Entertainment Series

Much has been written and said about the negative influence of video games and television on our children. Alot of the criticism centers around the violence children are exposed to when playing video games or watching cartoons. But two Univeristy of South Florida educators didn't believe all the criticism. So, they set out to prove some video games and cartoons can in fact be educational, while only designed to be entertaining.

In the first of two special Assignment: Education reports.. "Entertainment Equals Education".. Bill Ratliff takes a look at what one educator found when studying video games .

--[sound of video games]--

Some parents and teachers look at video games as a curse on the development of young people... fearing they'll turn into video-addicted zombies. But there are others who believe video games can actually be effective teaching tools.

--[Stephanie Vandeventer says:] "It's the process of the video game. It's the process of playing that has some academic value."--

And it's that process that intrigues U-S-F education researcher Dr. Stephanie Vandeventer. She believes advanced game players use expert-level skills. 11-year-old Manny Rubin is an advanced player of "Super Mario Kart."

--[Student Manny Rubin says:] "Well, I think in order to play these games you need to have strategy first and you need to use judgment. You need to use your best judgment to choose the best moves."--

And good judgment and execution are things that come naturally to experts. In fact, people with expertise in any field all display the same characteristics: They use critical thinking, behavior principals, strategies, categorizations, classifications, pattern recognition, and advanced memory to solve problems quickly. To prove her theory, Dr. Vandeventer had Fifth Graders at The Hillel School of Tampa try to teach adults how to play "Super Mario Kart" and "Super Mario World."

--[Adult says:] "Are you invisible?" [Fifth Grader says:] "I'm not invisible. I'm invincible." [Adult says:] "Invincible?"[Fifth Grader says:] "Yeah, that means if I hit anything that it won't matter." [Vandeventer says:] "He's doing some strategizing there."--

Vandeventer videotaped each training session and measured the level of expertise the students used, while teaching the game. What she proved was the best game players had expert skills. And she believes if children can develop those skills playing video games then many video games can be used as teaching tools. Vandeventer uses one example for a math graphing exercise.

--[Vandeventer says:] "So could say race around this track and then graph the differences between players who have different weights and different car attributes."--

Vandeventer says translating lessons from video games would be easy. The hard part will be for teachers to understand the games. But she believes the return would be worth the leap.

--[Vandeventer says:] "I'm saying if children are playing video games perhaps we shouldn't be so worried that they're totally bad that good things are happening and as educators and parents we should be thinking about ways to make connections between those things that are happening and other meaningful content."--

But again.. Vandeventer says it's not the content in video games that has educational value.. Rather it's the critical thinking abilities students develop and use to play them that are important to education. If this sounds suprising to you.. try this on for size. The cartoons your children watch may have educational value.. Without them or you knowing it.

Part 2

Cartoons have entertained children for years. Now, they are so much a part of our culture there is even a cable TV network that broadcasts cartoons 24-hours a day. There have been a few studies conducted on the content in cartoons, and concern has been raised about what are children are seeing. But at the University of South Florida.. one education professor says not all cartoons are bad. In fact, some are excellent teaching tools.

In a special Assignment: Education report.. "Entertainment Equals Education".. Bill Ratliff tells what this professor found in one of the most popular cartoons on television.
Cartoons. Where would American television be without them? Cartoons have entertained and mesmerized children for years. And many parents have wondered .. are cartoons bad for their kids? Carol Lyn Mitchell.. a mother of four young children.. is one of those parents.

--[Mother Carol Lyn Mitchell says:] "I make a concerted effort now to monitor the cartoons that they watch because cartoons these days can be as graphic."--

But her concern was matched by her curiosity, recently.. when she learned her oldest son.. 11-year-old Patrick.. was going to be part of a study involving cartoons.
U-S-F education professor Dr. Jackie booth had a hunch many cartoons might not be so bad for children.. So she set out to see out if they might even be educational.

--[Dr. Jackie Booth says:] "My whole belief and hypothesis here is that learning takes place everywhere and we want kids to learn and access information wherever it may be."--

To prove her belief.. Dr. Booth used an episode of the wildly popular cable cartoon "Rugrats." She tested fourth graders at a half-dozen schools in the bay area using an episode called "Toys in the Attic." She found..

--[Dr. Booth says:] "That they could learn specific vocabulary, some folk law, some scientific, law some social skills and some just some basic information about the way the world works."--

Booth tested students on 15 different "lessons" to be learned from this episode of "Rugrats." As an example..

--[Grandmother says:] "Boris wakeup.. The dumplings are gone!" [grandfather says:] "Nah, they're in the ice box where I left them." [grandmother says:] "Not those dumplings.. the childrens!" [Dr. Booth says:] "The word dumpling is used in two different ways. It's used as a food and it's used as a term of endearment. 90-percent of the kids on the pre-test had no idea it was a food or it was a term of endearment."--
Then there is this lesson about trust.

--[Girl says:] "Look tommy, there ain't no ghost.. I was lying to you before." [Baby says:] "Angelica, if you was lying to me before, how do I know you're not lying to me now? [Girl says:] "Um, you have a point."--

You get the point. Booth says parents and teachers should not dismiss cartoons as mere diversions.. But rather embrace them as potential teaching tools that make learning easier. Even young Patrick Simmons knows now he may be learning even when he's not trying.

--[Student Patrick Simmons says:] "Well, I kinda watch them the same as I used to. It's now I know that while I'm doing this I could learn some things."--

Booth says 20 to 30 percent of the cartoons on television have educational value.. Even though they are only designed as entertainment. But she says because TV plays such a powerful role in our society and because children are some of its most frequent users.. It's incumbent for parents and teachers to realize the potential of television.. even TV cartoons.

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