Sandra Calvert | Georgetown University (original) (raw)
Papers by Sandra Calvert
Child Development, 2019
Children’s math learning (N = 217; Mage = 4.87 years; 63% European American, 96% college‐educated... more Children’s math learning (N = 217; Mage = 4.87 years; 63% European American, 96% college‐educated families) from an intelligent character game was examined via social meaningfulness (parasocial relationships [PSRs]) and social contingency (parasocial interactions, e.g., math talk). In three studies (data collected in the DC area: 12/2015–10/2017), children’s parasocial relationships and math talk with the intelligent character predicted quicker, more accurate math responses during virtual game play. Children performed better on a math transfer task with physical objects when exposed to an embodied character (Study 2), and when the character used socially contingent replies, which was mediated by math talk (Study 3). Results suggest that children’s parasocial relationships and parasocial interactions with intelligent characters provide new frontiers for 21st century learning.
Social Development, 1994
A Review of Gender Identities and Education: The Impact of Starting School, by Barbara Lloyd and ... more A Review of Gender Identities and Education: The Impact of Starting School, by Barbara Lloyd and Gerald Duveen.
Technology, Mind, and Behavior
Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Sep 5, 2014
This study examined the relations between the amount and content of infant and preschool televisi... more This study examined the relations between the amount and content of infant and preschool television exposure and preschool cognitive outcomes. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were ages 1 and 4. At age 4, children completed a series of cognitive ...
Social Policy Report, 2019
Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2018
Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters end through a process called PSR... more Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters end through a process called PSR breakups. An online parent report measure was used to describe preschool and school-aged children’s breakups with media characters, as well as the attributes of past and current favorite characters. According to parents ( N = 138), 51% of children experienced PSR breakups. PSRs lasted about two years before a breakup occurred. Past and current favorite characters were animated, human-like, and embedded in fantastical content. Current favorite characters taught fewer academic lessons than past favorite characters. Both boys and girls had current favorite characters that were more gendered in their physical appearance than past favorite characters. However, girls’ current favorite characters had more masculine traits than past favorite characters. Our findings suggest possible avenues for the design of future media characters that can teach as they entertain.
The Journal of school health, 2018
Youth in the United States have low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, a risk factor for childh... more Youth in the United States have low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, a risk factor for childhood obesity. Lower levels of physical fitness for black and Hispanic youth contribute to health disparities. In this feasibility study, we examined active video games (AVGs) as a tool to improve fitness and attitudes toward physical activity during early adolescence. A 6-week AVG program took place in a youth development program in a high-poverty neighborhood in New York City. Youth aged 10 to 15 years (50% overweight or obese) participated in 2 fitness tests and completed surveys that captured barriers to physical activity pre- and postintervention. Each week, participants played Wii Fit games for 30 minutes. Participants improved the number of sit-ups and step-ups they completed from pre- to postintervention (p < .05). Participants also increased their self-efficacy, intention to exercise and perceived social support to exercise (p < .05). Youth reported a high level of enjoyment...
The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media, 2007
Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets, 2013
Journal of Children and Media, 2009
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2000
This study examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with ... more This study examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with autism. Children's attention, motivation, and learning of words was compared in a behavioral program and an educational software program. The educational software program was designed to parallel the behavioral program, but it added perceptually salient qualities such as interesting sounds and object movement. Children with autism were more attentive, more motivated, and learned more vocabulary in the computer than in the behavioral program. Implications are considered for the development of computer software to teach vocabulary to children who have autism.
In an IBM television commercial, a middle-aged man is caught by a nun as he tries to fish coins f... more In an IBM television commercial, a middle-aged man is caught by a nun as he tries to fish coins from a fountain to purchase a drink from a machine. Meanwhile, a young woman pulls out her cell phone, points it at a drink machine, clicks a button, and a coke immediately pops out of the slot below. She walks off with her product, and the company walks off with a record of who she is, where she is and what she bought with her cell phone. Television is big business, designed to sell products by delivering large audiences to commercial advertisers (Calvert, 1999). The content is the lure. In the information age, new media will continue this tradition of delivering people to advertisers, but the specific strategies will expand considerably. Technological developments will lead to new business practices, such as the e-commerce example described above, that can get customers to purchase their products. Technological tracking practices, built into devices
Production features that attract children's interest and that foster their learning are exami... more Production features that attract children's interest and that foster their learning are examined. Action, involving movement, is put forth as a feature that is developmentally appropriate for young children, for boys, and for developmentally delayed children, in part because these groups may well be visual processors. Music is a motivating feature for girls though its effects on learning are less clear. Knowledge about how children learn from new media is linked to the creation of intrinsically interesting environments that can engage children to think and learn as they are being entertained.
Child Development, 2019
Children’s math learning (N = 217; Mage = 4.87 years; 63% European American, 96% college‐educated... more Children’s math learning (N = 217; Mage = 4.87 years; 63% European American, 96% college‐educated families) from an intelligent character game was examined via social meaningfulness (parasocial relationships [PSRs]) and social contingency (parasocial interactions, e.g., math talk). In three studies (data collected in the DC area: 12/2015–10/2017), children’s parasocial relationships and math talk with the intelligent character predicted quicker, more accurate math responses during virtual game play. Children performed better on a math transfer task with physical objects when exposed to an embodied character (Study 2), and when the character used socially contingent replies, which was mediated by math talk (Study 3). Results suggest that children’s parasocial relationships and parasocial interactions with intelligent characters provide new frontiers for 21st century learning.
Social Development, 1994
A Review of Gender Identities and Education: The Impact of Starting School, by Barbara Lloyd and ... more A Review of Gender Identities and Education: The Impact of Starting School, by Barbara Lloyd and Gerald Duveen.
Technology, Mind, and Behavior
Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Sep 5, 2014
This study examined the relations between the amount and content of infant and preschool televisi... more This study examined the relations between the amount and content of infant and preschool television exposure and preschool cognitive outcomes. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were ages 1 and 4. At age 4, children completed a series of cognitive ...
Social Policy Report, 2019
Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2018
Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters end through a process called PSR... more Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters end through a process called PSR breakups. An online parent report measure was used to describe preschool and school-aged children’s breakups with media characters, as well as the attributes of past and current favorite characters. According to parents ( N = 138), 51% of children experienced PSR breakups. PSRs lasted about two years before a breakup occurred. Past and current favorite characters were animated, human-like, and embedded in fantastical content. Current favorite characters taught fewer academic lessons than past favorite characters. Both boys and girls had current favorite characters that were more gendered in their physical appearance than past favorite characters. However, girls’ current favorite characters had more masculine traits than past favorite characters. Our findings suggest possible avenues for the design of future media characters that can teach as they entertain.
The Journal of school health, 2018
Youth in the United States have low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, a risk factor for childh... more Youth in the United States have low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, a risk factor for childhood obesity. Lower levels of physical fitness for black and Hispanic youth contribute to health disparities. In this feasibility study, we examined active video games (AVGs) as a tool to improve fitness and attitudes toward physical activity during early adolescence. A 6-week AVG program took place in a youth development program in a high-poverty neighborhood in New York City. Youth aged 10 to 15 years (50% overweight or obese) participated in 2 fitness tests and completed surveys that captured barriers to physical activity pre- and postintervention. Each week, participants played Wii Fit games for 30 minutes. Participants improved the number of sit-ups and step-ups they completed from pre- to postintervention (p < .05). Participants also increased their self-efficacy, intention to exercise and perceived social support to exercise (p < .05). Youth reported a high level of enjoyment...
The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media, 2007
Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets, 2013
Journal of Children and Media, 2009
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2000
This study examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with ... more This study examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with autism. Children's attention, motivation, and learning of words was compared in a behavioral program and an educational software program. The educational software program was designed to parallel the behavioral program, but it added perceptually salient qualities such as interesting sounds and object movement. Children with autism were more attentive, more motivated, and learned more vocabulary in the computer than in the behavioral program. Implications are considered for the development of computer software to teach vocabulary to children who have autism.
In an IBM television commercial, a middle-aged man is caught by a nun as he tries to fish coins f... more In an IBM television commercial, a middle-aged man is caught by a nun as he tries to fish coins from a fountain to purchase a drink from a machine. Meanwhile, a young woman pulls out her cell phone, points it at a drink machine, clicks a button, and a coke immediately pops out of the slot below. She walks off with her product, and the company walks off with a record of who she is, where she is and what she bought with her cell phone. Television is big business, designed to sell products by delivering large audiences to commercial advertisers (Calvert, 1999). The content is the lure. In the information age, new media will continue this tradition of delivering people to advertisers, but the specific strategies will expand considerably. Technological developments will lead to new business practices, such as the e-commerce example described above, that can get customers to purchase their products. Technological tracking practices, built into devices
Production features that attract children's interest and that foster their learning are exami... more Production features that attract children's interest and that foster their learning are examined. Action, involving movement, is put forth as a feature that is developmentally appropriate for young children, for boys, and for developmentally delayed children, in part because these groups may well be visual processors. Music is a motivating feature for girls though its effects on learning are less clear. Knowledge about how children learn from new media is linked to the creation of intrinsically interesting environments that can engage children to think and learn as they are being entertained.