http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0912/SpongeBob-study-Do-fast-paced-cartoons-impair-kids-thinking
I am an avid Sponge Bob fan, although I don't get to watch it as much as when my kids were younger and I wasn't a Dean. And I don't doubt that a kid would have a hard time focusing after watching Sponge Bob. Sponge Bob is like eating chocolate or drinking a Coke, except in relation to the brain rather than the blood stream.
Here's my question. If you had those same students do some task that involved creativity or ingenuity right after watching, would they do better than that kid using crayons? And how do those same 4 years turn out in later life? Will they prove to be faster thinkers or better innovators in the end because their cortex was more stimulated as a child?
Obviously I'm not competent to say and there are no studies of this sort yet. But the genie is out of the bottle. Sponge Bob and his equivalents are here to stay.
P.S. I hope no colorers were offended by this post.
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8 comments:
Interesting question, Ken. It seems that the scientific research you cross referenced has the bias of making kids "fit in", or behave.
What about those that connect ideas, see things for a different perspective or learn/hear in different ways?
I just got off of FB with a friend who is so quick with her imaginaton and humor that she NEEDS to be writing!!! I used to be a part of a small group on FB with a few others that also had creative imaginations! I couldn't keep up, and besides, I'm just too serious to "think like that"~ But, I enjoyed it while it lasted!!! Hard not to feel that I didn't belong...but I didn't, in some ways... I never (almost) read fiction for that reason. And I've beat myself up over it, until I read where Jefferson (Thomas) also didn't have patience with fiction!!!
Of course that are some in educational circles that believe in "wholistic learning environment", such as "Montesorri"....
Universities like to do wholistic learning through research ....
Corporations also use research to pursue their economic interests...or investments...
that's Montissori....Becka went to a 2 year old program, but I was so indoctrinated about "original sin" that I couldn't enjoy her enjoyment!!! I was neurotic about making sure she behaved, instead of understanding her curiosity as a desire to explore and learn! and does one wonder why I hate religion?
I remember reading about Montesorri's philosophy and wanting to believe that children were 'innocent", but couldn't throw off those internalized beliefs....
I was curious to see six comments on this post... and then to see all six were from you, Angie. ;-) It's like you're having a conversation with yourself... The rest of us couldn't get a word in edgewise ;-)
I have to have someone to talk to! ;-)!
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