Sesame Street and Nokia Research Center Explore Story Time for the 21st Century

Research Study Finds Merging Traditional Books with Video Technologies Can Enrich Family Interactions Over Long Distances and Help Build Child Literacy

Mountain View, CA, October 28, 2009 -The findings of a unique study Storyplay: Reading with Young Children (and Elmo) Over a Distance show the potential of combining a traditional paper book, video conferencing technology and filmed video segments to facilitate family literacy activities over distances. In contrast to using traditional phone calls or video chat, the Storyplay concept system helped provide richer and longer interactions between young children and remote family members, while encouraging child literacy development. The findings of the study conducted by Nokia Research Center, Sesame Workshop and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop were unveiled today at the Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age forum by Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary E. Knell.

In the research, grandparents, parents and children used the Storyplay concept system together, enabling grandparents to read with their grandchildren from a distance. The system contains two touch-screen video units. One displays video content of Sesame Street Muppet Elmo, who serves as a guide for children, providing simple instructions to help them navigate the technological aspects of setting up chats and engaging in the book reading experience. The other screen serves as the display for wireless video conferencing, enabling grandparent and grandchild to see each other while reading together. The screens are attached to a custom wooden frame containing page sensing hardware where paper books are placed.

Use of the Storyplay system facilitated both longer and higher quality remote interactions for grandparents and their grandchildren than those typically reported when using traditional telephone or videoconferencing technologies.

“With the growing use of technology for social interaction, there is great potential in using video technologies to support family bonding activity, no matter where people live,” said Dr. Glenda Revelle, Senior Research Fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. “The Storyplay research findings provide important insight into the potential breakthrough role technology can play to support family communication, while helping children build critical skills in a fun, interactive way.”

The interface features child-friendly navigation, enabling children to initiate calls using icons on the touch screen. Once family members are connected, Elmo takes the role of listener and offers comments and questions when triggered by either the child or grandparent touching the Elmo screen. Additional materials for adults on how to engage children in reading and start conversations about book content were also available in the Storyplay concept system. For example, adults could view a video, featuring Sesame Street’s Maria, that offered tips for using reading techniques that have been proven by research to increase children’s vocabulary development.

“Nokia continues to study innovative ways to connect people to what is important to them,” said John Shen, lab director, Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto. “This initial study with Sesame Workshop helps us better understand these interactions particularly with family communications.”

The full Storyplay report and video footage is available at http://research.nokia.com/projects/storyplay.

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children’s television programming with the landmark Sesame Street. The Workshop produces local Sesame Street programs, seen in over 140 countries, and other acclaimed shows to help bridge the literacy gap including The Electric Company and Pinky Dinky Doo. Beyond television, the Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment. Initiatives meet specific needs to help young children and families develop critical skills, acquire healthy habits and build emotional strength to prepare them for lifelong learning. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (www.joanganzcooneycenter.org) is an independent, nonprofit research center that is fostering innovation in children’s learning through digital media. The Center conducts and supports research, creates educational models and interactive media properties, and builds cross-sector partnerships. The Center is named for Sesame Workshop’s founder, who revolutionized television with the creation of Sesame Street. Core funding for the Center is provided by the generous support of Peter G. Peterson, Genius Products, Mattel, Inc. and Sesame Workshop.

Contacts:

Jodi Lefkowitz
Sesame Workshop
212-875-6497
jodi.lefkowitz@sesameworkshop.org