Workshop on Human Potential (Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University)
Description
Ellen Wartella, Professor of Communication, Professor of Psychology and Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, will present, "Educational Screen Media in the Lives of Babies and Preschoolers"
Abstract: It has been nearly 45 years since the advent of Sesame Street, the icon of planned educational programming for preschoolers. More recently, television programs and videos have been developed for babies younger than two with the promise of providing language learning. Indeed, more sorts of screen media (television, videos, APPS) are available for younger and younger children to use at home. Are young children using such media? What impact do educational screen media have on young children's learning of academic skills? What are the successes and challenges of educational media developed specifically for babies and preschool children?
Bio: Ellen Wartella is Al-Thani Professor of Communication, Professor of Psychology, Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Professor of Medical Social Sciences and Director of the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University. She is a leading scholar of the role of media in children’s development and serves on a variety of national and international boards and committees on children’s issues. Dr. Wartella currently serves on the Board of the World Summit Foundation, the Academic Advisory Board of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and the advisory board of the Rudd Center on Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity at Yale University . She is a Trustee of Sesame Workshop and serves on the PBS Advisory Board on children and television. She currently is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity, She has served on the National Academy of Sciences/ Institute of Medicine’s Study on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth (2006) and the Committee on Accelerating Progress on Obesity Prevention (2010-2012). She chaired the Committee on Examination of Front of Pack Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols at the Institute of Medicine(2009-2011). Dr. Wartella can be contacted at ewartella@gmail.com or visit her website http://cmhd.northwestern.edu/ for more information.
The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential is one of the core intellectual activities of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. It is an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students, post docs, and faculty whose work concerns behavior, health, and well-being across the lifespan and the ways in which technology and public policy shape human potential and achievement. The Workshop/Working group has active members in the areas of the social, behavioral, health, and policy sciences.
The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.
