Abstract
Today’s children live in a world surrounded by the mass media, encountering scientific words and ideas early in life. Jakab (2013) found 8 year olds had everyday understandings of molecules, and that some of this knowledge came from the mass media. Recent research involving Jenny Donovan and Grady Venville, using samples located in three Australian states, further highlighted this. The 141 children who completed a survey on their use of mass media were found to spend an average of 5 hours 10 minutes with the mass media daily, of which just over 2 hours was with television (TV). Despite being aged 10–12 years, 79% of the children watched crime shows rated for ages 15+, particularly NCIS, Bones, Law & Order, The Mentalist and CSI. Of the 62 interviewees, 89% knew of DNA, 60% knew of genes, and 97% knew or surmised that humans have DNA. Although the interviewees had minimal knowledge of the biological nature and function of DNA, 77% related DNA to solving crime, 65% related it to identification and family relationships (e.g. adoption, unknown soldiers, paternity) and 31% related it (particularly genes) to disease. The interviewees recognised TV as the source of their knowledge, citing particular TV shows.
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Notes
- 1.
Catalyst is an Australian TV show that focuses on science concepts and innovations.
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Haeusler, C., Donovan, J., Venville, G. (2020). Children Versus Curriculum: Who Wins?. In: Donovan, J., Trimmer, K., Flegg, N. (eds) Curriculum, Schooling and Applied Research. Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48822-2_7
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