A new research finding lands a blow to lazy parents everywhere. It seems you can’t just plunk your young child in front of a television screen and they will learn. In a test of the effectiveness of educational DVDs, for one, the results came back negative. Maybe even worse than negative!

Researchers at University of California, Riverside did this:

…studied vocabulary acquisition among 96 children age 12 to 24 months. Participants were tested on measures of vocabulary and general development, and their primary caregivers (77 mothers, seven fathers and four others) answered a series of questions about their children’s development and previous exposure to educational media. Half of the children were then given an educational DVD to watch in their homes. [source]

The Negative Result:

When additional tests were conducted after six weeks, there was no evidence children learned the words specifically highlighted in the DVDs, and watching the DVDs was unrelated to measures of general language learning. [bold mine]

“Negative” in a scientific sense, simply means not. As in “not related.” How could the results then be worse than “not related.’

The Worse Than Negative Result:

While watching the DVD was not related learning new words, the researchers did find a relationship between age when parents began use of educational media for their child and score “on a test of vocabulary knowledge.”

As is expressed in the news release, this could simply be a case of a non-causal correlation. Rather than the DVD exposure causing the relative delay, parents may resort to educational DVDs when they have a sense the child already needs additional help. Or something.

Some futurists have envisioned a time when all learning is done in separate cubicles, with media tailor-fit to the individual’s present capabilities. But while human beings can be described as learning sponges, we tend to sop up certain types of information better. We also tend to attend better to certain sources of information. At least for children, I really wonder whether anything could replace face-time with a real living and breathing tutor, whether that tutor is mom, dad, grandma, or a caring professional.

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Addendum: Got to give kudos where they are due.  Just noticed the title — “Infants do not appear to learn words from educational DVDs.”

Do not appear.  Excellent.  For this is only one study.

Technorati Links: education, psychology

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