Category Archives: Research

The Cooney Center has just kicked off an exciting multi-sector partnership with experts in neuroscience and learning, seasoned video game designers, and impact game publisher E-line Media to create an innovative video game that teaches fundamental math skills. This “Gut Sense” team brings together some of the world’s foremost experts in learning, brain plasticity, and videogames (Daphne Bavelier and Sean Green); number sense and its relation to school math achievement (Justin Halberda); children’s media (Michael Levine and Lori Takeuchi); media law (George Rose); designing action videogames (Sean Vesce and Mike Wikan); and publishing of learning games (Mike Angst and Alan Gershenfeld). This all-star cast is poised to create a videogame for children ages 7-11 that develops the brain’s numerical intuitions.

At Launchpad Toys, we’re working to inspire creativity in children through play with digital toys and tools like our flagship storytelling app, Toontastic. As tablet usage in young children increases year after year (NPD showed 13% growth between 2011 and 2012), it has become more important than ever to provide kids with quality learning tools that maximize their time on touchscreen devices. Still, in the immortal words of former President George W. Bush, “Rarely is the question asked: Is our…

This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post on May 29, 2012. When it comes to learning to read well, the U.S. is locked in a stubborn cycle of conflict. Recall the infamous “reading wars” of the 1980’s and 90’s between advocates of phonics and those of the whole language methodology. The U.S. commissioned a National Reading Panel (NRP) which set forth key guidelines to help settle policy, distribute funding, and inform practice. However, there remains disagreement that a laser focus on…

Are you the parent or guardian of a child between 2 and 6 years of age? If so, you are eligible to take a survey about children’s books, sponsored by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Parents who complete the survey will have a chance to win a $50 gift card to Amazon.com! Please read the information below before deciding to take the survey. Taking this survey is completely voluntary, and you may stop at any time by…

The Cooney Center Fellows Program encourages research, innovation, and dissemination to promote children’s learning. Fellows participate in a wide range of projects and, in doing so, develop broad exposure to scholarship, policy, and practice in the field of digital media and learning. This professional development program offers opportunities to:  – Conduct and/or support research on digital media use among elementary school-age children;  – Translate research to respond to practical industry and practitioner needs;  – Expand the influence research has in…

Carly Shuler is a researcher, developer, and author in the children’s media and toy industry. As our inaugural Fellow, Carly has researched and authored a number of Cooney Center reports, including D is for Digital, iLearn and Pockets of Potential. Since her fellowship, Carly has continued her work with the Center, leading many of our industry initiatives and research projects with a particular focus on consumer trends, informal learning, and mobile devices. When iLearn: A Content Analysis of the iTunes…

Cynthia Chong is an educational media researcher whose research focuses on how the design of educational media can affect young children’s learning and the way they interact with them, as well as how parents and teachers use these technologies to teach. She recently began reviewing educational apps for 3- to 8-year-olds on her blog, A Matter of App. We’ve invited Cynthia to tell us a little bit more about this blog and why it’s important for parents, educators, and designers…

You’ve likely heard the saying “two heads are better than one” used in support of collaboration. Besides the increase in brainpower, the availability of different perspectives and experiences also contributes to the value of working together. On Sesame Street, this adage is embodied by the Two-Headed Monster, who literally puts his heads together to solve problems and explore the world:       While we at the Cooney Center fancy ourselves a bit more civilized than the Two-Headed Monster, we…

For the second year in a row, the iPad is the most popular item that children are asking for as a holiday gift.  Given that it is the season for making wish-lists, it is in this spirit that I offer my own iPad research wish-list for 2012. The items on this list will surely keep a variety of researchers busy in the new year and would help address some critical questions about the iPad in particular, but touch screens in…

How does one know that an educational experience is actually helping students learn? Our company Motion Math makes educations games for the iPad and iPhone that let kids play with numbers. It’s easy for us to think, as we’re making our apps, and watching students play them, to believe that learning is happening, especially because we spend a lot of time ensuring that our designs follow good pedagogical and usability principles. However, the history of educational technology is littered with many false promises and disappointing results, most recently given an overview by Matt Richtel of The New York Times. For these reasons, and for our own self-understanding, it’s important that we sometimes hold our learning technologies up to scientific scrutiny.