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10) Is BARNEY & FRIENDS a good show? Children like it, but does it have any real educational value?
A summary of the research performed at Yale University concluded:

"Preschoolers who were exposed to BARNEY & FRIENDS and a follow-up teaching activity for two weeks increased their test performance on 17 of 18 questions reflecting facts of readiness-to-learn skills. This represents a 92% increase over a control group of children who simply participated in regular day-care activities during the same two-week period.

"The results suggest that a regular use by teachers or parents of teaching material drawn from BARNEY & FRIENDS can be both motivating and directly helpful to preschool children of all backgrounds. The Yale study specifically tested the youngsters on such education aspects as the following: naming and matching numbers, identifying animal pictures, naming shapes, manners, healthy foods, body parts, and naming colors. The study revealed especially strong improvement in vocabulary skills after watching BARNEY & FRIENDS combined with adult reinforcement of the concepts presented."

From a press statement by Amy Myrin, Connecticut Public Television of a research study done by Drs. Dorothy and Jerome Singer of Yale University's Family Television Research and Consultation Center, 1995