I’m not sure how I feel about the press release below. In my mind I think that if you are going to work with kids on a skill in which you probably didn’t work all that much with them on before then the kid is naturally going to improve regardless of the way they are learning. That being said I know that I’ve let Eva play on the PBSKids.org site and she loves the games and they have helped her improve even on things that we have personally work with her to learn offline. The findings sort of feel like a no brainer to me, though.

Study of Children at Home Finds that Playing PBS KIDS Online Games Improves Early Math Skills

Preschoolers Who Played Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and Sid the Science Kid Games with Their Parents Were Better Prepared for School

San Francisco, California — January 17, 2013 — A new study from WestEd has found that engaging low-income parents and their preschool children with PBS KIDS content and games developed through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative boosts math learning and helps prepare children for entry into kindergarten. The evaluation examined improvements in preschool children’s math knowledge and skills by studying families’ use of online games and at-home activities from the PBS KIDS Lab (pbskids.org/lab) featuring Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and Sid the Science Kid. Ready To Learn is an early learning project of PBS KIDS and CPB, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

In an eight-week summer program implemented by WestEd, families participated in weekly parent meetings where they learned about available PBS KIDS math games and other hands-on learning activities they could easily do at home with their children. Parents were encouraged to play the Ready To Learn collection of newly produced PBS KIDS cross-platform activities with their children at home for 30 minutes a day, four days a week. The project examined whether playing PBS KIDS “transmedia suites” (digital games that span platforms and are connected by storyline and curricular goals) can help families enhance their children’s early math skills. Together, parents and children played online and mobile versions of games like Huff Puff-a-Tron, Meatball Launcher, and Weather Surprise. Continue reading Press Release: Study of Children at Home Finds that Playing PBS KIDS Online Games Improves Early Math Skills →