Social Learning Impact of 3D Computer Animated Movies for [629280]

Social Learning Impact of 3D Computer Animated Movies for
Children – Means of Curricular Adaptations through Integrated
Activities in Preparatory Classes

Stanca -Maria Iurean

Babe ș-Bolyai University of Cluj -Napoca, Faculty of Psychology and Science of
Education, 7 Sindicatelor Street, 400029, Cluj -Napoca, Cluj County, Rom ania
E-mail: stanca.maria.iurean[at]gmail.com

Abstract
Actual society surrounds children with many influential models, such as parents within the family,
characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. These models
provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate. 3D animated movies industry has grown in
the last decade, offering sources of informational contents and popular animated characters became
social models. According to SLT (Social Learning Theory), new beh aviors can be acquired by
observing and imitating others. Learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context
and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor
reproduction or direct reinforcement . Nowadays, integrated curriculum is the major concern of
primary school teachers. The current paper presents ways of integrating informal educational
contents from 3D computer animated movies in Romanian curricular activities through the impact
such movie s have in children's life.

Keywords: computer animated movies, Social Learning Theory, curricular
integrated activities

1. Introduction
Factors that sculpture children’s way of thinking are found mostly in the environment where they grow
up. These incl ude daily events, memorable experiences and peak feelings. Cartoons are one of the daily
habits for children; studies have proven that an average child with a facility of a TV and a satellite
connection at his home watches approximately 18,000 hours of te levision from kindergarten to high
school graduation. (Habib, Soliman, 2015)
3D animated movies industry has grown in the last decade, offering sources of informational
contents and popular animated characters became influential models.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977) posits that people learn from one another, via
observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory is considered a bridge between behaviorist and
cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivati on.
Therefore, using positive animated movies characters as models or turning to advantage contents
within 3D animated movies can become successfully resources in integrated teaching activities.

2. Media’s Influence in Young Children’s Life
Electronic me dia, particularly television, have long been criticized for their potential impact on children.
One area for concern is how early media exposure influences cognitive development and academic
achievement.

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Animated movies/cartoons prove to be having a huge s pace concerning children daily schedule and
weights a lot in the first experiences that sculpture the children brain (Habib, Soliman, 2015).
Animated movies or cartoons are some of the strong factors that does affect an individual’s
childhood, and takes c onsiderable time from the young toddler schedule (Habib, Soliman, 2015).
When studies control for im portant confounding variables such as income and parent education,
they often fail to find significant linear relations between television viewing and sub sequent
achievement. In fact, the association appears to be curvilinear, with achievement increasing to a peak at
low levels of television viewing (one to two hours a day), and then declining with heavier viewing. The
most important mediator appears to be content of the programs viewed. Edu cational programs are
positively associated with overall measures of achievement and with potentially long -lasting effects,
while purely entertainment content, particularly violent content, is negatively associated with academic
achievement. Age may also be an important mediator (Kirkorian, Wartella and Anderson, 2008).
These media resources can become double edged weapon; they could ruin an individual’s childhood
through excessive exposing to sexual & violence content, o r could aid in raising a balanced child with a
proper mental state (Habib, Soliman, 2015).
Animated movies or cartoons could act as a home school, to teach a kid the life experience that is
not gained from parents or from school, due to facilities that ar e lacked in the normal academic way or
in parents’ orders (Habib, Soliman, 2015).

2.1. Social Learning Theory
People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors (Bandura,
1977). “Most human behavior is learned obse rvationally through modeling: from observing others, one
forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information
serves as a guide for action.” (Bandura) Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of
continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.
Necessary conditions for effective modeling are (Bandura, 1977):
Attention — various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. It includes
distinct iveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value. One’s characteristics (e.g.
sensory capacities, arousal level, past reinforcement) affect attention.
Retention – remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images,
cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal
Reproduction – reproducing the image, including physical capabilities, and self -observation of
reproduction.
Motivation – having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as past (i. e. traditional
behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model)
Bandura also considered personality as an interaction between three components: the environment,
behavior, and one’s psychological process es (one’s ability to entertain images in minds and language).

2.3. Animated movies role in children’s social learning
Kirkorian, Wartella and Anderson (2008) summa rize relevant research and provide suggestions for
maximizing the positive effects of media and minimizing the negative effects.
The authors point out that producers and parents can take steps to maximize the positive effects of
media and minimize the negative effects. They note that research on children’s television viewing can
inform guideline s for producers of children’s media to enhance learning. Parents can select well –
designed, age -appropriate programs and view the programs with their children to maximize the positive
effects of educational media.
Educational programs are positively associa ted with overall measures of achievement and with
potentially long -lasting effects, while purely entertainment content, particularly violent content, is
negatively associated with academic achievement.

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Today 3D animated movies for children are more likely to increase children attention because their
graphics, stories become more and more captivating.
Attention
Children cannot learn from educational messages to which they do not pay attention. Moreover,
viewers learn more from television programs when they c an pay sustained, unbroken attention (Burns
and Anderson, 1993). Researchers have identi fied several means of maximizing children’s attention to a
program, some having to do with program content, others with formal fea tures such as camera
techniques and sound effects. As noted, one way to increase atten tion to a program is to maximize
comprehen sibility of the content (Anderson and others, 1981). Although viewers of all ages respond to
formal features, Huston and Wright’s theory (1983) predicts that cont ent becomes increasingly
important with age and formal features consequently less impor tant except in so far as they are used to
help process content.
Comprehension
Just as children cannot understand an edu cational message to which they do not pay atten tion, they
cannot learn from content that they do not understand. Shalom Fisch (2000) proposed what he called
the capacity model of children’s comprehension of television programs based on the limited cognitive
resources people have available for process ing information at any given moment. Fisch makes a
distinction between a program’s narrative content —its story —and its educa tional content —its
informative messages —and emphasizes the potential competition between the two types of content for
the cognitive resources needed to process the program. To maximize the cognitive resourc es available
to children to process educa tional content, Fisch suggests that producers integrate narrative and
educational content as much as possible, making the educational messa ge a central part of the ongoing
story. For example, characters may have to solve a particular problem before advancing to the next
chapter in the story. In this way, narra tive and educational content can capitalize on the same resources
rather than compe te for them.
Repetition
One reason why media can be such a power ful educational tool is that content can be easily and
cheaply repeated. Literal repeti tion of episodes can enhance comprehension and subsequent
learning. Children also increasingly interac ted with the content (in terms of audience participation)
as the episode was repeated (Williams and others, 1982; Crawley and others, 1999). Similar
benefits of literal repetition have been report ed in other studies (Skouteris and Kelly, 2006).
Viewer Ch aracteristics
Some studies of media effects suggest that a variety of viewer characteristics, including but not
limited to intelligence, socioeconomic status, and gender, can mediate the effects of media on learning
and academic achievement. To the extent that producers of children’s me dia can take these
characteristics into account during program design and production, they may enhance educational
value. For example several correlational studies suggest that the negative impact of heavy television
viewing on academic achievement may be stronger for girls or for individuals with higher intel ligence
(Keith et al, 1986). Other studies suggest that television viewing may have differential effects on chil –
dren from different socioeconomic groups. Specifically, television viewing is associated with higher
achievement in children from lower -income homes and lower achievement in children from higher –
income homes ( Comstock and Paik, 1991: Fetler, 1984). A longitudinal study that separately analyzed
different conten t types found that the positive association between exposure to educational programs at
age five and later achievement was significantly stronger for boys while the negative association
between violent content and later achievement was stronger for girls. The authors interpreted this
finding in the context of socialization. For example, because socialization of girls generally places more
emphasis on academics, early exposure to educational programs may help boys become relatively more
prepared for school ( Comstock and H. Paik, 1991; Fetler, 1984) Al though these studies are often

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correlational and rarely conducted for the express purpose of investigating individual differences such
as race or gender, they highlight some possible mediators of the effects of media on children.
Transfer of Learning
Direct learning of specific information from educational media is certainly useful, but a goal of most
educational initiatives is to empower children to apply what they have learned to real -life problems.
Thus child ren must transfer to the real world what they learn from the media context (for example a
television program set in a fantasy environment). Researchers now know relatively little about transfer
of learning in young children, particularly with respect to te levision and interactive media, though some
evidence suggests that even preschoolers can transfer video information to real -life prob lems (Crawley
et al, 1999; Fisch, 2005; Hodapp, 1977). In a discussion of ideal conditions for transfer from television
based on transfer of learning and analogical reasoning in children more generally, Fisch argues that
transfer can be maximized not only by repeating the educational messages in the course of the episode
but also by varying the contexts surrounding each prese ntation. He suggests that presenting the same
lesson, such as a specific problem -solving strategy, several times using different types of examples can
increase the flexibility of a child’s mental representation of that strategy, thus enhanc ing the child’s
ability to accurately select and apply it in different real -life situations (Fisch, 2004).
Adult Coviewing and Mediation
Just as media producers can increase the educational value of electronic media, so parents and
other caregivers can also play an impo rtant role in increasing the effectiveness of educational media.
Coviewing adults, for example, can enhance the effectiveness of educational programming by
drawing at tention to the most important aspects of the program and by extending lessons presented i n
the program. Some studies suggest that coviewing with a parent or other adult may increase a child’s
learning from educational television, particularly when the coviewer ac tively mediates by explicitly
drawing attention to the program and by asking and answering questions (Friedrich and Stein, 1975;
Valkenburg et al, 1998). Although some studies fail to find a benefit of adult coviewing or
mediation, to children’s knowledge, no evidence suggests a nega tive link between such parent
involvement and learn ing from television. With respect to interactive media, findings are mixed.
Although learning from educational software may be enhanced, when an adult provides feedback or
extends the lessons, it seems that children still need to be free to control the int eractive experience
themselves to maintain interest in the activity (Haugland, 1992; Shute and Miksad, 1997; Calvert et
al, 2005). Taken together, adult coviewing and mediation are most likely to have a positive effect on
learning from educa tional media.

3. Educational Media in Schools
Although most research on electronic media focuses on use at home, some initiatives are evaluating
the use of educational media in the classroom. Efforts have been made to create school curricula that
integrate educa tional television programs, and a massive set of evaluations of such initiatives is now
under way (Ball and Bogatz, 1973). Ready to Learn, a public broadcast ing initiative to enhance
school readiness through educational television programs and online resources, offered workshops
for parents and educators showing how to extend lessons from television programs through practice
and repetition. A five -year evalua tion of Ready to Learn found a modest but positive link between
the workshops and the time adults spent coviewing PBS programs and reading books that extended
lessons in the programs (Boller et al, 2004). Although analysts found no evidence that children’s
language and cogni tive abilities benefited from the coviewing, the findings nevertheless hold some
promise. The apparent benefits of adult mediation may provide a new area for extending the lessons
of educational media.

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3.1. Means of Curricular Adaptations of 3D Animated Movies for Children in Integrated
Activities in Preparatory Classes from Romania
In 2012, under European Proceedings preparatory primary level grades were introduced in
Romanian Educational System and also integrated activities became the main teaching trend
enforced by the curricula.
Integrated approach allows learners to explore, gather , process, refine and present information
about topics they want to investigate without the constraints imposed by traditional subject barriers
(Pigdon and Woolley, 1992).
In Romania, defining integrated curriculum has been a topic of discussion since earl y 2000 that
is still going on.
Integrated activities gave creative teachers the opportunity to elaborate motivational learning
contexts, such as using 3D animated movies for children in curricular activities.
3D animated movies for children bring teaching benefits through creating motivational
opportunities for the children of 5 -7 years, because their social informal activities involve
watching those kind of movies.
Two useful types of organizing integrated activities applicable in preparatory classes, on
Romanian Curriculum, are presented below.
 Multidisciplinary Integration
Multidisciplinary approaches focus primarily on the disciplines. Teachers who use this approach
organize standards from the disciplines around a theme taken from an animation movie. I t involves a
relationship of different subjects to each other and to a common theme from animated movies. There
are many different ways to create multidisciplinary curriculum, and they tend to differ in the level of
intensity of the integration effort.
Theme-Based Units
Theme -Based Units were observed to be the most effective way of using animation movies in
projecting integrated activities. Going beyond sequencing content and plan collaboratively for a
multidisciplinary unit, the theme was chosen around an animated movie children like. A more intensive
way of working with a theme as theme -based was observed. Often three or more subject areas are
involved in the study, and the unit ends with an integrated culminating activity. Units of several weeks'
duratio n may emerge from this process.
Numerous benefits were observed, such as the following: students’ motivation increased;
students exhibited excellent on -task behavior; students worked collaboratively; students were
engrossed both as presenters and as the au dience; students used a wide range of presentation products,
such as video, debate, sculpture, and so on; students demonstrated depth of understanding of topics as a
result of their sustained interest around various questions; fewer recess problems occurre d during this
two-week period; teachers enjoyed the process and the results;
Teacher’s role is significant in organizing such activities and selecting the most effective contents,
excluding scenes of violence or sexuality from the movies and turning to ac count the animated contents.
In conclusion, electronic media are powerful influences on the lives of contemporary children. With
advances in technology such as larger screens that provide images in high definition, three -dimensional
surround sound, and gre ater possibilities for interaction, the power of media will likely only increase for
the foresee able future. The influences can be both for good and for ill. Researchers are beginning to
understand which aspects of media should be reduced and which enhanc ed, but further research is
required. Ultimately, however, the question is whether society has the ability and will to enhance the
positive aspects of media and reduce the negative ( Kirkorian et al, 2008).

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