Education, Entertainment, and Learning in the Home

by Buckingham, David; Scanlon, Margaret

• ISBN13: 9780335210077
• ISBN10: 0335210074
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

"This is an excellent scholarly book that is guaranteed to stimulate thought and provoke discussion from all those active and interested in how society and the market approach education and the care of our young." British Journal of Education In recent years, the government has placed a growing emphasis on the need for parents to support their children's learning. Meanwhile, commercial corporations are increasingly targeting the educational aspirations of parents and children. New forms of educational media have emerged, which purport to 'make learning fun' by using devices drawn from popular culture. In the process, the boundaries between homes and schools, and between education and entertainment, are becoming more and more blurred. This book is based on an extensive research project investigating the developing market in educational materials designed for use in the home. It considers the characteristics of 'edutainment' in children's information books, pre-school magazines and CD-Roms. It discusses the economic forces at work in the production and marketing of these media, and the rhetoric of the sales pitches. Also, it considers how parents and children use them in the home. As learning itself increasingly becomes a commodity, this book addresses an issue of growing importance for parents, teachers and all those concerned with children's education.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	v
Changing Sites of Learning
The home, the school and the marketplace	1	(12)
PART ONE	13	(60)
Narrowing the GAP?
Parental involvement, homework and the `Learning Journey'	15	(16)
Producing Learning
The changing face of children's educational publishing	31	(24)
Selling Learning
Developments in the retail trade	55	(18)
PART TWO	73	(72)
Parental Pedagogies
Edutainment and early learning	75	(16)
Popular Histories
Education and entertainment in information books	91	(18)
Going Interactive
The pedagogy of edutainment software	109	(17)
Deconstructing Dinosaurs
Imagery, fact and fiction in information books	126	(19)
PART THREE	145	(47)
`I'm Not A Teacher, I'm A Parent'
Education, entertainment and parenting	147	(17)
Consuming Learning
Using and reading educational media	164	(21)
Conclusion	185	(7)
References	192	(7)
Index	199