Getting Ready to Learn Creating Effective, Educational Children’s Media

Getting Ready to Learn describes how educational media have and are continuing to play a role in meeting the learning needs of children, parents, and teachers. Based on years of meaningful data from the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative, chapters explore how to develop engaging, playful, and developmentally appropriate content. From Emmy-Award-winning series to randomized controlled trials, this book covers the media production, scholarly research and technological advances surrounding some of the country?s most beloved programming.

Foreword by Dr. Alice Wilder and Sir Ken Robinson 1. Ready To Learn and Public Media: Improving Early Learning Outcomes for America’s Children David Lowenstein, Pamela Johnson, and Michael Fragale 2. From Mission to Screens: The PBS KIDS Approach to Content Sara DeWitt and Linda Simensky 3. Using Media to Foster Parent Engagement Megan Silander and Elisa Garcia 4. Building Learning Pathways and Community for Early Childhood Educators Lori Brittain, Jean Crawford, Sara Shapiro, Jeanne R. Paratore, Alejandra Salinas, Lisa O’Brien, and Sarah Blodgett 5. When Creativity + Collaboration = Success: The Making of "Peg + Cat" Kim Berglund 6. Children’s Mathematical Thinking and Learning: The Importance of Study Design and Aligned Assessments in Promoting and Capturing Learning Deborah Rosenfeld and Daisy Rutstein 7. What Early Childhood Educators Need in Order To Use Digital Media Effectively Phil Vahey, Regan Vidiksis, and Jaime Gutierrez 8. Curation and Mediation: Essential Ingredients When Supporting Children’s Learning Savitha Moorthy and Ximena Domiìnguez 9. Preschoolers Learn To Think and Act Like Scientists with "The Cat in the Hat" Sara S. Sweetman, Lawrence S. Mirkin, Anne E. Lund, and Shannon K. Bishop 10. Science Takes Center Stage: Design Principles To Support Young Children’s Science Learning with Media Marion Goldstein, Claire Christensen, Sarah Gerard, and Megan Silander 11. Permission to Speak: How Educational Media Can Start and Extend Dialogue for Kids and Adults Naomi Hupert and Alexandra Adair 12. Informational Text Adventures with "Molly of Denali" Nell K. Duke, Carol Greenwald, and Anne E. Lund 13. Building Community Partnerships to Support Family Learning Aaron Morris, Devon Steven, and Kea Anderson 14. How Ready To Learn Is Bringing Inclusive Design to PBS KIDS Jennifer Rodriguez and Michael Conn-Powers 15. Adaptive and Personalized Educational Games for Young Children: A Case Study Jennifer Rodriguez, Dylan Arena, and Jeremy D. Roberts 16. Innovations in Evidence and Analysis: The PBS KIDS Learning Analytics Platform and the Research It Supports Jeremy D. Roberts, Charles B. Parks, Gregory K. W. K. Chung, Elizabeth J. K. H. Redman, Katerina Schenke, and Cosimo Felline

Shelley Pasnik is the Director of the Center for Children and Technology and a vice president of the Education Development Center.