Psychological science helps build digital educational media that capitalizes on how human brains learn

Today’s young children encounter more media claiming educational benefits than any generation before. Children can access content on mobile devices, tablets, computers, voice assistants powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and more.

Yet the learning and development benefits vary widely among the offerings. In one recent study of 124 commonly downloaded apps marketed as “educational to children,” researchers found that most of the apps scored in the lower range in key areas that are critical for learning (Meyer, M., et al., Journal of Children and Media, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2021opens in new window). Children learn most effectively when media facilitates meaningful interaction with characters, can be applied to everyday experiences, and does not include distracting visual and sound effects and advertisements.

Although some media may not be as “educational” as advertised, psychologists see the demand for digital learning content as an opportunity to positively influence millions of children. These tools have the potential to help kids learn valuable skills tied to outcomes later in life, such as educational attainment, future earnings, and well-being. “I am a firm believer in the science of learning,” said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, a psychology professor at Temple University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “If we use psychological science as a basis to create media products that capitalize on how human brains learn, we can develop better products and kids will get more out of it.”

Using media to bridge gaps in education is more important than ever as evidence uncovers the depth of learning loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To study the effects of stay-at-home orders that closed preschools, playgrounds, and other settings for early learning, researchers investigated 672 children born between 2020 and 2021. The data showed that these children had significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared with children born pre-pandemic. Children from lower socioeconomic families were most affected. According to neuroimaging data from the same study, children born during the pandemic also showed reduced brain white matter (Deoni, S., Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 91, No. 9, 2022opens in new window). Other evidence suggests that the pandemic has contributed to significant delays in social-emotional development for young children (Kuehn, L. M., et al., JAMA Pediatrics, Vol. 178, No. 2, 2024opens in new window).

“Quality educational children’s media is not a substitute for preschool, but it has the power to mitigate learning loss in the midst of disruption,” said Kim Foulds, PhD, vice president of content research and evaluation at Sesame Workshop, a global educational media organization that has incorporated the science of learning into content development since the first season premiered in 1969. (APA is in its sixth year of partnering with Sesame Workshop on content related to children’s emotional well-being.) The latest studies reveal that television shows, apps, and interactive online games can teach numeracy and literacy, as well as social-emotional skills and thinking processes that help children become problem solvers rather than fear failure. Scientists are also discovering how media that allows viewers to converse with characters maximizes learning—and how AI is poised to create these interactive digital experiences.

[Related: Hirokazu Yoshikawa, PhD, studies interventions for young children in the Middle East]

“Clearly, we do not want our kids to be friends with AI at the expense of their friendships with real kids, but the use of interactive characters in AI could serve as an extra tool in the arsenal to help our kids learn,” said Sandra Calvert, PhD, professor emerita of psychology at Georgetown University and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center.

Leaders at Sesame meet regularly with early childhood educators, researchers, and policymakers to hear what these experts are seeing among children, and this input informs each season’s development process. Recently, they shared that children seemed to be losing their sense of wonder and curiosity because preschoolers are under increasing academic pressure, said developmental psychologist Rosemarie Truglio, PhD, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop. Children are overscheduled, losing the freedom to play, and lacking independence and autonomy. “That was sad for me to hear,” Truglio said. “Children are more afraid to experiment and ask questions because they have a fear of failure.”

Truglio’s team was eager to instill a positive approach to learning that would reignite wonder, curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in children. “We wanted to help them become problem solvers who persevered in the face of challenges,” she said. Sesame had historically focused on content learning, such as letters and numbers, and teaching cognitive processing skills was a new direction for the show.

To create a memorable narrative structure to help kids learn a new cognitive process known as playful problem-solving, Sesame designed stories in which the characters would repeat the refrain “What do we say when we have a problem to solve? I wonder, what if, let’s try” with accompanying gestures. In one episode, Rosita and Elmo are creating race ramps for balls, and Elmo’s ball rolls down the ramp faster. Rosita wonders why her ball was slower, and they experiment with different ways to make her ramp faster.

Researchers studied 116 preschoolers who watched 12 episodes of Sesame Street focused on playful problem-solving, and the most striking impact to investigators was in preschoolers’ ability to transfer the processing skills they learned in the show to new contexts in their lives (Fisch, S. M., et al., Journal of Children and Media, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2024opens in new window). This “transfer of knowledge” is typically difficult to achieve in educational media.

Children who watched the playful problem-solving Sesame Street episodes showed greater gains in the variety of problem-solving heuristics and the efficiency of their problem-solving process than participants in the control group, who watched episodes from a previous season focused on social-emotional learning and celebrating diversity. “These are the building blocks to create critical, creative, lifelong thinkers,” Foulds said. “Evidence shows that children who can practice creative problem-solving tend to perform better academically and have stronger prosocial behavior later in life.”

Sesame is also working with organizations across the globe to reach children living in regions affected by economic instability and local or global conflicts. Sesame partnered with the International Rescue Committee to create an Arabic-language version of Sesame Street called Ahlan Simsim (“Welcome Sesame” in Arabic), which focused on teaching kids social-emotional skills. The show has been viewed by more than 23 million children across the Middle East and North Africa.

In a study aimed at supporting children affected by the previous Syrian conflict and refugee crisis, children in 108 classrooms in Jordan viewed the show every day for 12 weeks. “Emotion identification and emotion regulation strategies are even more important for children experiencing adversity,” said Foulds.

Researchers from New York University’s Global TIES for Children program evaluated the intervention, which had positive effects on children’s ability to express emotions, such as frustration, nervousness, fear, and loneliness (Global TIES for Children, 2023opens in new window). Findings also showed positive effects on children’s ability to identify others’ emotions in a social scenario and apply calming breaths as a strategy to cope with strong emotions.

Researchers at Sesame Workshop recognize that it may not always be feasible for teachers to show a video in the classroom, especially in areas affected by economic instability and conflict. Global TIES for Children evaluated a remote learning program in Lebanon developed by Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee that equips parents and caregivers to help their children learn numbers, letters, and social-emotional skills. Caregivers used educational materials such as workbooks and the Ahlan Simsim content with their children for about 40 minutes three times a week. The learning gains after 11 weeks were equivalent to an entire year of preschool (Stringer, H., Monitor on Psychology, October 2024; Schwartz, K., et al., Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2024opens in new window). 

Sesame also recently partnered with Global TIES for Children to deliver a 10-minute educational program via WhatsApp on mobile devices to Venezuelan migrants and Colombian children living in communities lacking essential services. Over 19 weeks, families received links twice a week to 10-minute videos to show to their 4-year-old children. Half of the participants opened 9 or more of the 38 links, and half of the families watched less than 50 minutes of programming during the 19 weeks. Although rates of family engagement with the material were relatively low, the results showed positive effects on emotion identification and emotion situation knowledge (Tiwari, P., et al., Global TIES for Children, 2024opens in new window).

“You can move the needle on these outcomes with something as little as texting a short video,” said Kate Schwartz, MPP, PhD, senior research scientist at Global TIES for Children. “This intervention is exciting in that it is amazingly scalable because almost everybody has a smartphone.” By the end of 2023, almost 70% of the world’s population was smartphone users, and more than 1 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide in 2023 (Statista, June 2024).

The latest technology is also boosting the potential for learning because children can increasingly interact with the characters they enjoy. Previous studies have shown that children learn more effectively from shows when they form “parasocial relationships” with characters they deem trustworthy, safe, cute, and a friend—measures of attachment and friendship (Richards, M. N., & Calvert, S. L., Journal of Children and Media, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2017opens in new window). Kids also learn better when they have perceived interactions with the characters in a show rather than passively watching a program. For example, the Nickelodeon character Dora the Explorer may give viewers three objects and ask which one she should use to solve a problem. She will pause to let the viewers answer, and then she tells them which one she will use. This approach promotes a parasocial interaction, a perceived conversation a child has with a character. The limitation of this approach is that children can say anything in this interaction and the show goes on. AI is now creating possibilities that better mimic face-to-face social interactions, which allows for corrective feedback from a character.

Calvert was eager to explore whether learning improved when children reported a close parasocial relationship with Dora and when Dora’s responses were contingent upon a child’s answers. In a series of studies designed to create an AI prototype, children ages 3 to 5 were asked to help Dora gather items for a birthday party for her cousin Diego by counting items that came down a conveyor belt at a grocery store. The goal was to help children learn the add-1 math concept, such as “What does 4 and 1 make?”

“The stronger the children’s attachment and friendship with Dora was, the faster they mastered the math game,” Calvert said. Children also answered the math problems more quickly when Dora’s responses related directly to their answers to let them know if they had the correct answer or needed to try again ( Child Development , Vol. 91, No. 5, 2020 opens in new window).

Calvert believes these findings could inform how developers use AI products to help children learn. “Children could potentially select and even create their favorite characters and embed them into interactive educational media shows and games,” Calvert said.

In another study of more than 240 children, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, partnered with PBS Kids to develop interactive, science-based videos in which the main character—powered by AI—engaged in conversations with children 4 to 6 years old. In the PBS Kids show Elinor Wonders Why, the main character helps kids learn about aerodynamics in one episode and the process of reptile molting in the second episode. The children watched one version of the show: interactive, pseudo-interactive, or noninteractive. In the interactive format, Elinor asks children questions and provides responsive feedback based on their answers. In the pseudo-interactive version, Elinor poses questions, pauses, and offers a generic response. The noninteractive version lacked both questions and responses. The data showed that the AI-powered character, Elinor, demonstrated outstanding proficiency in deciphering children’s speech and accurately understanding the intended meaning. The children in the interactive group performed better on a science assessment after viewing the show than the children in the other two groups ( Journal of Educational Psychology , Vol. 116, No. 7, 2024 ).

“This is an exciting time because interaction has always been an important feature in making media educational, especially for young children, and AI allows media to be much more interactive,” said Mark Warschauer, PhD, an author of the study and a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine.

Calvert and her colleagues recently explored whether children form parasocial relationships with conversational agents such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. In a study based on survey responses, parents reported that their children, ages ranging from 3 to 10, personified, became attached to, and treated the conversational assistants much like their favorite embodied media characters ( Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies , Vol. 3, No. 4, 2021 opens in new window). One third of the questions children asked the agents related to science—such as,“What happens when you die?”—and one third were practical, such as, “What is the weather outside?” The remainder were about the agent—such as,“Are you a princess?”—or cultural, such as, “Can you please tell me about George Washington?”

Though the latest AI interfaces have significant potential to facilitate learning, researchers acknowledge that it is critical to integrate developmental science into the new products. “Educators, parents, and policymakers need to ask what role we want generative AI to play in our children’s learning,” Calvert said. “We know a considerable amount about the scientific processes for how children learn. An ongoing question is, How can we use that knowledge to inform and develop emerging educational technologies like AI to maximize the skills children will need for success in the 21st century?”

While some people may feel concerned that children form attachments to AI, projecting life into inanimate objects and treating them as humanlike is part of who we are as a species, said Calvert. “But AI should always be considered a supplement to social interaction,” she said. “Parents need to make sure that their children’s closest emotional relationships are with those who matter the most, with friends who are real peers and with their family members.”

Although technology is increasing the potential for kids to learn from media, psychologists are consulting with media companies to ensure that the content maximizes the chances that kids will learn valuable skills. Educational topics must be central to the plot of the story, said Shalom Fisch, PhD, president and founder of MediaKidz Research & Consulting and a consultant for such companies as Sesame Workshop, Netflix, and PBS. Too often, the educational content is tangential to the narrative ( Children’s Learning From Educational Television , Routledge, 2004 opens in new window). For example, if a show is a mystery to discover who stole a pitcher’s lucky baseball cap, the detective could use the concept of rate-time-distance to deduce whether the catcher could have reached the dugout in time to steal the cap, said Fisch. “The goal is that if a kid retells the story to a friend, it shouldn’t be possible to tell the story without mentioning the math,” Fisch said.

Another common mistake he sees is what he calls the “sitcom trap” of programs that attempt to promote social-emotional learning. When this happens, characters spend most of the episode treating each other badly only to resolve with a quick hug at the end. “Kids walk away remembering the bad behavior because it was more dramatic and memorable,” Fisch said. “The trick is to have the problem comprise a small part of the show and spend the bulk of the time finding a solution.” In the show Judge Jodhi by Big Bad Boo Studios, a 6-year-old girl sets up a makeshift courtroom in her yard to resolve neighborhood disputes. “Usually, kids see one side of a situation and they assume they are right,” said Fisch, who has consulted with Big Bad Boo Studios. “In this show, characters utilize critical thinking to question their assumptions, see different sides of an issue, and resolve the dispute.”

Psychologist Mariana Díaz-Wionczek, PhD, has guided content producers for PBS Kids and Nickelodeon, and she works to incorporate foundational psychological theories into the programs. For a show called Alma’s Way for PBS Kids, she encouraged the team to include physical body sensations into Alma’s awareness of feelings. In one episode when a character is feeling grumpy, Díaz-Wionczek suggested that Alma describe how someone’s shoulders can feel tight, and their stomach can feel like it is in knots when they feel grumpy.

Whether educational media is helping kids identify emotions, solve math problems, or explore how to build a faster race ramp, research suggests that compelling stories are a critical tool when it comes to learning from a screen. One recent study confirmed this when researchers showed preschoolers two different types of previews before an educational television program. In the show, the characters were looking forward to a parade in the park, but the park was too messy to host a parade. The characters used sorting and counting skills to clean up the trash in the park. One preview of the show focused on the math and sorting concepts the viewers would learn during the upcoming episode, while the other preview focused on the plot of the story. The plot-focused preview enhanced the preschoolers’ comprehension of both the story and educational concepts, but the concept-focused preview had no effect on comprehension (Jing, M., & Kirkorian, H. L., Child Development, Vol. 91, No. 5, 2020opens in new window).

“An engaging story helps children both receive and remember information more effectively,” said Heather Kirkorian, PhD, one of the authors of the study and a professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “And adding a 60-second preview is one simple way to capitalize on the connection between stories and learning.”