance?
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Did Sesame Street reduces the performance gap
between rich and poor kids?
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Sesame Street Results Summary

• Children gain in sophistication about program
  form with age and experience.
• Children become able to predict when the boring
  bits are going to occur they will avoid boring
  education if they can manage.
• All children gain educationally from watching
  Sesame Street.
• Those who watch more gain more.
• Those who have high ability want to watch more.
• Poor children also gain, particularly if their
  mothers know how to reinforce program content.

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Fischs Educational Model
Working Memory
Processing of Narrative
Processing of Ed Content
Viewer Characteristics Program Characteristics
Viewer Characteristics Program Characteristics