The effects of appeal on children's comprehension and recall of content in educational television programs

This exploratory study investigated the effects of audience appeal on fourth-graders' (n = 25) and fifth-graders' (n = 24) comprehension of and selective attention to narrative and academic content in educational program segments. Students were shown two program segments that focused on one of two math concepts, perimeter or scale, and that were rated as high or low in appeal. After each segment, they provided written answers to questions designed to elicit recall of educational and narrative content. Findings indicated that most students recalled relevant narrative content. Students showed greater conceptual understanding of the math concepts after viewing segments featuring the concept of perimeter and segments rated low in appeal. Contrary to expectations, students indicated greater confidence in their ability to solve problems shown in the low appeal segments. Greater confidence was also displayed for segments featuring the concept of perimeter.