Lenora Brown, LPB Educational Services
The main goal of Interactive Viewing is to assist children in viewing educational television in an ACTIVE rather than a PASSIVE manner. Here's how to conduct Interactive Viewing:
- Interactive Viewing involves an adult and one or more children
- Together with the young audience, "get comfortable" for viewing a specific program.
- Alert the children of things to look for while viewing the program: "...notice and remember some of the ideas mentioned in the show." "Let's try to listen for and remember some of the names of the characters (some of the books) in the show," and so on.
- While viewing, point out a few key ideas/events, and help the children to predict or react to others that might be upcoming.
- After the show, ask leading questions about what was seen/heard/read: "Which character/idea/book did you like best? Why? Who agreees? Who disagrees? What did your favorite character do?"
- Encourage all the children to respond in turn, and to listen respectfully to each other.
- Repeat the use of this technique until the children automatically focus on, discuss, and connect points in the program to their own lives and experiences.
