The Cooney Center catalyzes change by disseminating research that informs the national debate, stimulating investment in effective reforms. It does so through its publications on timely topics, including the landscape of children’s interactive media, mobile learning, and the debates over media multitasking — all of which have received national media attention.

T is for Transmedia: Learning through Transmedia Play

by Becky Herr-Stephenson and Meryl Alper with Erin Reilly and introduction by Henry Jenkins

In recent years, transmedia has come into the spotlight among those creating and using media and technology for children.  We believe that transmedia has the potential to be a valuable tool for expanded learning that addresses some of the challenges facing children growing up in the digital age.  Produced by … 

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Games for a Digital Age: K-12 Market Map and Investment Analysis

by John Richards, Leslie Stebbins and Kurt Moellering

Games for a Digital Age: K-12 Market Map and Investment Analysis includes a sector analysis and market map of game‐based learning initiatives with an analysis of relevant trends in education and digital technology that are likely to impact development of a robust game-based learning market segment. By formulating a new … 

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Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West: Empowering Parents and Educators

by Lisa Guernsey, Michael H. Levine, Cynthia Chiong & Maggie Stevens

Digital apps designed to teach young children to read are an increasingly large share of the market, but parents and educators have little to no information about whether and how they work. Produced as part of a collaboration between the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, the New America Foundation, and the … 

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Kids Online: A new research agenda for understanding social networking forums

by Sara Grimes and Deborah Fields

A growing number of kids at increasingly younger ages are engaging in online social networking today-a development that is leading to a surge of news stories, media attention, and economic investment. In this paper, produced with the generous support of Cisco Systems and the Digital Media and Learning Hub at … 

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What in the World Happened to Carmen Sandiego? The Edutainment Era: Debunking Myths and Sharing Lessons Learned

by Carly Shuler

Developers and others in the video game industry often attribute the failure of the “edutainment” industry in the 1990′s either to a lack of market demand or the difficulty of creating great products. In reality neither of these assertions is correct. This case study debunks some of the misconceptions around … 

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QuickReport: Parent Co-Reading Survey

by Sarah Vaala, Lori Takeuchi, Ph.D.

To follow up on insights revealed in our Print vs. E-books QuickStudy, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center conducted a second QuickStudy to survey parents about reading books with their 2-to-6-year-old children.  In this survey we assessed family ownership of devices on which e-books can be read and included a set … 

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QuickReport: Print Books vs. E-books

by Cynthia Chiong, Jinny Ree, and Lori Takeuchi

Comparing parent-child co-reading on print, basic, and enhanced e-book platforms This QuickReport presents the results of our first QuickStudy exploring parent-child interactions as they read print and digital books together.  We conducted this exploratory study with our SciPlay partners at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York … 

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National Survey and Video Case Studies: Teacher Attitudes about Digital Games in the Classroom

by Jessica Millstone

Combining the breadth of a national survey with the depth that case studies can provide, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and BrainPop have used these two research tools to gauge teacher’s attitudes and beliefs about the effect classroom video game use has on student learning, developmental growth and social behavior. … 

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iLearn II: An Analysis of the Education Category on Apple’s App Store

by Carly Shuler

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center has released iLearn II: An Analysis of the Education Category of Apple’s App Store, an examination of nearly 200 top-selling education category apps for Apple’s iPad and iPhone with the goal of understanding this market’s dynamics and trends. The analysis highlights industry best practices and … 

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The New Coviewing: Designing for Learning through Joint Media Engagement

by Lori Takeuchi and Reed Stevens

Produced by the Joan Ganz Cooney and LIFE Centers, the report features case studies written by researchers and producers on the challenges and successes of bringing families together around newer forms of media. The design guide that follows offers essential advice to media producers also interested in engaging children, parents, … 

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