At the Fred Rogers Center we’re very interested in how new media tools can be used to provide professional development support for professionals who work with young children. Our latest innovation, the Fred Rogers Center Early Learning Environment™ (Ele) is designed to do just that. The web-based support system uses new media tools to provide resources for parents, teachers, and home-based...
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If you have a young learner in your house, you’re probably already gearing up for the fall, buying new backpacks and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. For those of you looking for advice on how to use digital media with young children at home or in school, we’ve collected this roundup of key messages from the past few...
Read MoreThis post orginally appeared at the New America Foundation's Early Ed Watch. It appears here with permission. Last month I had the opportunity to write about one of my favorite preschool television shows, Sid the Science Kid. The piece, “How Kids’ Television Inspires a Lifelong Love of Science,” is part of a special online report on Educating Americans for the 21st...
Read MoreDual language learners are the fastest growing segment of the population in the United States, currently representing about 25 percent of children under age 6. A dual language learner (DLL) is any young child who is growing up with two or more languages, regardless of his or her proficiency. Research reviewed by the Center for Early Childhood Education Research shows that...
Read MoreDiversity is more than demographics. Media designer and professor of learning technologies Kevin Clark says we need to think about diversity holistically—being aware of what children hear, see, and do. A speaker at a last year’s Fred Forward conference said, “To create diversity, you have to be diverse.” That is an amazing statement. As a media designer, I’m constantly striving to...
Read MoreWhether watching TV, playing games online, or using apps on mom’s iPad, we know that younger children are likely to get more out of a media experience when they play or watch alongside another person. A new survey from Northwestern University finds that family media environment has a big impact on how young children interact with media and on whether...
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