News Article

College instructor to speak at world forum


12/15/2000 3:40:54 PM


Dr. Wayne Eastman

December 14, 2000 - Television violence can negatively affect a child’s development.

That’s the message Dr. Wayne Eastman, coordinator of the Applied Arts and Access programs at the Corner Brook campus of College of the North Atlantic, plans to give at the World Forum on Early Care and Education being held in Athens, Greece April 24-27, 2001.
Dr. Eastman, who teaches Early Childhood Education at the college, was asked to participate in the forum, organized by the Child Care Information Exchange, and present his views on the effects of television and media violence on the development of young children. He will join with Dr. Kishor Shrestha of Tribhuvan University in Katmandu, Nepal to approach the topic from the perspective of both a developed nation (Canada) and a developing nation (Nepal).

Dr. Eastman has been researching the effects of television and media violence on young children for several years and has already published nearly 40 papers and given numerous international presentations in the area of early childhood education.

“My presentation is intended to give an overview of the impact of television on young children, with a special emphasis on the relationship between TV, childhood and violence,” he says.

Whether or not television violence has an effect on a child’s development has long been the topic of much debate, but Dr. Eastman says research has shown that excessive viewing of TV violence can affect children adversely. He also says violence and aggression are the areas of greatest concern for parents and educators.

“One of the anticipated values of my paper to conferees is that it will provide strategies for parents and early childhood educators to take control of the television,” says Dr. Eastman.

“I have garnered interest from participants from developing countries because I will be putting forth a developmental framework for assessing television.”

Because the impact of television on the lives of young children from such developing nations as Sri Lanka, Tanzia, Bangladesh and Nepal is still not widespread, Dr. Eastman hopes his presentation will be utilized as a television literacy tool for these third-world countries.

“The forum will also be an excellent venue for sharing college information,” he says, noting the sharing process has already commenced.

“The organizers of the forum have requested a description of the presenters’ institutions.”

Dr. Eastman says a description of College of the North Atlantic programs will be in the World Forum Delegate Directory and he will be promoting the college’s Distance Learning program for Early Childhood Education while he is in Greece.

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For more information contact:

Stephen Lee
Communications Officer
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7928
email: stephen.lee@northatlantic.nf.ca

or

Dr. Wayne Eastman
Coordinator
Applied Arts and Access programs (ECE)
Corner Brook campus
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 637-8533