Collaborative Research: Using Educational DVDs to Enhance Young Children's STEM Education

这项为期5年的研究计划将在3个地点（加州大学河滨分校、西北大学和乔治城大学）对18个月至6岁的儿童进行一系列研究，以探索儿童与dvd和其他数字媒体中的虚构人物（称为拟社会人物）形成的关系如何利用智能代理影响他们对STEM概念的学习。虽然这些研究都集中在与媒体人物的社会依恋上，但使用了不同的测量方法和不同的刺激：一些评估儿童对已知媒体人物的看法，而另一些则引入了新的人工制品，如互动玩具。关于儿童与角色的关系如何跨越不同的媒体平台，以及类似的学习原则是否适用于不同的媒体环境，我们知之甚少。在本研究中，合作研究小组将发展和交际研究领域与学习科学领域的工作联系起来，进行了一系列研究，探讨了幼儿和学龄前儿童角色与副社会关系的形成和影响。该项目探讨儿童与电视、dvd或智能在线代理（称为avatar）中的角色的社会体验，以及这些体验如何支持STEM学习。小孩子和他们最喜欢的人物形成了牢固的关系。这些角色可以作为孩子们的积极榜样，也有可能为孩子们提供连续性，因为他们在不同的环境中（例如，家庭，学校）接触数学和科学。从这项工作中得出的指导方针和原则应该有助于政策制定者、教育工作者和公司更好地利用无处不在的儿童日常经历中的媒体角色来改善STEM教育。

This 5-year research proposal lays out a set of studies that will be conducted across 3 sites (UC-Riverside, Northwestern University, and Georgetown University) with 18 month old to 6 year old children to explore how the relationships that children form with fictional characters (called parasocial) in DVDs and other digital media utilizing intelligent agents influence their learning of STEM concepts. The studies, though all focused on social attachment with media figures, use different measures and different stimuli: some assess children's perceptions of known media characters, while others introduce novel artifacts such as interactional toys. Little is known about how children's relationships with characters traverse different media platforms and whether similar learning principles apply in different media environments. In this research, the collaborative group of investigators brings the developmental and communication research areas into contact with the work in the learning sciences in a series of studies examining the formation and impact of parasocial relationships with characters in the toddler and preschool years. This project addresses children's social experiences with characters on TV, DVDs, or as intelligent on-line agents (called avatars), and how these experiences can support STEM learning. Young children form strong relationships with their favorite characters. These characters can be used as positive role models for children and also have the potential to provide continuity for children as they are exposed to math and science in different environments (e.g., home, school). The guidelines and principles derived from this work should help policy makers, educators, and companies make better use of the media characters that pervade the daily experiences of children to improve STEM education.