when ozzy was 15 mos old i signed him up as a participant in some research done by Georgetown University to determine how media is able to teach babies. it's not paid, we just did it for fun. the first test ozzy was shown a box that looked like a bus front. if you pressed a red button it made a honking sound. then he was shown that same bus front on a computer touch screen and we waited to see if he would try to touch the button on the screen. he didnt do it. none of the babies at this age do. so it wasnt until after we showed him that he kept pushing it over and over.
then 3 months later they came back to our house to do two more tests. the first one was to see if a baby could learn to do a complex task by looking at it in a book. they showed him a book, literally just flipping thru the pages without stopping. i saw the pictures in the book but none of what was in there really registered in my head. i saw hands and some blue object. we saw three pages in the book. then they left. the next day they returned with the object that was in the book. apparently the book showed a wooden rattle being put together (they had to explain this to me, because i honestly had no idea what i had been looking at the day before). the lady tells me not to worry if ozzy can't do it, they expect that the babies can't do it. she sets the three pieces of the rattle in front of ozzy and without ANY hesitation, ozzy picks up the ball, drops it into the cup, and then snaps on the lidded handle ontop of the cup, then picks up the rattle and shakes it. the researcher pursed her lips, says 'hmph', and then says, "well, that was unexpected!" and she started talking about what was supposed to happen and then laughs at ozzy and thanks him for skewing her research. of course i dont believe ozzy put that rattle together just from looking at the book, i think he would have done it without the book...i know that i had no idea what that book showed the day before so i doubt that he did either. but when he sped thru that task with such ease, i had to resist the urge to jump up and start shouting out that my son is a genius.
the next task they showed ozzy a short video of a woman assembling three blocks on a magnetic board to make a sailboat. she did it three times. then they showed ozzy that same board with blocks to see what he would do. he touched the shapes and named them. then he took the pieces off the board and put them on the floor. then he put them back on the board back where they were at the beginning.
the researcher then put them together in person and then took it apart and asked him what it was and ozzy said, "boat". she took the pieces back apart and ozzy then assembled the boat himself quickly.
so even tho he saw a video of a woman put it together and saw it three times, he didnt know how to piece it together. when he was shown by a live person just once, he was able to do it quickly. so now i know that the videos that i thought taught my kids were never effective by themselves, it was because i was there repeating and supporting what was taught that they were able to learn from them.
anyway, even tho he was probably par for the course on the last task, after i saw the researchers out the door, i was still thinking, my boy's a genius!
then 3 months later they came back to our house to do two more tests. the first one was to see if a baby could learn to do a complex task by looking at it in a book. they showed him a book, literally just flipping thru the pages without stopping. i saw the pictures in the book but none of what was in there really registered in my head. i saw hands and some blue object. we saw three pages in the book. then they left. the next day they returned with the object that was in the book. apparently the book showed a wooden rattle being put together (they had to explain this to me, because i honestly had no idea what i had been looking at the day before). the lady tells me not to worry if ozzy can't do it, they expect that the babies can't do it. she sets the three pieces of the rattle in front of ozzy and without ANY hesitation, ozzy picks up the ball, drops it into the cup, and then snaps on the lidded handle ontop of the cup, then picks up the rattle and shakes it. the researcher pursed her lips, says 'hmph', and then says, "well, that was unexpected!" and she started talking about what was supposed to happen and then laughs at ozzy and thanks him for skewing her research. of course i dont believe ozzy put that rattle together just from looking at the book, i think he would have done it without the book...i know that i had no idea what that book showed the day before so i doubt that he did either. but when he sped thru that task with such ease, i had to resist the urge to jump up and start shouting out that my son is a genius.
the next task they showed ozzy a short video of a woman assembling three blocks on a magnetic board to make a sailboat. she did it three times. then they showed ozzy that same board with blocks to see what he would do. he touched the shapes and named them. then he took the pieces off the board and put them on the floor. then he put them back on the board back where they were at the beginning.
the researcher then put them together in person and then took it apart and asked him what it was and ozzy said, "boat". she took the pieces back apart and ozzy then assembled the boat himself quickly.
so even tho he saw a video of a woman put it together and saw it three times, he didnt know how to piece it together. when he was shown by a live person just once, he was able to do it quickly. so now i know that the videos that i thought taught my kids were never effective by themselves, it was because i was there repeating and supporting what was taught that they were able to learn from them.
anyway, even tho he was probably par for the course on the last task, after i saw the researchers out the door, i was still thinking, my boy's a genius!
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