Learning to Use Books and Television

Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this article explores two critical contexts of media use during childhood: the home and the school. Forty-two lowincome, minority parents with children attending full-time day care were surveyed to assess children’s access to and use of media within the home, parents’ beliefs about the role of media in children’s development, and parents’ participation in the at-home use of books and television. In addition, observations of the children’s school setting and interviews with their teachers were conducted to explore the role of books and television within the classroom. This article considers the uniquerole media play in the lives of at-risk children and the process by which children are socialized to think about and use media during the first years of life.