This webpage provides information and resources for parents and teachers on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted education. It discusses the science behind how stressful situations can negatively impact children's learning and development. It also explores developmental theories from Bronfenbrenner and Bjorklund that help explain the effects of the pandemic. The webpage recommends activities for engaging with children remotely and maintaining their well-being during this time. It aims to help audiences understand the educational challenges of the pandemic and find ways to support children's learning from a developmental perspective.

1. Media & Learning: What Parents Should Know!
By Yongping Ye
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Why does it matter?
We live in the digital age
The environment has deep impact on children’s behaviors and
development.
Good or bad? It depends on how we use media.
Science behind
Learning from TV and other media:
Require repetition
Familiar characters
Socially relevant and contingent feedback (looks at and talk to
the child)
Here is a video represents above three contents in a show.
Children under 2.5 or 3 years old learn better from a real -world
than from an equivalent media. They develop the ability of dual
representation (need to represent TV as something they learn
from) around 3 years old.
Learning two “5”

2. Children follow 5 steps to learn new things
Sensory register: receives input from the environment and
registers it for processing
Information processing: Approach that describes how people
learn using a computer analogy
Short-term memory: Holds information temporarily
Long-term memory: Stores information processed from short
term memory for later retrieval
Learning response: Recognize and recall information from
short- and long-term memory.
5 capabilities that contribute to social learning
Symbolization: can think about social behavior in words and
images
Forethought: anticipate consequences of our own and others’
actions
Self-regulation: adopt standards of acceptable behavior for us
(aspirational, social, moral)
Self-reflection: analyze our thoughts and actions
Vicarious learning: learn by watching others be rewarded and
punished
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Parenting instructions:
Media is a new environment for children. Parents should guide
them to adapt to the environment.
Consider media as an optional tool for learning. Parents’
companion is necessary for children’s development. It always
better to learn from real-world than from the screen.
Don’t use it as an emotional pacifier. Parents should not use TV
or other media to calm down their children. They need to learn
to control their emotion.

3. Set limits and encourage playtime. Kids are kids. They will
make mistakes using media. Parents’ surveillance is
indispensable.
Be a good role model. Except for limiting children’s on-screen
playtime, parents should control their time on using media each
day.
Here is a video explaining how TV affect young children’s brain
development
Ball & Bogatz (1970) – research on Sesame Street
Children could learn basic information
Literacy skills
Preschool readiness skills
Other studies showed learning from a single episode or clip
Better learning with repetition.
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Play with your child!
For ages 5-8 children, play Animal Crossing.
Through the game, you can create a home with your child. It is
good way to interact with cute animal villagers and enjoy life in
the game.
For ages 8-12 children, play Lego
You can introduce children to a franchise you already love.
For age 12+ children, play World of Warcraft
If you want to go off on a long fantasy adventure in which you
and your children will have to learn to work together and
depend on each other, the venerable World of Warcraft provides
the most expansive and appropriate virtual realm.
Game one

4. Game two
Game three
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Schiesel, Seth. (2020). Video Games to Play With Your Kinds
That Won’t Drive You Crazy. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/arts/video-games-kids-
parents-covid-virus-coronavirus.html.
Flynn, Rachel M. (2021). CAD_660 Media and Learning Week 3
PPT. iLearn.
https://ilearn.sfsu.edu/ay2021/pluginfile.php/1269859/mod_reso
urce/content/1/CAD_660%20media%20and%20learning%20Wee
k%2011.pdf.
Flynn, Rachel M. Rebekah A. Richert. Amanda E. Staiano.
Ellen Wartella. Sandra L. Calvert. (2013). Effects of Exergame
Play on EF in Children and Adolescents at a Summer Camp for
Low Income Youth. Journal of Educational and Developmental
Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 1: 2014.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jedp.v4n1p209.
Lego City Fire and Police: Kids Play with Legos Toys: Fire
Station and Engines, Police Truck. (2017).
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2016). Children and Media:
Tips for Parents. Reading Rockets.
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/children-and-media-tips-
parents
Reference

5. BENEFITS OF BI-
MULTILIGUALISM
By: Vianka Adamovitch
Benefits
Extra Resources
FAQ
Quick Summary
References
F O R F A M I L I E S A N D T E A C H E R S
Benefits
Extra Resources
Multilingualism Benefits Kids
Doubts?
Relax! Children will learn English from their community!
It's NOT too late for you to receive these benefits too! Studies
have shown that adults can

6. profit from learning more languages, no matter how old they
are!
Learning a language together with your child is an amazing
bonding experience
together!
Exposing children to 2+ languages results in 100% fluency in
all of hte
languages learned.
Mixing languages does not mean they are confused. They're
figuring it
all out. They're building their linguistic resources!
Enroll in Bilingual programs and keep them enrolled for as long
as possible
Teach other languages through reading, writing, listening, and
even watching!
Use home language as much as possible if more than one
language is spoken.
M A N Y C O U N T R I E S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
S P E A K M O R E T H A N O N E
L A N G U A G E
Benefits
Tips!
(Dr. Park-Johnson, 2020)
(Dr. Park-Johnson, 2020)
Still Not Convinced?

7. Myths &
Facts:
(Dr. Park-Johnson, 2020)
https://bit.ly/3pL0knO
(Mileidis Gort, 2019)
(Dr. Park-Johnson, 2020)
Quick Summary
References
Bilingualism Matters: Myths and Facts about Early Bilingual
Development - Mileidis Gort. YouTube. (2019, June 20).
https://bit.ly/3pL0knO.
More Truths about Sla and bilingualism default. (2020).
YouTube. https://youtu.be/UwzoQ-uzNYY.
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COVID-19’s Effect On Education
By Devin Soohoo
>>

8. Home About Science Facts Theories Activities
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WELCOME TEACHERS, PARENTS AND CHILDREN!!!
This website is here to inform you of how the COVID-19
pandemic has affected our way of learning. This topic is
important because it affects everyone (teachers, parents and
children). This website is designed to help you understand the
impact that the recent crisis has had on our educational
learning/teaching.
<<
>>
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Science Behind the Topic
As schools across the US make the decision to shut down for the
rest of the
academic year, students and teachers continue to undergo a
crash course in
remote learning. The pandemic disrupted the education system
so abruptly.
Teachers and students to figure out how to adapt to a new
learning environment
on the fly. Teachers and students have more difficulty reaching
out to each
other online especially since students tend to leave their
cameras off and
emails aren’t always ideal for quick responses. The pandemic

9. has been hard on
children and there have been increased depression and anxiety
among children
and their parents.
Valerie Strauss mentions in her Washington Post article, when
frightening or
threatening situations occur too frequently (such as COVID-19,
the lockdown
and sudden shift to remote learning), or when they are not
mitigated by
sufficient protective factors, the hormonal response can become
dysregulated
and toxic. Also, when a stress response becomes toxic, it can
result in
decreased performance. Students usually raise their hands or
walk over to their
teacher’s desk when they need help with their work. In an
online learning
environment, however, students may have to fend for
themselves if they don’t
understand the material. Strauss (2019)
<< >>
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Cultural Relevence
Within every learning environment there is a culture that
influences
all the other components. In most learning environments,
culture is
often considered even beyond the consciousness of learners or

10. even teachers. Whether culture is a good or bad influence in a
learning environment will depend on whether you share or
reject the
values and beliefs of the dominant culture.
As technologies allow us to develop new learning environments,
instructors now have a rare opportunity consciously to create a
culture that can support those values and beliefs that they
consider
to be important for today’s learners. The pandemic created an
opportunity for educators to rethink their approach to online
learning
and explore how this educational environment can expand
access
while increasing and building on diversity.
With the shift to online education for students and teachers, we
created a new sense of belonging, community, and culture in the
classroom, the greatest challenge has long been a sense of
disconnection, given that they are separated from campus life
and
activities. Looking past the pandemic, we can bring cultural
content
to light, overcome biases, and actually build on diversity. We
can
design new learning platforms for our course offerings and
increase
access to education.
<<
>>
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11. Various Developmental Theories
Another massive consequence of distance learning is how it has
impacted the
mental health of students. Nearly 3 in 10 parents said that their
child was already
“experiencing harm to their mental health” because of closures.
Bjorklund’s article,
“A Metatheory for Cognitive Development” states that w early
environmental
deprivation affects the development of particular parts of the
brain. Anxiety and
mental health issues can also have an impact on entire families.
Students may act
out, seclude themselves, and not communicate with their
families as much. If
students and schools are to continue surviving and succeeding
through the
foreseeable future, then there needs to be a large increase in the
communication
that students receive. Bjorklund (2018)
Bronfenbrenner recognized the multiple aspects of a developing
child’s life that
affects the child. He looked beyond individual development,
considered wider
influencing factors and the context of development. Because the
five systems are
interrelated, the influence of one system on a child’s
development depends on its
relationship with the others. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s theory,
due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, many people are barely able to interact
with those in their
Microsystems (Schools, friends, family, health services etc.),
which is the very first
level beyond the individuals themselves. Bronfenbrenner

12. (1993).
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There are many ways for teachers and parents to
engage with children remotely during the pandemic.
virtual activities can be used for specific well-being
lessons or advisory classes, or can be woven into
other curricula you are teaching, such as English,
Art, Humanities, and Physical Education.
One activity can be:
Positive primer: to energize your students at the start
of class to kickstart learning, prompt them to think about
their well-being in that moment, get them socially
connected online, and get their brain focused for
learning.More activities can be found on this site:
https://www.connectionsacademy.com/support/resourc
es/article/coronavirus-and-teaching-from-home-ten-way
s-to-engage-remotely
<< >>
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_tips_for_teac
hing_advisory_classes_at_your_school
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References
References
Bjorklund, D. (2018). A Metatheory for Cognitive

13. Development (or “Piaget is Dead” Revisited)
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1993). Ecological Models of
Human Development
Strauss, V. (2019). The Washington Post: The
Effect Chronic Stress Has On Children At School
— and Why Policymakers Should Care
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CAD 660 Website Project
Webpage Assignment based on Special Topics in Cognitive
Development
Let’s imagine you have been contacted by a government agency
to create a webpage on one of the Special Topics in Cognitive
Development from this course (perceptual development and
implicit bias, Autism, language development/Multilingualism,
Executive Functioning, Causal Reasoning/COVID, and Media &
Learning). It is your job to choose a current issue such as Black
Lives Matter or teaching children about racism, distance
learning, special education, Bilingual/multilingual education,
teaching children about media literacy or teaching children
about COVID (or something else of interest as long it aligns
with course content and uses course materials). The goal is to
apply what you have learned to teaching or working with
children, youth and families.
Please design your “webpage” to include the following
subsections:
· A webpage title - What is your topic (include a webpage title
that clearly tells your audience what your webpage is about)?
· Who is your target audience? Make sure to clearly state this
(e.g., parents, teachers, youth), perhaps as heading or
subheading.
· Why is this topic important or relevant? (2-5 sentences)?

14. · What is the science behind this topic? (That is, what have you
learned about it from a developmental perspective--what have
you learned in this class that parents, teachers, and/or youth
need to know?) Make sure to include course content in this
section (~200 words)
· How can you ensure instruction on this topic is culturally
relevant and/or sensitive towards neurodiversity (include how to
be inclusive of all children)? (~100-200 words)
· How do developmental theories/frameworks (e.g.
Bronfenbrenner or Bjorklund) help to explain this topic? (that
is, what did you learn about developmental theories that is
relevant to your topic)? (~100-200 words)
· Include at least one activity (something parents or teachers
could do with children or youth or that youth could do on their
own) and include at least one relevant link to another web
resource.
· References – In the text use citations of videos, lectures,
articles, and book chapters to support your statements. Use APA
formatting and include a reference list on the bottom of the
webpage or at the end.
Formatting and Submission Instructions
Your assignment should be formatted as text for a webpage and
not simply as responses to the above prompts. Use headings or
text boxes to label your subsections. These will should organize
your webpage and draw the reader in. Look at webpages to get
ideas of headings and layouts. Relevant pictures and images are
encouraged. Watch my video on the assignment to see some
examples and review the rubric! Be creative and have fun!
Make sure you list your name at the top or bottom of the text as
the “webpage” author. You may use bullet points for this
assignment but they should be in complete sentences.
Altogether your “webpage” text should be between 500-600
words (not including the reference page).
Submit your “webpage” as a Website link, Word document,
PowerPoint or PDF on iLearn. If you want to design a real

15. webpage you are welcome to do so (it can be a fun design
experience) just submit the link to your page via iLearn and
make sure that it has permissions set so I will be able to view it.
There is an iLearn video showing how to make a website in
Weebly and the instructional aide will host sessions on this.
Free Sites to Make Websites
Here are some places where you can make free websites.
Students have been successful using all of these to complete
their project.
· Weebly - https://www.weebly.com make sure to choose a
regular website (not one with a store)
· Wix - https://www.wix.com make sure not to sign up for
premium
· Adobe Spark - https://spark.adobe.com select the web page
option to create a magazine-style website. You can use this for
free by signing up through SFSU
Grading Rubric
Possible Points
Content
Topic is stated in title
2
Name is on assignment as webpage author
1
Target audience is specified and easy to find
3
Relevant to class material and specifies connection to course
content
5
Has a clear summary statement of why this topic is important
and relevant to teachers and/or parents
5
Section on the science behind this topic is thorough
10

16. Section on how to ensure teaching is culturally relevant and/or
sensitive to neurodiversity. Make sure to provide specific
examples
10
Connected the topic to developmental theories/frameworks and
is specific
10
Content is accurate
5
Content is clear and easy to understand
5
Statements are consistently supported by evidence (uses in text
citations)
5
At least one activity and one web resource are included,
engaging and age-appropriate
10
Reference list and in-text citations are included and APA
5
Design and Formatting
500-600 words
5
Text reads as a webpage
5
Complete sentences and correct grammar and spelling
5
Graphics are used and support text
3
Consistent fonts, colors, backgrounds
3
Looks like a website. Legible font and layout. Organized design
3
Total

17. 100