Wednesday, January 25, 2012


If you’ve been following my posts, you know that I have been reviewing the Zero to Three: National Center for Infant, Toddlers, and Families website.

There is a new section on the website that I have found relevant to my current professional development. It is called “Little Kids, Big Questions: A ZERO TO THREE Podcast Series on Early Childhood Development”. It is a podcast series will developmental topics pertaining to early childhood. I am very excited about these podcasts because they focus on my passion: early childhood.


Some of the podcasts are titled:

“Creating Healthy Connections: Nurturing Brain Development from Birth to Three”

“Night-Night…or Not: Talking about Babies, Toddlers, and Sleep” – This one is particularly relevant to me because I have a five month old baby!

and

“Beyond “Use Your Words!”: How Babies Begin to Develop Self-Control in the First Three Years”

If you are interested in listening to these podcasts you can go to:


Other Information:
I read a very interesting article from the Zero to Three newsletter. It was about young children watching television and using other types of media. I learned that infants under 18 months do not really benefit from watching educational narrative television. I think that this topic is controversial because there are so many companies out there promoting “educational” videos and media for young infants.

Dr. Wartella states that “We’re finding that children in these early ages are engaged by very simple attempts to teach children language labels for objects. So, things that are very loud, and have a lot of sound effects, and are fast-moving are probably not very good for this really young age” (Wartella 2012, p. 19).

Insights I gained from this article:
I learned that TV for young infants is alright as long as it is only a short amount of time and that personal interactions are much more effective than media interactions. “So you want to spend time with your babies interacting with them more than you want to put them in front of a screen” (Wartella 2012, p. 19).

References:
Wartella, E. (2012). The Influence of Media on Young Children’s Development. Zero to Three, 18-21.

3 comments:

  1. Angela,

    I had no idea that infants do not benefit greatly from engaging in educational videos. There are so many companies out there promoting that implementing these videos for babies will produce a great outcome in preparation for preschool and kindergarten. I guess even educators learn something new everyday.

    I think it is great that you have been studying the Zero to Three: National Center for Infant, Toddlers, and Families website. It seems like a great organization that focuses on the core of early childhood education. Not many know that in addition to displaying videos to a child that you must also interact with them as well. Great blog Angela and I look forward to reading the rest of your blogs!

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  2. Angela,
    I loved reading the part of your blog about infants not benefiting greatly from educational videos. I see this as a new trend and people feel like they are helping their child's intelligence by having them watch many of these targeted videos. Personally, I think more interaction is needed between parents, caregivers and infants. This is an important time to create bonds which last a lifetime.
    Alissa

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  3. Angela,

    I attended a Smart Start conference in May of last year. One of the sessions that I attended discussed on television and media in the lives of young children. Many people are unaware of the fact that educational videos have no effect on the development of children. Children learn from interaction with others, more importantly their peers. Thank you for reminding me of this fact. Great post!

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