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Children’s Television: Cognitive Development and Schema Formation

Author: Sara Lindey, Ph.D.

Related Videos:
Jerome Singer: Cognitive Schemas (PDF Transcript)
Mister Rogers: The Human Body
Mister Rogers: The Objects Around Us

Show the video clip, “Jerome Singer: Cognitive Schemas,” from the Fred Rogers Oral History Project interviews wherein Jerome Singer, faculty of Yale University in the Yale Child Study Program, discusses schema formation and child development.  He also discusses how children’s shows appeal to both children and adults, but underscores the importance of a slower pace for assisting children’s learning potential.

To discuss how children’s television may alter schema production, show the following clips in class, discuss what they are learning in the clips, and compare how much time is given for children to reflect on and process what they are learning.
Mister Rogers: The Human Body
Mister Rogers: The Objects Around Us

Complementary Materials:
Evans Schmidt, E., & Anderson, D. (2006). The impact of television on cognitive development and educational achievement. In N. Pecora, J.P. Murray, & E. A. Wartella (Eds.), Children and television: Fifty years of research (pp. 65-80). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Lesser, G. (1979, March). Stop picking on Big Bird. Psychology Today, 12, 57-60.

Singer, J., & Singer, D. (1979, March). Come back Mister Rogers, come back. Psychology Today, 12, 57-60.

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