The “Welcome to AIM” video describes that the AIM project — translated as the Arthur Interactive Media buddy project — is used as a medium to engage children in a classroom environment. Teachers state that this interactive media is used to decrease bullying and increase prosocial behavior. AIM promotes peer interaction through its cross-aged buddy program and develops vital day-to-day skills such as empathy, honesty, forgiveness, and generosity in its users. Using this interactive media, children have the option of exploring how the characters feel internally, which is one way the product teaches empathy. In addition, the program guides educators’ teaching by providing prep-sessions and wrap-up sessions too. The article titled “The Arthur Interactive Media Study” compliments the video. The authors talk about the benefits of cross-age peer dyads; they mention that the interactive nature of this media product facilitates behavioral development and moral development. Since the peers are not the same age, the older student can scaffold positive characteristics related to character development when working alongside the younger student. Moreover, the authors conducted a study to test the effectiveness of AIM. The results indicated that teachers reported feeling very satisfied with the program because their students were fully engaged throughout the media experience. Additionally, students were able to discuss the feelings and perspectives of Arthur with one another; they identified and labeled Arthur’s bad and good/right and wrong behaviors, which proves that these students are learning about character virtues and gaining prosocial skills. Interacting with the Arthur comic was also a unique and enjoyable experience for me. This comic (called “So Funny I forgot to laugh!”) is about Arthur mocking his friend and comparing her to a dog. Readers, like myself, go on a journey with Arthur and his friends throughout the course of the comic. This interactive media project revealed the inner thoughts of the characters which was my favorite part because it allows readers to really emphasize with the character.
I really enjoyed watching the “Welcome to AIM!” video and reading about its effects. I think that nowadays our K-12 education system is fixed on creating lesson plans and assignments that solely address academic subjects. What educators may fail to recognize is that children’s social and emotional well-being is vital as well. Our society struggles with addressing the issue of bullying at schools and I believe that interactive programs such as AIM can fix this issue. Bullying is definitely a complex issue and a great way to teach about this issue is by using a medium that today’s children love to use — technology/digital media. I think that this program was implemented really well because children do not only engage with the digital media, but they engage in conversations with each other as well.
Questions:
- What if children don’t like the character Arthur? What if we used the same interactive media/product, but catered it to the child’s T.V. character preference?
- Do you think that we would see the same positive effects on character development if students worked on AIM with a teacher (rather than a peer)?
- Food for thought: It would be interesting to note whether or not the students’ actual behaviors (outside of the classroom) have changed or been positively impacted by the AIM program.
UWP 104D 