Educational Media Reviews Online

With widely published research expounding on the explosive brain development taking place during the first three years of life, many parents believe they must take advantage of every learning opportunity to enhance their child’s IQ. Some of the touted learning opportunities have included educational television or edutainment. The goal of this DVD is to look at current research conducted in the United States and France to ascertain what young children, birth to age three, actually learn from television.

Experts in the fields of psychology, brain development, and medicine from both the United States and France present studies that are interwoven with comments from the creators of Baby First TV. Baby First TV is the first television programming exclusively created for and directed at birth to three year olds and their parents. It describes itself as the “only TV network made just for babies, toddlers, and parents developed by educational experts”.

A number of studies are included in the DVD with the particular researcher or expert commenting on the outcomes and the resulting implications. An example of one such study shows what babies, under age two, are actually doing when they are “riveted” to the screen by measuring their brain activity on the exterior of the skull in relationship to their heart rate. Another study demonstrates differences in learning outcomes when information is given on television as opposed to being given by a human being.

Each study contributes to the emerging picture of how the young child, prior to age three, processes television and the implications for parents trying to provide an optimum environment for early learning. The experts and the studies presented did indicate that television was not the optimum learning tool for children under the age of three. They suggested rather that human interaction and the ability to explore and interact with the environment were the most optimum experiences.

The researchers interviewed, as well as the principals from Baby First TV, are well spoken and speak only to their area of expertise. Watching clips of the actual research scenarios maintains the viewer’s interest and assists in understanding the conclusions drawn by the researchers. However, the viewer must wait until the credits to be given names and associated credentials. Then the viewer is not sure which name goes with what study which is unfortunate for ease in further research and follow-up. Even with this noted drawback, the DVD would make an excellent addition to a child psychology or early childhood education class.