Evaluation of PBS KIDS GO! Website: Digital Media and Students’ Motivation to Learn

• In Event: Roundtable Session 80
  In Roundtable Session: Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning SIG Roundtable 3: Issues in Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning

Abstract

Research suggests that informal learning in digital learning environments can bring about increased academic motivation and learning in children (Center for Children and Technology, 2008; Gee, 2007). This paper reports on PBS KIDS GO!’s effect on students’ motivation to learn. An RCT addressed differences between treatment students (7 -10 years), who used GO! 30 minutes a week for 7 months in their afterschool programs, with controls students. Treatment students grew in motivation to learn at a greater rate than control students (F (1,143) = 4.2, p = .04). Treatment students’ number or minutes using GO! over the study was correlated with increases in students’ motivation to learn as measured by the SSRS (r(140)=.25, p<.04).

Authors

• Elizabeth M. McCarthy, WestEd

• Weiling Li, WestEd

• Michelle Tiu, WestEd