Scholars argue that a scientifically literate public is a requirement for a democracy. Children are watching television more today than ever before, and studies have shown that children learn academically educational content from television. The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational content for children. This study qualitatively evaluated a sample of 38 children's television programs to obtain a description of the scientific content contained in children's television. The study yielded a large quantity of scientific content, yet the quality of the content left much to be desired. Based on the findings of this study, science in children's television can be divided into two categories: exposures and lessons. Scientific content contains both fact and fiction, and a mixture of the two. Science is generally looked upon favorably in children's television; it's just not brought up enough. The major scientific topics covered were life sciences and earth and space sciences; other topics were mentioned at a much lower rate. In comparing the number of programs containing scientific content, the cable channels outperformed the networks. Possible remedies are discussed, as well as the limitations and possible further research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04112007-113225 |
| Date | 11 April 2007 |
| Creators | Charpentier, Tristi Bercegeay |
| Contributors | Andrea L. Miller, Anne C. Osborne, Lisa K. Lundy |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04112007-113225/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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