Sesame Street – Early Math Counts

Another Thought About Sesame Street and Math

Early Math Counts — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:15:24 +0000

Last week, I wrote about the Sesame Street Project called “Math is Everywhere.” That site has all sorts of information about early math for parents of young children and educators of young children. After exploring the site for quite some time, I started thinking about television and learning, and whether or not there is real value in passive television watching.

I remember all of the research about this topic from graduate school. Most theorists agree that learning takes place when new information conflicts with what is already known and the learner must create new understandings from the conflict. This process is most generally an active one – meaning that it doesn’t take place like a sponge absorbing water or like writing on a blank slate. It is active because the brain is required to work at these new understandings ,and is supported through the supportive interactions between the learner and other people.

So, that begs the question…Do children learn when they watch shows like Sesame Street. I would argue that, “Yes, they do….to a point.” Television can never take the place of genuine human interaction, and it isn’t meant to. It can support prior learning by reinforcing what is already knows and by providing a medium for practice. Good programming, like Sesame Street models appropriate interactions between the regular characters, both the human ones and the Muppet ones. It is designed to be as interactive as possible, even though children can’t actually interact with the characters on the show.

The way that television works best for learning (if that is what you believe you are using it for) is if it is watched together. If adults provide genuine human interaction with creative, appropriate, and engaging programming, then children can most definitely get something more out of this passive activity.

This clip from Sesame Street is a great example of the kind of programming we have come to expect from PBS. How would you watch this with your children to make it more interactive?

Math is Everywhere – As Told By Our Friends on Sesame Street

Early Math Counts — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 11:54:29 +0000

This 20 minute video appeared in my search engine this morning. I thought I would share it with you since it follows up our conversation about communicating the message about the importance of math to the parents we serve. It is called “Math is Everywhere” and it takes the viewer through several scenarios that parents might encounter. It illustrates the idea that when opportunities arise to support early math learning, we should seize them.

Check it out.

Sesame Street

Early Math Counts — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:00:31 +0000

Much like last week’s entry about pbs.org, sesamestreet.org is an equally cool, interactive website for young children. I love (and have loved for years) the Sesame Street puppets. When I was three-years-old, Sesame Street made its debut on PBS, which in Chicago is Channel 11. Before that, we had Ray Rayner, Bozo’s Circus, and Mr. Green Jeans. Sesame Street was the first truly educational television envisioned for very young children.

The site is great because children can navigate it pretty much on their own. When you open up the home page for the games, your cursor becomes a large star and then children can choose which game they want to play by clicking on one of the characters. They all speak directly to the children, so it is appropriate for pre readers.

Check out Count Me To Sleep, starring Count Von Count and Telly. Telly can’t get to sleep so together they count sheep. The animation is terrific.