And it actually gives them an advantage as they enter kindergarten. It turns out watching a video of "Jack and the Beanstalk" teaches you more than how to outwit a surly giant.

A group of 398 children in 80 preschool classes in low-income neighborhoods in New York and San Francisco were taught with a curriculum heavy on TV shows and video games for 10 weeks. They outscored children who had not had the curriculum on the ability to name and know the sounds of letters, recognize the letters in their own names and understand basic concepts about stories and printed words.

Public television shows for children played a big role in the study, conducted by the Education Development Center Inc., a global nonprofit organization that evaluates programs designed to promote education, health and economic development. Children in the study watched such PBS shows as "Sesame Street" and "Between the Lions." The study confirmed the educational value of such shows.

Cookie Monster and Big Bird were probably banking on that result. The study was commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The results were nonetheless significant, researcher William Penuel told the Reuters news service. "We know public media can improve literacy skills when children watch at home," he said. "What we didn't know is that content from multiple shows could be effectively integrated into a curriculum and implemented by teachers."

Children also watched specific videos such as "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Soul Letter O" and "Bee Bim Bop" while playing games such as "Storybook Creator," "Big Bird's Letters" and "ABCD Watermelon."

Using media in the classroom has been controversial, Education Development Center Director Shelley Pasnik told Reuters "To make these kinds of gains after preschoolers and teachers use technology we think is especially significant," she said.

Related: TV Noise Bad for Kids