Children's Television and Science

Television holds great potential as a teaching and learning medium. Particularly for young children, this dynamic, colorful, and often musical broadcast medium is naturally appealing; children voluntarily watch it and can learn much from age-appropriate and relevant content. Well before formal educational settings, children are exposed to televised offerings, and this has a significant impact; what they view influences their behavior, values, and learning.

According to the Sourcebook for Teaching Science, U.S. children average about 1,500 hours per year watching television, yet only about 900 hours per year in school. Studies have shown that Americans rank among the lowest of students in industrialized nations in science, and many abandon science courses in the upper grades. Considering that Americans are comparatively low performing in science yet spend much time watching television, the potential for increasing interest in science and expanding scientific knowledge through this medium is great. This entry maps previous efforts to bring science to children's television in the United States and examines the possible impact of science education programming on the enjoyment and learning of science and on stimulating interest in science.

Motives for watching television vary with the type of program and the type of child. Among other reasons, children watch television for entertainment, to increase or decrease social contact, to pass the time, to avoid doing other things, and to obtain information about the world. Unlike the carefully managed content of media produced for school programs, most children's television programs aired on commercial channels initially went largely unregulated and do not necessarily have proven educational value. Increased time in front of the television has been linked with decreased educational performance and negative health issues.

To address this issue, Congress passed the Children's Television Act (1990), which mandated that television aimed at younger audiences must meet their educational and informational needs, and programming improved substantially. Although many early family and adult science programs influenced children's science programming, the more noteworthy ones are mentioned in the following section.