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Research continues to show how important it is for children to be reading proficiently by third grade. And yet videos, online games and other electronic media have become a bigger and bigger part of early childhood. Is it possible to reconcile the two trends?

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Yes. But it will take work on the part of teachers and parents. Exactly how to do it is the subject of on , an online site for teachers and parents produced by WETA, a public television station in the Washington, D.C. area.

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The videos feature three experts — Deborah Linebarger, an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; Marnie Lewis, an instructional technology coordinator in the Arlington County Public Schools; and yours truly, who was called on to talk about research described in my book.

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As I said in the video, I see three big questions hanging out there: What are the features that make videos and online games educational? What kind of social interaction do we need to make sure we couple with those features? And how do we examine claims of something being “educational,” when in fact it really isn’t, such as “when the videos are doing little more than throwing a bunch of letters, numbers, colors and objects up on the screen”?

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Check out the video series for some early answers. There are studies showing how children can – like new vocabulary words as well as letter and sound identification – from well-designed programs that are grounded in recent research. But I also point out that there are many things to avoid, such as background television (which can harm language development and interferes with children’s playtime), as well as TV and computer-based shows that rely on character dialogue that is not concrete enough for children to follow or retain to enhance their language skills.����

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If you haven’t come across Reading Rockets before, take some time to peruse the site, where you’ll find reports on the “,” a that can be used in the classroom, resources for parents and teachers who are , an archive of , various book-buying guides, including , and more. I was honored to be part of their .

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Reading Rockets is produced by , the flagship public television and radio station in the nation’s capital, and is primarily funded by the , Office of Special Education Programs.