A new study conducted by Wellesley College and University of Maryland researchers suggests that children who watch the television show Sesame Street do better in grade school compared to their peers who do not watch the program.
Economists Phillip Levine from Wellesley and Melissa Kearney from Maryland studied how the popular children's show influences the education of kids in the United States. They discovered that kids who spent an hour a day watching Sesame Street received boosts in their academic performance in school.
The study showed that the program was most beneficial to boys, African-American youth and children from low-income families.
"Our analysis suggests that Sesame Street may be the biggest and most affordable early childhood intervention out there, at a cost of just a few dollars per child per year," Levine said.
When Sesame Street was launched, the show was broadcast across the U.S. using ultra-high frequency (UHF) channels and the more advanced very high-frequency (VHF) channels.
Most homes in the country, however, only received the weaker UHF channels at the time. The poor reception of these channels caused many American families to miss out on watching Sesame Street.
Levine and Kearney focused their study on comparing the academic performance of children who lived in areas with stronger TV signals for Sesame Street and those who lived in areas with weaker signals.
The researchers found that children who lived in places with better TV signals were more likely to do well in elementary school, especially at the grade school level.
Despite considering other factors that could also affect the educational performance of children, the research showed that watching an hour of Sesame Street a day still proved beneficial to children during the 1960s and 1970s.
The findings suggest that similar benefits could also be seen today in online educational programs at minimal costs.
Sesame Street first aired in November 1969 and has since become one of the longest running television shows in the U.S. By 1971, it was estimated that around 40 percent of pre-school aged children were watching the program.
The study, "Early Childhood Education by MOOC: Lessons from Sesame Street," is featured in the journal of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Photo: Cliff | Flickr
