Dr. Robert M. Berdahl is past president of The University of Texas at Austin. Curious and inquisitive, children seek to understand their universe with a fervor that astounds their parents and teachers. This quest for information and knowledge typifies the lives of children and, if cultivated and nurtured, can lead a lifetime of discovery.
Children are innate researchers.
It is being published in conjunction with UT's Year of the Child, an extended focus on the problems, conditions, challenges, and future for children in our society. Within these pages lies a wealth of new information about children and families from some of UT's most distinguished researchers and scholars. Judith Langlois' study of how infants, young children, and adults perceive facial attractiveness, now recognized by researchers as an important factor in child development. Ellen Wartella's examination of the electronic media and children, a relationship with both promise and pitfalls. She shares her expertise on the trends and characteristics of children's media use, violence and commercialization in the media, and expectations about child audiences which may shape the creation of new media products for children.