Looking back to the good old days of elementary school, I remember how my teachers would let my class watch educational programs, such as Bill Nye the Science Guy and Magic School Bus, as sources of "educational fun". These shows were filled with catchy tunes, humorous dialogue, exhilarating adventures, wacky characters, and of course educational content. I don't blame my teachers for showing these programs. Educational videos do have their perks; however, is using television as a means of education in the classroom the best strategy?
Although educational programs such as those listed above provide an entertaining and creative way of educating youth, there are many factors that play in effect because of it. First off, the content that these programs contain must not be as dense as the content found in a textbook. Due to the exciting and lively pace that television provides, educational programs must be pleasurable and easy to understand for its viewers. If a program contains heavy content, then the program's goal of providing an entertaining education will have been unfulfilled and the viewers will have lost interest. Secondly, it is harder for viewers to remember and fully grasp information visually through television. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman displayed the results of a number of studies on the absorption of information through television. As a result of these studies, researchers found out that " 51 percent of viewers could not recall a single item of news a few minutes after viewing a news program on television" and "21 percent of television viewers could not recall any news items within one hour of the broadcast" (152).
Living in this "Age of Television", teachers and educators have realized that through televised programs, students have found excitement in their education. However, is it truly beneficial for students to use television as a means of education with the factors listed above? What is your opinion on this matter?
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I believe that watching educational programs on T.V. does have its benefits depending on the viewer and the content. For example, lets say that a teacher is going to show a movie about black holes. If student A is a science fanatic and student B just wants to waste time then it is obvious that student B will not really pay complete attention. Really, as long as the material covered in the program sparks some interest in the viewer, the viewer will probably retain a lot more information than just sitting down and reading. I few weeks ago I was watching the program "Into the Wormhole with Morgan Freedman" which is a show about many of today's toughest scientific dilemmas and the many theories behind it. I'm pretty sure that we have learned about parallelism and black holes in school, but I never retained the facts. After watching the program, I was able to grasp and retain the content fairly well because the theories they presented interested me. As for retaining information, it all depends on the viewer and their interest. Some people,like many Twilight fanatics, are able to recite lines, or even act out scenes from their favorite films verbatim. But when presented with a challenge to memorize facts about something that doesn't interest them, they don't retain as much.
ReplyDeleteWatching TV is passive. The kind of thinking that takes place is usually low on the ladder of critical thinking skills. Viewers merely receive facts.
ReplyDeleteThis passivity can be mediated somewhat by discussion or some kind of interactivity -- if you're watching with someone else and commenting, questioning, challenging, or if your teacher makes you talk about/write about what you just learned and somehow apply those insights to some other problem that is not familiar.
Simple recall is the lowest form of learning.
I've been meaning to make a poster of Blooms Taxonomy for my students, and now I think I'm going to actually do it.
Mrs. Fletcher, I agree that simple recall is the lowest form of learning, but it is still a form of learning. Even if what we learn is on the lower end, we still have more to gain from watching educational programs rather than programs that make your I.Q. drop like "King of the Hill". Some progress is better than none.
ReplyDeleteYou'll get no argument from me, Kylie. You are right. Will I show movies in my AP class? Yes. Not very many, but I do from time to time. And some have NO educational purpose whatsoever.
ReplyDelete